The Huntington
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Major Photography Gifts Add Depth to the Collections hree major gifts of photographs were celebrated in & C r a ft s a r c h i - The Next Chapter March at a reception honoring the donors and their tecture of families. “These extraordinary gifts build on the Charles and Tinstitution’s considerable strength in photography Henry Greene, of California and the American West,” said Jennifer A. Current Watts, curator of photographs at The Huntington. received a fter nearly 14 years, having had tremendous I’m also looking forward to working on a “They also add significant depth to our holdings related Guggenheim amounts of fun and having gained dozens book about the history of The Huntington from the to Ansel Adams and a circle of like-minded artists who fellowship in upon dozens of lifelong friends, Kerstin and I time of Mr. Huntington’s death to the present. were dedicated to the craft of fine art, black-and-white 1964 to focus Aare putting the finishing touches on this With any luck, I’ll get Roy Ritchie, our former photo graphy as a means of exploring the natural on prehistoric extraordinary chapter in our lives. As I prepare to director of research, to co-author it with me. We’ve world.” P u e b lo a r c h i - leave The Huntington on June 30, I’m taking with been threatening to do it for quite some time. And tecture, work me something for which I am extraordinarily now that we’re both out of jobs, we really have no Seven Portfolios by Ansel Adams that forms the grateful: a deepened and more fervent appreciation excuse. Besides, it’s important for The Huntington Gift of George Melvin Byrne and core of this William R. Current, Mesa Verde, 1964. of scholarship and beauty. to understand its evolution as an institution. Barbara S. Barrett-Byrne s u b s t a n t ia l Gelatin silver print. I came to this place fully aware of its capacity Some of you may know that I am a historian Over the course of his long career, Ansel Adams g ift . T h e d o n a - as a research library; I am a historian, after all, with of Swedish 20th-century politics. For the past 40 produced seven portfolios, each a group of between 10 tion came from the estate through Karen Sinsheimer, a deep affection for archival research. But I had years, I’ve been thinking about a book on modern and 15 photographs Current’s former wife and an esteemed curator of scant knowledge of the true depth and breadth of Sweden. Its theme will be “Embracing Democracy selected and printed photography at the Santa Barbara Museum The Huntington’s historic and literary collec tions, in the Modern Age.” I want to explore what by the artist himself. of Art. let alone its English Grand Manner portrai ture, democracy means to contemporary Europeans. In They represented, European art, or the major works of American art so doing, I hope to make apparent—and thought- Adams said, “an Photographs by Ansel Adams and his Followers in the Scott Galleries. And while I appreciated the provoking—the differences between contemporary excellent cross- Gift of Jack and Beverly Waltman aesthetics of nice gardens, it took a real immersion European democracy and American republican section of my work.” Jack and Beverly Waltman donated a collection of 73 into the landscape traditions of China and Japan, traditions. The Huntington has fine art photographs focused on the landscape work of my own personal discovery of the magnificent Finally, I want to complete a personal received all seven Ansel Adams and later artists working “in the school of” desert puyas, and, frankly, my morning walks volume for my grandchildren and their children, so portfolios in a gift Adams. In addition to images by Adams (and prints across the property with our dogs (Pepper first, that they might have a window into what it was like from George Melvin made by his longtime darkroom assistant, Alan Ross), then Mickie, and now Eden) to fully understand to come of age during the last half of the 20th Byrne and Barbara S. there are photographs by Henry Gilpin, Ray McSavaney, how glorious these gardens are and how important century. Barrett-Byrne. George John Sexton, and Don Worth, as well as single images by they have become for my own well-being. And so I You may well see me at The Huntington Byrne, who was a such luminaries as Berenice Abbott, Ruth Bernhard, Walker Evans, William Garnett, Brett Weston, and leave The Huntington with a renewed commitment from time to time as I hunt and peck my way passionate amateur Edward Weston. to scholarship and beauty, knowing that both have through these projects. But for the most part, photographer, passed become integral to my own quality of life. Kerstin and I will be back among old friends—and away not long after That doesn’t mean I’m wandering off into in our old house—in Claremont. We hope you’ll Ansel Adams, Monolith, the face of making the donation. JUNE • 2015 JUNE • 2015 Half Dome, ca. 1926. Gelatin silver He acquired five | | the sunset of retirement to sit and ponder all good stay in touch! print. Plate 1 in Portfolio III, portfolios directly things. Quite the contrary; I’ve got several projects Steve Koblik, President Yosemite Valley, 1960. from Adams, having ramping up. I want to take some time to reflect on, become acquainted with the artist while taking one of and write about, the challenge of managing major his legendary Yosemite workshops. nonprofits and the curious circumstances that lead individuals into these positions. How does one get Photographs by William R. Current to such a place, and once they do, what does Gift of the estate of William R. Current CALENDAR • MAY CALENDAR • MAY effectiveness in leadership look like? More than 400 photographs related to the landscapes of the American Southwest, ca. 1956–81, were donated 9 8 by the estate of Pasadena-born artist William R. Current. John Sexton, Aspens, Dusk, Best known for his seminal work documenting the Arts Conway Summit, California, 1978, printed 1984. Gelatin silver print..