Ansel Adams 'The Golden Gate (Before the Bridge)'

Ansel Adams
1902 - 1984
'The Golden Gate (Before the Bridge)'

mural-sized gelatin silver print, mounted, signed in pencil on the mount, the photographer's Carmel studio stamp (BMFA 5 and 6), titled in ink, on the reverse, framed; accompanied by a selection of original typed correspondence on the photographer's letterhead and corresponding postmarked envelopes
image: 18¾ by 27⅝ in. (47.6 by 70.2 cm.)
frame: 28¼ by 36½ in. (71.8 by 92.7 cm.)
Executed in 1932, printed in 1965.

Condition Report:
Please note the colors and shades in the online catalogue illustration may vary depending on screen settings.

This print, on paper with an eggshell texture and broad range of tones, is in generally very good to excellent condition. The print is lifting slightly from the mount at the left edge. Visible under raking light is a barely perceptible small scuff at the upper left corner. There is some isolated chipping to the emulsion at the left and right edges. There are a few tiny deposits of indeterminate nature in the lower right corner and the upper right quadrant.

The photograph is mounted to Crescent illustration board. An overmat was originally affixed to the mount, and there are now dried adhesive remnants on the mount, not impacting the photograph. The reverse of the mount has some tape residue and abrasions at the edges.

Karen Haas's and Rebecca Senf's book, 'Ansel Adams in the Lane Collection,' publishes the most comprehensive list to date of the studio stamps and labels Adams used throughout his career. Although the author's assessment of the use dates of stamps 5 and 6 on the reverse of the mount are 1962 and 1963, the photograph was commissioned by its original owner in 1965.

Provenance:
The photographer to Dick Erath, Willamette Valley wine pioneer, 1965

By descent to the present owner