Art In Action Again

This is the American Earth

This is the American Earth (1960) [Front Pages]. Retrieved from Library of University of California, Berkeley
This is the American Earth (1960) [Front Pages]. Retrieved from Library of University of California, Berkeley
In 1955, Adams organized an exhibit in collaboration with museum administrator and writer, Nancy Newhall, called “This is the American Earth”.

The exhibit showcased 102 photographs (54 of which was by Adams himself) of scenes from the national parks and wilderness areas by 40 artists in the likes of, Barbara Morgan, Eliot Porter, Margaret Bourke-White, and Edward Weston. Wall texts and labels written by Nancy Newhall accompanied the photographs.

In response to warm reception from the public, the exhibit was published into a book by the same title in 1960 by the Sierra Club.

Both the exhibit and the book seek to promote appreciation of the wilderness and effect attitudinal change amongst the public towards conservation. It highlights the need to protect wilderness area from the encroachment of human activities by making wise use of natural resources and, by joining in conservation efforts.

William A. Turnage, Managing Director of the Ansel Adams Trust, pointed out that the book together with Rachel Carson’s “Silent Spring” “played a seminal role in launching the first broad-based citizen environmental movement.”.

“This Is The American Earth is one of the great statements in the history of conservation”

– Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas on the book

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