Few, if any, photographers have permeated the American consciousness to the extent of Ansel Adams.
The label “iconic” seems to be tacked onto almost everything these days, but it legitimately applies to the work of this enduring imagemaker.
Although he trained his camera on a wide range of subjects, from World War II Japanese internment camps to his artist friends, Adams (1902-1984) is best known for his signature views of the West, especially his beloved Yosemite.
Michele Mosko Fine Art, a compact commercial gallery across West 12th Avenue from the Denver Art Museum’s Hamilton Building, is hosting a traveling exhibition that includes 13 of Adams’ photographs from 1927 through 1950.
Filling out the offering, which continues through April 12, are 15 related images by Bob Kolbrener of East Patchgoue, N.Y., a still-active Adams protege who works in such a strikingly similar style that cursory viewers could easily confuse the two.
Kolbrener played a role in organizing the tour, which opened in November at a gallery in Nashville, Tenn., and concludes later this year at the Ansel Adams Gallery in Yosemite National Park.
The show is titled “90 Years in the American West,” a reference to the combined period the two photographers have spent in the region. Adams’ earliest images date to 1916, and Kolbrener continues to spend at least three months a year there.
Based on the personal ties between the two artists, their obvious stylistic affinities and their shared devotion to the West, pairing the two groups of photographs makes sense historically and visually.
But because of the show’s limited size, potential visitors should be aware that it provides just a sampling of the photographers’ work and nothing approaching a comprehensive overview.
Given Adams’ enormous popularity, though, the opportunity to see even a baker’s dozen of his images will probably be a considerable lure to many of his fans.
If examples of some of the photographers’ most famous works, such as “Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico” (1941), are absent, a handsome mix of prototypical images are included.
Examples include “Lower Yosemite Falls” (1947), one of his dynamic waterfall scenes, and “White Stump, Sierra Nevada, CA” (1950), a ghostly close-up of a well- worn vestige of nature.
All these selections were printed during Adams’ lifetime. A few are rarer, more desirable vintage prints, which the photographer produced around the time he took them, rather than sometime later.
Among the most striking is a vintage 6-by-8-inch print of “Bishop Pass, Inconsolable Range” (1930), an unexpectedly spare view of a barren rock field framed in the background by a looming row of mountains.
Of particular interest are three of Adams’ “Parmelian prints” (a made-up term), which were printed on a thin, parchment photographic paper, giving them a slightly softer quality.
These images were originally part of a set of 18 silver-gelatin prints of the High Sierra (all but one from glass-plate negatives) published in 1927 by Grabhorn Press and titled “Parmelian Prints of the High Sierras.”
Supercharged drama
The rest of the show is devoted to Kolbrener’s images, which seem in scale (prints as large as 40 by 50 inches) and effect like supercharged extensions of Adams’ work, with a more conscious, perhaps too conscious, sense of drama.
He plays up meteorological effects, like the dance of giant lightning bolts in ” 9/9/99 No. 3, CA” (1999) or the ethereal burst of light in “Portrait of Half Dome, Yosemite National park, CA” (2006).
To Kolbrener’s credit, he has maintained an old-fashioned approach to his work.
“I have not embraced the digital takeover in my photography,” he writes about his work. “I use only film. The processing and printing is done only by me in my darkroom — there is no computer manipulation of any kind!”
Mosko Fine Art has had other noteworthy shows during its 1 1/2-year history, but Adams’ enduring popularity virtually guarantees that this offering will be the still-nascent gallery’s biggest draw to date. And, no doubt, that was the point.
Kyle MacMillan: 303-954-1675 or kmacmillan@denverpost.com
“90 Years in the American West”
Photography. Michele Mosko Fine Art, 136 W. 12th Ave. This exhibition brings together 28 black-and-white images by two master photographers of the American West — Ansel Adams and Bob Kolbrener. Through April 12. (On view April 15-June 6 during events at the Buell Theatre.) Noon to 6 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays. Open till 9 tonight. Free. 303-534-5433 or
