New York – Christie’s is pleased to announce Ansel Adams And The American West: Photographs From The Center For Creative Photography, a sale of 150 Ansel Adams photographs to benefit The Center for Creative Photography at the University of Arizona, which begins with a live auction on 10 December at Christie’s New York and will follow with additional online sales in the spring and fall of 2020. The works explore the American West as captured by Adams and will benefit the Center in establishing a new acquisition endowment with the goal of diversifying their permanent collection.

Highlights from the December sale include Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico, 1941, gelatin silver print (estimate: $30,000 – 50,000), Clearing Winter Storm, Yosemite Valley, circa 1940, gelatin silver print (estimate: $30,000 – 50,000), The Tetons and the Snake River, Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming, 1942, gelatin silver print ($20,000 – 30,000), and Georgia O’Keeffe and Orville Cox, Canyon de Chelly National Monument, Arizona, 1937, gelatin silver print (estimate: $12,000 – 18,000).

The new acquisition endowment is possible due to Ansel Adams’ lifelong commitment to the field of photography. When Adams co-founded The Center for Creative Photography, he wanted it to be more than a museum solely dedicated to exhibiting his work. His vision, which has become a reality, was to create a seminal place for the exhibition, research, dialogue, and celebration of all photographers and photography throughout time. The distinct group of works in this sale are duplicate prints that were initially placed at the Center by Adams and reside outside of his archive. This sale will allow the Center to continue to further his vision by diversifying its collection.

Darius Himes, International Head of Photography at Christie’s, explained: “We are thrilled to have been entrusted with the sale of these Ansel Adams works from the Center’s important holdings. The reputation of The Center for Creative Photography is one that instantly resonates within the photography community for having set the standard as a working archive and resource. The sales will offer students and collectors alike the opportunity to acquire prints by Ansel Adams of some of his most memorable images — many of which have never before been on the market — and help the Center further their mission of continuing to build an ever-relevant and important collection.”

Anne Breckenridge Barrett, Associate Vice President for the Arts, University of Arizona and Director, Center for Creative Photography, remarked: “The Center is thrilled to be working with Christie’s on this important project. We are continuing Adams’s legacy by using his work to grow and diversify the collection. By adding more 21st century photography to the collection we are expanding our breadth and depth. We are grateful for Adams’s generosity and foresight, which have made this project possible.”

About The Center for Creative Photography: The Center for Creative Photography is recognized as one of the world's finest academic art museums and study centers for the history of photography. The Center opened in 1975 following a meeting between the University of Arizona President Dr. John Schaefer and Ansel Adams. Beginning with the archives of five living master photographers — Ansel Adams, Wynn Bullock, Harry Callahan, Aaron Siskind, and Frederick Sommer — the collection has since grown to include 270 archival collections. Among these are some of the most recognizable names in 20th century North American photography: Lola Álvarez Bravo, W. Eugene Smith, Edward Weston, and Garry Winogrand. Altogether there are over 8 million archival objects in the Center's collection including negatives, work prints, contact sheets, albums, scrapbooks, correspondence, writings, audiovisual materials, and memorabilia. In addition to whole archival collections, the Center also actively acquires individual photographs by modern and contemporary photographers and currently holds more than 110,000 works by over 2,200 photographers.