Decades-spanning look at iconic photographer’s career will feature 124 works.
OKLAHOMA CITY (June 5, 2025) — Discovering Ansel Adams will open at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art (OKCMOA) this Saturday, June 7. Presented by Kirsten and David Griffin and organized by the Center for Creative Photography, University of Arizona, with the support of The Museum Box, this exhibition will run through September 28. Discovering Ansel Adams features works by Adams spanning seven decades; ten portraits of him by other artists, and archival materials such as Adams’s compass and exposure meters, letters, and magazines.
“Ansel Adams has long been an audience favorite at OKCMOA, appealing to a broad cross-section of the public that includes not only those that have fallen under the spell of his iconic photographs, but also visitors with a passion for the environment and our country’s national park system,” said OKCMOA President and CEO Michael Anderson, PhD. “Beginning with rarely seen photos he took as a teenage visitor to Yosemite and containing some of the most memorable images in American landscape photography, Discovering Ansel Adams is equally a must-see for those who know Adams’s work well, and for those for whom this show will be an introduction. As its title suggests, it’s an exhibition full of new discovery.”
Alongside the 124 photographs, the exhibition also includes interactive elements such as a facsimile of an early photo album Adams assembled that visitors will be able to flip through, as well as rare archival objects from the Center for Creative Photography. The photographs, objects—both the archival and the interactive—and the installation design help to tell a cohesive story, narrativizing the impact Adams’s earliest experiences with a camera and national parks had on his entire career.
An extensive programming schedule will accompany Discovering Ansel Adams, including classes, tours and more. Programs are expected to sell out, so early registration is encouraged. A complete list can be found at okcmoa.com.
Museum members receive free entry to Discovering Ansel Adams, as well as discounts on programming. For more information, please visit okcmoa.com/membership.
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Image Credit: Ansel Adams, The Tetons and the Snake River, Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming, 1942, Center for Creative Photography, University of Arizona: Ansel Adams Archive, 76.562.2, © The Ansel Adams Publishing Rights Trust
