Ansel Adams personal Arca-Swiss 4x5 in. view camera....

Description

Ansel Adams personal Arca-Swiss 4x5 in. view camera. (ca. 1960s-70s) The work of Ansel Adams towers above his contemporaries with the same sort of permanence and majesty exuded by the natural edifices that were his most famous subjects. It's not an exaggeration to say that a majority of people alive today have seen an Ansel Adams photograph. While his work retains the power to impress in a museum setting, his photos have transcended the confines of the institution-you can see an Ansel Adams image on a calendar, a t-shirt, a poster, a coffee mug, a table book, a screensaver, a mouse pad, etc. This isn't because this 20th century master lacks the sophistication of so-called "serious art", it's because his photographs speak beyond language, to something inside of everyone, calling us to look with new eyes at the mystery and wonder of the natural world around us. Offered here is Adams' personal Arca-Swiss 4x5 in. view monorail camera, consisting of a rack and pinion monorail mount, ground glass, (2) bellows, and lens plate. Meausring 8.25 x 10.5 x 11.5 in. assembled. Monorail mount measures 15 in. long. In 1979, Adams sold this camera to fellow photographer Geroge Lauterstein. The typed note signed with hand annotation (9 x 6.25 greeting card [unfolded] with Adam's "Jeffery Pine on Sentinel Dome" printed on the front flap) that accompanies the camera speaks to both Adams' intimacy and technical mastery of the device. He writes, "...the Arca has behaved very well for me..." as this was a camera frequently and well-used in the artist's arsenal. "The little hooks on the back are for a firm rubber band when you use the 4x5 Polatoid [sic] 545 holder. May be needed when you point the camera upwards, as the holder is heavy. I recommend using the Graflock clamps with this holder...The knobs do not match; over the years the plastic originals cracked and I had new stronger ones made. Clamp [the] knobs light enough to really hold but not so tight that they might crack. All camera knobs have had that trouble...When you use the sliding camera bed be sure you tighten the clamp-screws; otherwise the camera can slide off when you carry it o[r] point it down. This sliding bed is one its good features... Ansel [signed in black ink]". The monorail mount retains Adams' silver foil address label. Also included is a gelatin silver 4 x 2.5 in. photograph of Lauterstein with Ansel and his wife, Virginia, and a 3 x 5 in. notecard handwritten by Ansel, which was previously affixed to the camera, "rubber band hooked thusly sometimes helps when pointing camera upward with heavy film holder such as Polaroid..." From Adams' advice and admonitions, it is clear that this camera accompanied him on many a trek, providing him the ability to record that unique mode vision in his work that he would later inspire in others. Exhibiting expected patina and scuffs from use. In vintage very good condition.

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