About the Event
American landscape photographer Ansel Adams (1902–1984) described his approach to picture-making as one of “visualization" – the photographic expression of what the environment looks and feels like to the artist. “The first step towards visualization, and hence toward expressive interpretation,” Adams said, “is to become aware of the world around us in terms of the photographic image. We must teach our eyes to become more perceptive.”
Adams’s description of his creative process serves as the point of departure for this presentation, which explores the many ways that photographers have visualized the American environment. It begins with Ansel Adams, whose photographs of pristine nature – all pictured in razor-sharp focus, with subtle gradations of light and dark, and deep recessions of space – remain some of the most immediately recognizable environmental images of our time. His photographs have inspired environmental consciousness for many, but they have also drawn criticism what he left out of his visualizations: the impact of humans on the natural environment.
Photo by Ansel Adams (1942): "Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming." National Archives and Records Administration, Records of the National Park Service. (79-AAG-1)
About Steven Hoelscher
Private
Steven Hoelscher is Associate Dean for Academic Affairs in the College of Liberal Arts, Stiles Professor of American Studies and Geography, and Faculty Curator of Photography at the Harry Ransom Center, at the University of Texas at Austin. Professor Hoelscher’s research interests include: the history of photography; race and racism; North American and European urbanism; social constructions of space and place; and cultural memory. He is the author of Reading Magnum (2013 Photo Book of the Year by American Photo Magazine), Picturing Indians, among other books, and he has published more than 60 book chapters, articles, and essays. His exhibition, Visualizing the Environment: Ansel Adams and His Legacy, is on display at the Harry Ransom Center, from June 2024 through February 2025.
Steven Hoelscher's talk is part of the international workshop "Art, Beauty, and Visualizing Social Change: The Politics and Aesthetics of Environmental Photography,” which takes place on February 6, 2025, at Amerikahaus Munich. The workshop is co-organized by the Bavarian American Academy and LMU Munich's Amerika-Institut.
Registration
Please register via the following registration form. Please click the button "Load external content" if the form is not displayed directly.
powered by eveeno.de
Organizers
Location
Amerikahaus München
Karolinenplatz 3, 80333, München
Contact
Referent Bayerische Amerika-Akademie
E-Mail
straub@amerika-akademie.de
Telefon
089 55 25 37-42
Assistentin Geschäftsstelle Bayerische Amerika-Akademie
E-Mail
jfalk@amerika-akademie.de
info@amerika-akademie.de
Telefon
089 55 25 37-41
Notice of Filming and Photography
Photography, audio, and video recording may occur at any Amerikahaus events. By entering the event premises, you consent to being photographed and/or recorded (both audio and video) and to having your image released, published, exhibited or reproduced for promotional and archival purposes, news, our publications, press, and inclusion on our website and social media.