Surf Sequence 5, San Mateo County Coast, California
1940, printed 1982
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
gelatin silver print
Dimensions
overall: 33.6 x 27.8 cm (13 1/4 x 10 15/16 in.)
Classification
Photograph
Department
CPH
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Gift of Virginia B. Adams
Accession Number
1986.3.75
Art Historical Context
Ansel Adams, a pioneering figure in American landscape photography and co-founder of the f/64 Group, masterfully captured the raw power of nature in *Surf 5, San Mateo Coast, California*. Taken in 1940 along California's rugged coastline, this gelatin silver print—later printed in 1982—depicts crashing waves in a dynamic sequence, freezing the ocean's turbulent energy mid-motion. Adams' signature straight photography style emphasized clarity and detail, using his innovative Zone System to achieve exquisite tonal gradations from deepest shadows to brilliant highlights, transforming a momentary ...
About the Artist
Ansel Adams
Ansel Adams, born on February 20, 1902, in San Francisco, California, grew up as the only child of Charles Hitchcock Adams, a businessman and astronomy enthusiast who tutored him at home, and Olive Bray, with whom he had a distant relationship. A hyperactive child prone to illness, Adams struggled in formal schooling and was educated by private tutors and his father until graduating from eighth gr...