Famed environmentalist and photographer Ansel Adams will be featured in an exhibition opening at The Mariners’ Museum in Newport News on Saturday, June 1. The exhibition, named Fragile Waters, focuses on the theme of water, and its vitality and value. Along with Adams, the exhibition will also feature photographs by Ernest H. Brooks II, and Dorothy Kerper Monnelly.
Famed environmentalist and photographer Ansel Adams will be featured in an exhibition opening at The Mariners’ Museum in Newport News on Saturday, June 1. The exhibition, named Fragile Waters, focuses on the theme of water, and its vitality and value. Along with Adams, the exhibition will also feature photographs by Ernest H. Brooks II, and Dorothy Kerper Monnelly. The gallery has been fortunate enough to receive images by Adams that have never been displayed before and have remained out of the public eye. Tom Moore, the senior curator of photography at the Mariners Museum, said he believes that “the photographs of these three individual photographers will make people aware of the beauty and importance of water in our everyday lives.”
Cedited as the preeminent photographer whose images allowed photography to become an accepted form of fine art, Adams’ black and white images displayed in the gallery are sure to evoke deep emotion in the viewers. Along with being an exceptional photographer and innovator of the art form, Adams, who died in 1984, was a conservationist, teacher, mountaineer, and scientist. Fragile Waters, which is curated by Adams’ daughter-in-law, Jeanne Adams, is sure to be a powerful statement about our world’s largest natural resource, as well as a tribute to one of the most impressive and innovative photographers of the 20th century.
“Winged Wall, Antarctica,” Ernest H. Brooks II
Ernest H. Brooks II, the son of the founder of Brooks Institute of Photography, is often referred to as “the master of light in the sea.” He has worked extensively with underwater photography, and was one of the first to experiment with capturing marine life on film. Dorothy Kerper Monnelly has been deemed “the Ansel Adams of the wetlands” because of her work in the Massachusetts Great Marsh. She has also captured striking images in lava fields of Hawaii, the California dessert, Iceland and in Maine. John Warren, public relations manager for the Mariners’ Museum, said that Brooks and Monnelly were chosen to accompany Adams “because of the fact that all of these images were shot in black and white, and they are about the environment. The approach that they take is similar, and the images are all very compatible and can be shown in the same exhibition seamlessly.”
Fragile Waters consists of 117 images, with the subject matter ranging from Death Valley to waterfalls in Yosemite to a statuesque ice wall in Antarctica. The black and white photographs focus on the marine life in contrasting areas around the globe. Unlike many galleries that display images of water with vibrant color, Fragile Waters will be solely black and white. Forgoing color allowed the artists to choose the sharpness of the whites, and the depths of the blacks, leading to a striking distinction of shades. This choice of color scheme will aid the viewer in gaining an appreciation for the dramatic lighting of their surroundings.
“Witch Island, Daybreak,” Dorothy Kerper Monnelly
The exhibition’s focus on water, one of our most precious natural resources, highlights the tragedies that have recently befallen our precious resource. “Given the environmental episodes that we’ve had with the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, and the events with the tsunami in Japan a couple years back, all of these have just raised an awareness of the need to protect this resource,” Warren said. The goal of Fragile Waters is to focus on the beauty, vigor, and vulnerability of the water and surrounding land that survived these tragedies. Moore said that the theme was chosen because Jeanne Adams is “very concerned about … the quality of water, and the issue of water being an essential resource for us to have life.”
Jeanne Adams, along with Monnelly and Brooks, will speak and offer tours for Mariners’ Museum members on May 30, and for members of the general public at the public opening on June 1. On June 29, Monnelly will lead a nature walk and gallery tour. Brooks will offer a lecture on July 24, and a gallery tour on July 25. In close proximity to Fragile Waters, there will be a Community Photography Show, which will feature works of art done by those in the area. The public has been invited to enter their black and white water photography to the show.
Visit marinersmuseum.org/fragilewaters for more information on Fragile Waters and its programs. Fragile Waters, a traveling exhibition, will remain at the Mariners’ Museum, which is located at 100 Museum Drive in Newport News, through Sept. 2, 2013.
