Polk Museum of Art Acquires 4 Photographic Treasures

Wednesday, February 23, 2011  • News

Polk Museum of Art recently has added photographs by renowned photographers Ansel Adams, André Kertesz and Alfred Eisenstaedt to its Permanent Collection. The four pieces were purchased by the Museum’s Art Resource Trust group and by individual donors.

“We are delighted to broaden our Permanent Collection with the addition of artwork by three modern geniuses of photography,” said Executive Director Daniel E. Stetson. “These photographers truly led the way with ground-breaking work during the 20^th century.”

The Art Resource Trust is a group of Museum members who are also collectors. The group purchases artwork for the Museum’s Permanent Collection while also learning about art and adding to their own collections. The Museum decides on an area of focus for its biennial purchase and then spends about a year researching that particular medium. A banquet is held every two years at which the group is presented with several available pieces. They then vote to decide which piece to purchase for the Collection.

The ART Trust purchased Ansel Adams’ “Moon and Half Dome,” a signed silver gelatin print with a negative and print date of 1960; André Kertesz’s “Chez Mondrian, Paris,” a signed silver gelatin print with a negative date of 1926 and print date of 1979; Kertesz’s “Satiric Dancer, Magda Forstner, Paris,” a signed silver gelatin print with a negative date of 1926 and print date of 1980; and Alfred Eisenstaedt’s “Little Boy Selling Coca Cola at Roadside, West Paces Ferry, Atlanta, GA 1936,” a signed silver gelatin print with a negative and print date of 1936.

The pieces will be exhibited in the Museum’s Hollis Gallery beginning March 1.

American photographer Ansel Adams (1902-1984) is often revered as the last and defining figure in the romantic tradition of 19^th century landscape painting and photography. A member of the Board of Directors for the Sierra Club, he is well-known for the photos he shot in Yosemite National Park, where he spent time every year from 1916-1984. In 1927, he made what is considered his first fully visualized photograph, “Monolith, the Face of Half Dome.” Adams revisited this masterpiece with the photograph that the Museum purchased.

Hungarian photographer André Kertesz (1894-1985) is best known for his extended study of Washington Square Park and distorted nudes of the 1930s. Drafted into the Austro-Hungarian Army in 1914, he took his camera along and documented the lives of soldiers away from the battlefield. In 1925, he moved to Paris and shot portraits of many great artists, including Piet Mondrian and Marc Chagall.

German photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt (1898-1995) has been referred to as “the father of photojournalism” because he was among the first to photograph concerts, political rallies and social events. He immigrated to the United States in 1935 to escape Nazi oppression and remained in the U.S. until his death. He worked as a photographer for Life magazine from 1936-1972, with his photos appearing on 90 covers. His most famous photo is “V-J Day in Times Square” (1945).