Martha Porter, Pioneer Woman
date: label: negative made
content: ca 1958
label: print made
content: 1968
name: label: maker
content: Adams, Ansel
notes: label: Description (Brief)
content: Silver gelatin, mounted. Woman with visible wrinkles, solemn expression, hair pulled back, standing to the right of a white column with chipped paint. Wearing a plaid shirt with large round button on right lapel. Signed, ink (recto: bottom right). Verso: Adams stamp, handwritten title, bottom center.
label: Description
content: While visiting friends in southern Utah, Adams took this unusual portrait of an elderly woman sweeping her porch in the small town of Orderville. In his book “Examples,” Adams compares his subject, Martha Porter, to a “found object,” one that is captured exactly how it is found by the photographer (p.71). Porter remarked that she didn’t know why Adams would want to take her portrait. He wrote that he felt “a strong human and aesthetic motivation” for photographing the woman, part respect for her dignity and part delight in the variety of tones and textures the scene presented (p.72). This portrait, with its directly-lit highlights and shadowy background, is a statement of Adams’ preference for naturally-lit portraiture.
label: Description
content: Ansel Adams (1902-1984) is one of the most well-known twentieth century photographers. His contributions to the field of photography include his innovation and teaching of the Zone System. The quality of his photographs set the standard by which many straight photographs are judged.
label: Description
content: The collection in the Photographic History Collection consists of twenty-five photographs, all printed in or about 1968. All are gelatin silver, mounted, labeled and signed in ink by the photographer. The photographs include some of his most well-known images, but also portraits and objects. The selection of images was made in collaboration between the collecting curator and Adams.
place: label: place made
content: United States: Utah
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Photographic History
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content: Photo History Collection
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content: Ansel Adams Collection
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content: Photography
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Reproduction rights held by the Center for Creative Photography--ARIZONA
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: PG.69.117.13
label: accession number
content: 282104
label: catalog number
content: 69.117.13
objectType: label: Object Name
content: photograph
label: Object Type
content: photographs
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: paper (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 45.6 cm x 35.5 cm; 17 15/16 in x 13 31/32 in