Ansel Adams' vacation photos; Fitchburg museum offers new exhibit.

Byline: Anna L. Griffin

FITCHBURG - A stack of photographic proofs was presented to Stephen B. Jareckie in 2003. "They were grouped together like a deck of cards," Mr. Jareckie said.

Flipping through the individual images and knowing something of their origin, Mr. Jareckie said, "I knew we had something, but what exactly they were and how we were all going to tie it together, that was going to take some detective work."

After months of documenting the details, confirming dates and locations, the mystery has been solved.

The result - the Fitchburg Art Museum is once again presenting never-before-exhibited photographs by American master Ansel Adams. The museum exhibited other Adams photos in 2003.

The opening reception for "Ansel Adams in the East: Cruising the Inland Waterway in 1940" was held yesterday at the museum on Merriam Parkway. The exhibition will run through June 3. Mr. Jareckie is the curator of the exhibition.

The photographs were taken by Adams and David Hunter McAlpin during a cruise on the Inland Waterway, also known as the Intracoastal Waterway, in November 1940. The exhibition contains more than four dozen 5-inch proofs, enlarged from 2-1/4-inch negatives.

"This was basically a vacation trip for these men," Mr. Jareckie said. "How about having Ansel Adams take your vacation photographs?"

Mr. Jareckie said the exhibit includes photographs taken by both men. "Where we could identify who took what, we have done so." Some of the photographs could not be identified and are labeled as such.

According to Mr. Jareckie's research, in October 1940, Adams traveled east from his home in Yosemite National Park to New York City at the request of McAlpin, a friend. McAlpin wanted Adams to advise him and Beaumont Newhall in setting up the new department of photography at the Museum of Modern Art.

"It took McAlpin, who was among the first to recognize photography as a valid art form, to convince MOMA to start this new department," Mr. Jareckie said.

"I think this trip came about because they needed a break from all of this," Mr. Jareckie said. "They had completed the first phase of their work at MOMA. McAlpin had a friend, John Stagg, who owned a yacht; arrangements were made and off they went."

Mr. Jareckie said the two men boarded the Billy Bones II, a 42-foot schooner, at Norfolk, Va., to sail south on inland waters to Savannah after the hurricane season. The exhibition traces the 580-mile cruise.

Through his research, Mr. Jareckie discovered that Stagg, a 26-year old yachtsman, was the cook for the cruise. The fourth member of the party was first mate Winfield "Scotty" Scott.

The yachting party left Norfolk on Nov. 20, 1940, and spent Nov. 21 in the Dismal Swamp Canal, where they celebrated Thanksgiving, which included a turkey cooked in the ship's galley.

Mr. Jareckie said his research showed Adams enjoyed the journey and that he shot many rolls of film. The proofs in the exhibition were selected from a set of 105 gelatin-silver proof prints, now owned by the estate of Sarah Sage McAlpin.

"Presumably, the prints were enlarged from the negatives by Adams after he returned home," Mr. Jareckie said. "He then gave them to McAlpin."

Sarah Sage McAlpin inherited the proofs from her husband on his death in 1989. When she died in 2001, the proofs were conveyed to her estate.

Mr. Jareckie said in viewing the proofs he could tell that although the men had a good time, they also used the trip as an opportunity to use their photographic skills. He said most of the photographs were made with McAlpin's Zeiss Super Ikonta BX, a folding viewfinder camera. Adams also brought along a 4-inch-by-5-inch camera.

Although the images that Adams took are interesting, Mr. Jareckie said just as interesting is seeing another side of Adams - that is, Adams on vacation.

"There's one photograph of him, with his camera slung over his head, the yacht's out in open water, and he's mugging it up for McAlpin," Mr. Jareckie said.

There are photographs of Adams taking photographs; one taken by McAlpin shows Adams at the schooner's masthead.

"From that high vantage point, he took a bird's-eye view of the lock and surrounding countryside, a la Maholy-Nagy," Mr. Jareckie said. Laszlo Maholy-Nagy (1895-1946) was a painter, photographer and professor at the Bauhaus School. He is known for championing, among other concepts, the use of unexpected vantage points.

"Adams kept up with trends in photography," Mr. Jareckie said.

Another image Adams took shows the lock wash at South Mills Lock, N.C. "It's an abstract. Now who was doing this type of abstract work in 1940? Adams was, that's who," Mr. Jareckie said.

Mr. Jareckie said he would like viewers to approach the exhibition from the standpoint of offering a glimpse into the life of a man whose work has become so influential. In this regard, it is similar to another exhibition of never-before-shown Adams photographs held at the museum in 2003. That exhibition involved recently discovered photographic proofs of a camping trip in the Southwest with Adams, McAlpin and their friend Georgia O'Keeffe.

"Ansel Adams in the East: Cruising the Inland Waterway in 1940"

From now through June 3 at the Fitchburg Art Museum, Merriam Parkway, Fitchburg.

The museum is open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday.

Admission: adults, $7; students age 13 and older and seniors, $5; children age 12 and younger, free.

The museum is wheelchair-accessible. For more information, call [phone], or visit fitchburgartmuseum.org.

ART: PHOTO

CUTLINE: One of more than four dozen photos by Ansel Adams and David Hunter McAlpin on display at the Fitchburg Art Museum.