Accession Number
1974/1.131

Title
White Post and Spandrel, Columbia, California

Artist(s)
Ansel Adams

Artist Nationality
American (North American)

Object Creation Date
1953

Medium & Support
gelatin silver print on paper

Dimensions
29 in x 23 in (73.7 cm x 58.4 cm);19 5/16 in x 14 3/16 in (49 cm x 36 cm);32 1/8 in x 26 1/8 in (81.6 cm x 66.36 cm)

Credit Line
Museum Purchase

Subject matter
This photograph of a wooden post holding up a dilapidated tin roof reveals the capacity of photography to transform even the most banal of subjects. Here, the dark wall and door of the house in the background of the image almost disappear behind the ghostly, glowing white column. The vertical beam of the post creates a strong T shape with the horizontal line of the tin roof that dominates the composition and flattens the depth of the image. The print was published in a portfolio of 10 landscape photographs that spanned a twenty-year period of time; this image offers a nostalgic yet unsettling interpretation of the architecture of the American countryside.

Physical Description
Photograph of a white painted post holding up the tin roof of a porch.

Primary Object Classification
Photograph

Collection Area
Photography

Rights
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please visit http://umma.umich.edu/request-image for more information and to fill out the online Image Rights and Reproductions Request Form.

Keywords
Architecture
documentary photography
doors
doorways
modern and contemporary art
posts (structural elements)
roofs
spandrels (wall components)
vernacular architecture
window