ANSEL ADAMS’ MONUMENTAL PORTFOLIO ONE, 1948, ONE OF ONLY 75 COPIES, WITH 12 GELATIN SILVER PRINTS SIGNED BY HIM—“EACH PHOTOGRAPH THE BEST INTERPRETATION THAT ANSEL EVER ACHIEVED OF THAT NEGATIVE”

ADAMS, Ansel. Portfolio One. Twelve Photographic Prints. San Francisco: (self-published; typography by Grabhorn), 1948. Elephant folio (14 by 18 inches), twelve gelatin silver prints individually mounted on heavy card stock, each signed on mount recto, original four-page booklet, signed and numbered, loose as issued, original folding cloth portfolio, partial ties.

Adams’ monumental folio Portfolio One, the first of seven that he completed over a 28-year period, this number 20 of only 75 copies, dedicated to Alfred Steiglitz with Adams’ portrait of him, with twelve gelatin silver prints, each mounted on heavy card stock (total measuring 14 by 18 inches), signed by Adams on the mount and with Portfolio stamp on the reverse of mount, complete with the original booklet signed and numbered by Adams in bold red crayon as issued, and with the original folding cloth portfolio, rarely found.

“For years Adams had contemplated showing a small group of his prints that would together represent the scope of his photographic vision— some details from nature, a few portraits, and at least one big thundercloud— and now he decided to produce such a portfolio. Before the end of the year, he completed nine hundred small fine prints, enough to fill seventy-five portfolios. He titled it simply Portfolio One, Twelve Photographic Prints by Ansel Adams, and dedicated it to Alfred Stieglitz, whose portrait was the sole one among twelve spectacular images…There were two architectural studies, one great landscape (Mount Kinley and Wonder Lake), two smaller landscapes (including the nearly abstract Refugio Beach and the haunting Oak Tree, Snowstorm), five details from nature, one portrait (Alfred Stieglitz), and the wispy, white Clouds Above Golden Canyon, Death Valley. The quality of the prints was superb, with each photograph the best interpretation that Ansel ever achieved of that negative; the tones were balanced, yet not betraying the often overly dramatic qualities that soon began to dominate his work. Some of the special beauty of Portfolio One may be attributed to the recent death of Stieglitz, whose inspiration floated in Ansel’s memory throughout the making of the prints” (Alinder, Ansel Adams, 220-221).

In the 1940s Adams began an exploration and photo-documentation of the American national parks and monuments. This work culminated in a series of seven subscription portfolios, each a luminous portrayal of the unique value of our national landscape. “The market for the pictures that Adams most wanted to make was limited, so limited in fact that it could be satisfied by the slow, demanding, old-fashioned method of making original prints. And since the public for such work was small at best, one need not worry much about what might most surely please it. Thus, of all Adams’ publications, his portfolios most clearly represent his personal view of the meaning of his work… It is probable that Ansel Adams has produced in his own darkrooms more carefully considered and fastidiously finished prints than any photographer of the twentieth century. The plates in [his portfolios] present a total of some 13,000 individual prints, made between the years 1948 and 1976… It is, unhappily, more difficult and time-consuming to make a perfect print from a photographic negative than from an etching plate or a lithographic stone. The traditional graphic techniques transmit a simple yes-or-no signal, while the photographer’s negative is highly plastic, allowing a broad range of variation that demands not only good craft but critical interpretation” (Szarkowski, The Portfolios of Ansel Adams, x).

“Adams printed Portfolio One on a bromide-chloride projection paper developed in Metol-Glycin and lightly toned in selenium. Eight of the twelve images were contact-printed (that is, the negative was placed in direct contact with the printed paper— there was no enlargement), providing the maximum rendition of detail” (Alinder, 436). The 12 vintage prints (respectively with title, place, year and size) are: 1. Mount McKinley, Alaska 1948 (9-1/4 by 7-1/2 inches); 2. Saguero Cactus, Sunrise, Arizona 1946 (9-1/2 by 7 inches); 3. Rapids Below Vernal Fall, Yosemite Valley 1948 (7-1/2 by 9-1/2 inches); 4. Mormon Temple, Manti, Utah 1948 (7-1/4 by 9-1/2 inches); 5. Vine And Rock Island of Hawaii, T.H. 1948 (5 by 6-1/2 inches); 6. Refugio Beach, California 1946 (7-1/2 by 9-1/4 inches); 7. The White Church, Hornitos, California 1946 (7-1/4 by 9-1/4 inches); 8. Roots, Foster Gardens, Honolulu, T.H. 1948 (6-1/4 by 7-1/2 inches); 9. Oak Tree, Snow Storm, Yosemite 1948 (7-1/2 by 9-1/4 inches); 10. Trailside, Near Juneau, Alaska 1948 (4-3/4 by 6-1/2 inches); 11. Alfred Stieglitz, An American Place, New York 1938 (5-1/4 by 7-1/2 inches); 12. Clouds Above Golden Canyon, Death Valley, California 1946 (7 by 9-1/2 inches). Each print interleaved with protective paper guard, as issued.

Prints in exceptionally fine condition, mildest foxing to edges of mounts not affecting images; light foxing to booklet, slight wear, scarce original portfolio expertly restored with partial ties.