Monolith, the Face of Half Dome, Yosemite National Park, California is a black and white photograph taken by Ansel Adams in 1927 that depicts the western face of Half Dome in Yosemite, California. In the foreground of the photo, viewers are able to see the texture and detail of the rock as well as the background landscape of pine trees and the Tenaya Peak.[2] Monolith was used by the Sierra Club as a visual aid for the environmental movement, and was the first photograph Adams made that was based on feelings, a concept he would come to define as visualization and prompt him to create the Zone System.[2][3] The image stands as a testament to the intense relationship Adams had with the landscape of Yosemite, as his career was largely marked by photographing the park. Monolith has also physically endured the test of time as the original glass plate negative is still intact and printable.[4] The photograph is a part of the portfolio Parmelian Prints of the High Sierras, released in 1927.
- ^ "Monolith, the Face of Half Dome, Yosemite National Park, California". The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Retrieved March 5, 2019.
- ^ a b Hersh, Allison. "America the Beautiful". Savannah Morning News. Retrieved 2019-12-05.
- ^ Frost, James. "Modernism and a New Picturesque: The Environmental Rhetoric of Ansel Adams". Technical Communication, Deliberative Rhetoric, and Environmental Discourse: Connections and Directions: 117 – via JSTOR.
- ^ Alinder, Mary (1985). Ansel Adams: An Autobiography. Boston: Little, Brown and Company. pp. 75–80.