Archives of American Art

Oral history interview with Robert Adams

Summary

Collection ID:
AAA.adams10
Creators:
Adams, Robert, 1937-
Jurovics, Toby, 1965-
Dates:
2010 July 20
Languages:
English
.
Physical Description:
43 Pages
Transcript
Repository:

Scope and Contents

Scope and Contents
An interview of Robert Adams conducted 2010 July 20, by Toby Jurovics, for the Archives of American Art, at Adams' home, in Astoria, Oregon.
Scope and Contents
Robert Adams speaks of compensating his early struggles with polio with activity outdoors; his close relationship with his father through outdoor expeditions; visiting the Denver Art Museum as a teenager; years of study and experimentation with photography on his own and under the direction of Myron Wood; the financial struggle of transitioning from an English professor to a full-time photographer; the outcome of his work under the Guggenheim and MacArthur Foundation Fellowships; his first sale of photographs to the Museum of Modern Art; the role of spirituality and morality in art; environmental and societal concerns such as deforestation, climate change, and overpopulation that inform much of his work; the foreboding change in landscape he has observed in the American West since the 1970s; his concern that future generations of landscape photographers may not share the same connection with the land as he has experienced; the need to change society's domineering view of the wilderness; the working relationship he shares with his wife, Kerstin; the process of publishing his photographs and the importance of quality materials and printing in these publications; the sequence of the books he has published as a reflection of his life experiences. Adams also recalls Michael Hoffman, John Szarkowski, Myron Wood, Lewis Baltz, Leo Castelli, Beaumont Newhall, Emmet Gowin, Ansel Adams, Timothy O'Sullivan, and others.

Biographical / Historical

Biographical / Historical
Robert Adams (1937- ) is a photographer in Astoria, Oregon. Toby Jurovics (1965- ) is curator of photography at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C.

Administration

Sponsor
Funding for this interview was provided by the Brown Foundation.
Existence and Location of Copies
Transcript is available on the Archives of American Art's website.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
This interview is part of the Archives of American Art Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and administrators.

Digital Content


Using the Collection

Conditions Governing Access
Audio: ACCESS RESTRICTED; use requires written permission. Contact Archives Reference Services for information.
Conditions Governing Access
Use of the audio of this interview, with permission, requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives of American Art reading rooms.

More Information

General

General
Originally recorded on 3 memory cards. Reformatted in 2010 as 5 digital wav files. Duration is 2 hr., 57 min.


Keywords

Keywords table of terms and types.
Keyword Terms Keyword Types
Global environmental change Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Landscape photography Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Photographers -- Oregon -- Interviews Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Photography -- Study and teaching Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Poliomyelitis -- Patients -- Rehabilitation Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Sound recordings Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Interviews Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Adams, Ansel, 1902-1984 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Baltz, Lewis, 1945-2014 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Castelli, Leo Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Gowin, Emmet, 1941- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Hoffman, Michael Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Newhall, Beaumont, 1908-1993 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
O'Sullivan, Timothy H., 1840-1882 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Szarkowski, John Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Wood, Myron Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Denver Art Museum Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. Fellows in Photography Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
MacArthur Fellows Program Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Museum of Modern Art (New York, N.Y.) Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid

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