Ansel Adams Los Angeles
February 18 -March 17, 2012
Opening Reception Saturday, February 18, 2012 7-10pm

drkrm is pleased to present Ansel Adams Los Angeles, rarely seen photographs that reveal the lost landscape and lifestyle of a prewar Los Angeles. These nostalgic images from the archives of The Los Angeles Public Library Ansel Adams Collection, represent Ansel Adams as a photojournalist on assignment for Fortune Magazine in 1939. Ansel Adams Los Angeles will be on display from February 18 through March 17, 2012.

In 1939 Los Angeles had a population of 1.5 million. The cost of gas was 10 cents and a new car was $700. It was the year The Wizard of Oz and Gone With The Wind were released. Francis Ford Coppola, Ralph Lauren and Lee Harvey Oswald were born. Amelia Earhart was officially pronounced dead and President Roosevelt initiated the Manhattan Project. The U.S. began rearming for World War II and the prestigious Ansel Adams was commissioned by Fortune Magazine to photograph a series of images for an article covering the aviation industry in the Los Angeles area. For the project, Adams took over 200 black & white photographs showing everyday life, businesses, street scenes and a variety of other subjects. But when the article, City of the Angels, appeared in the March 1941 issue, only a few of the images were included.

In the early 1960s Adams rediscovered the photographs among papers at his home in Carmel and donated them to the Los Angeles Public Library. He wrote in a letter: "The weather was bad over a rather long period and none of the pictures were very good... I would imagine that they represent about $100.00 minimum value... At any event, I do not want them back." But as many critics will agree, sometimes an artist is not always the best judge of their own work.

Ansel Adams (1902-1984) created some of the most influential photographs ever made; he was one of this century's leading exponents of environmental values. It seems that every third family in America has an Adams’ poster on the wall, images that were difficult to make but easy to love. His images portray a romanticized and unspoiled Western American landscape, but Ansel Adams Los Angeles is a whole other body of work that is rarely discussed, let alone seen.

drkrm, in association with EVFA, and with the cooperation of the The Los Angeles Public Library Photo Collection will create and exhibit new silver-gelatin prints made from the original negatives. These dramatic black and white limited-edition photographs, on display to the public for the first time, will be offered for purchase with a portion of the proceeds benefiting the LAPL.

Ansel Adams Los Angeles is part of Pacific Standard Time. Pacific Standard Time is an unprecedented collaboration of more than sixty cultural institutions across Southern California, coming together to tell the story of the birth of the L.A. art scene. Initiated through grants from the Getty Foundation, Pacific Standard Time will take place for six months beginning October 2011.

Pacific Standard Time is an initiative of the Getty. The presenting sponsor is Bank of America.

drkrm is an exhibition space dedicated to the display and survey of popular cultural images, fine art photography, cutting edge and alternative photographic processes. drkrm is located at 727 S. Spring Street in the Gallery Row district of Downtown Los Angeles.

All gallery events are free and open to the public.

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