1973.7
Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico
Artist
Ansel Adams
(San Francisco, California, 1902 - 1984, Carmel, California)
Title
Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico
Creation Date
1941
Century
20th century
Dimensions
13 1/2 in. x 10 1/2 in. (34.29 cm. x 26.67 cm.)
Classification
Photographs
Creation Place
North America, United States
Medium and Support
gelatin silver print
Credit Line
Gift of David P. Becker, Class of 1970
Copyright
This artwork may be under copyright. For further information, please consult the Museum’s
Copyright Terms and Conditions.
Accession Number
1973.7
This iconic photograph romanticizes the Western landscape at a turning point in American history. Commissioned by the United States Department of the Interior to produce photographs of the American West, Ansel Adams depicted a sleepy town in New Mexico at twilight. The photograph is separated into three distinct horizontal sections—the black sky, the white clouds, and snow-clad Sangre de Cristo Mountains. The old adobes and distant church speak to the romantic Hispanic legacy of the old Southwest. The sky dominates the frame, with the nearly full moon piercing the black sky above the town. Compared to his earlier photographs of Depression Era migrants, filled with political urgency, in Moonrise Adams creates a grander scene, filled with nature’s splendor and purity. In its simplicity, this image provides a possible answer to the question “what are we fighting for?” for a nation on the eve of war.