Ansel Adams - Photographs New York Wednesday, October 11, 2023 | Phillips
  • In 1943, Ansel Adams was hired to photograph the Manzanar Relocation Center at the behest of Ralph Merritt, the camp’s director. The camp was home to over 10,000 Japanese-Americans who had been forcibly removed from their homes by the government after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Adams was staunchly against this incarceration of American citizens, and his photographs focus on the dignity of the camp’s residents and their resilience in the face of injustice. The resulting images were exhibited at The Museum of Modern Art and published in the book Born Free and Equal: The Story of Loyal Japanese-Americans in 1944. 

    • Provenance

      Private Collection, Japan
      Private Collection, United States

    • Literature

      Haas and Senf, Ansel Adams, p. 146 (for stamp)

8

Street Scene, Manzanar Relocation Center, Manzanar

1943
Gelatin silver print, probably printed later.
8 3/4 x 12 5/8 in. (22.2 x 32.1 cm)
Signed in pencil on the mount; Carmel credit stamp (BMFA stamp 11) with title and dated in an unidentified hand in ink on the reverse of the mount.

Full Cataloguing

Estimate
$5,000 - 7,000 

Sold for $11,430

Contact Specialist

Sarah Krueger
Head of Department, Photographs
skrueger@phillips.com

 

Vanessa Hallett
Worldwide Head of Photographs and Chairwoman, Americas
vhallett@phillips.com

Photographs

New York Auction 11 October 2023