In a Rugged Land: Ansel Adams, Dorothea Lange, and the Three Mormon Towns Collaboration By James R. Swenson
In a Rugged Land: Ansel Adams, Dorothea Lange, and the Three Mormon Towns Collaboration By James R. Swenson
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Although photographers Dorothea Lange and Ansel Adams were contemporaries and lifelong friends, most of their work portrays contrasting subject matter. Lange's artistic photodocumentation set a new aesthetic standard for social commentary; Adams lit up nature's wonders with an unfailing eye and preeminent technical skill. That they together photographed Mormons in Utah in the early 1950s for Life magazine may come as a surprise.
In a Rugged Land examines the history and content of the two photographers' forgotten collaboration, Three Mormon Towns. Looking at Adams's and Lange's photographs, extant letters, and personal memories, the book provides a window into an important moment in their careers and seeks to understand why a project that once held such promise ended in disillusionment, reduced now to little more than a footnote in their illustrative biographies.
Soft cover.
In a Rugged Land examines the history and content of the two photographers' forgotten collaboration, Three Mormon Towns. Looking at Adams's and Lange's photographs, extant letters, and personal memories, the book provides a window into an important moment in their careers and seeks to understand why a project that once held such promise ended in disillusionment, reduced now to little more than a footnote in their illustrative biographies.
Soft cover.