More About the Image:
Made in 1959, this image consists of familiar motifs for Ansel Adams. Without ‘Northern California’ in the title, we would be as likely to guess any number of potential settings across the western states for the scene. The low horizon sets the stage for a grand expanse that keeps us captivated, looking mostly skyward and perhaps bent a little at the knees, already half succumbed to repose into position and stay awhile to enjoy the view. Nancy Newhall would write of this image that it presents a ‘moon swept up by ethereal clouds in a never-never land’ that keeps our gaze; a tried-and-true device of Ansel’s oeuvre that he was not afraid to revisit ‘as if only the wind had passed that way before.’ (P pg undesignated) This image would later be included in the artist’s Portfolio 5 in 1970.
