Skip to content

Robert Adams

American

5/8/1937, Orange, New Jersey

Audio Stories

Adams discusses documenting humanity’s toll on the environment

Show TranscriptHide Transcript

transcripts

NARRATOR:  

Robert Adams photographs with a critical, but poetic lens. Focusing on the great American west for over four decades, Adams has witnessed the human sprawl thats invaded and replaced the wilderness. His photographs capture uprooted trees, littered fields, and distant highways. In these striking black-and-white images, Adams reveals a land that refuses to back down, in spite of modern technology, real estate, and human demand. Artist Robert Adams: 

ROBERT ADAMS:  

I like to document whats glorious in the West—and remains glorious, even despite what weve done to it. Id like to be very truthful about that, but I also what to show what is—what is disturbing and what needs correction. Uh, the best way to do that, and its the way every artist dreams of, is to show it at the same time, in the very same rectangle. The effort is to find that perfectly balanced frame, uh, where everything fits. Uh, its not exactly the same as life, its—its life seen better.  

 

Credits:  

Audio of Robert Adams interview excerpted from Art 21: Ecology, episode title The New West 

Courtesy Art21, Inc. 

© Art21, Inc. 

Read MoreCollapse

Works in the Collection

See All

Please note that artwork locations are subject to change, and not all works are on view at all times. If you are planning a visit to SFMOMA to see a specific work of art, we suggest you contact us at collections@sfmoma.org to confirm it will be on view.

Only a portion of SFMOMA's collection is currently online, and the information presented here is subject to revision. Please contact us at collections@sfmoma.org to verify collection holdings and artwork information. If you are interested in receiving a high resolution image of an artwork for educational, scholarly, or publication purposes, please contact us at copyright@sfmoma.org.

This resource is for educational use and its contents may not be reproduced without permission. Please review our Terms of Use for more information.