NEW YORK — A striking black-and-white photograph of the majestic Bridalveil waterfall is among numerous that landscape photographer Ansel Adams took with Polaroid film — a technology many celebrated artists embraced to produce innovative and surprising works.
The mural-sized iconic image, “Bridalveil Fall, Yosemite,” is going on the auction block at a presale estimate of $70,000 to $100,000.
The image is among 1,000 Polaroid and gelatin silver prints by some of the biggest names in 20th-century photography being offered at Sotheby’s this month as part of a bankruptcy court-approved sale. The prints are being sold by PBE Corp., a previous owner of the Polaroid brand. The largest number of works belongs to Adams, about 400 Polaroid and non-Polaroid images.
The Polaroid camera was the invention of Edwin H. Land, whose revolutionary 1948 technology for instant photography was not matched until the arrival of the digital camera almost 40 years later.
Land hired Adams as a consultant a year after the camera hit the market — a collaboration that lasted 35 years. The photographer produced some of the most sweeping and dramatic black-and-white photos of the American West, especially of the national park system.
