California Trees

The 1932 Exhibition Revisited

California Museum of Photography

August 4, 2011 - March 17, 2012

Featuring highlights from a 1932 juried exhibition at the De Young in San Francisco, 'California Trees' demonstrates the shift in style from the dreamy Pictorialism of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century to the crisp, detailed focus of Group f.64 photographers. Sponsored by the Save the Redwoods League and the Garden Club of America, the 1932 exhibition 'California Trees' was juried by a group including Lloyd La Page Rollins, the De Young's director and a major Group f.64 supporter. As a result, Group f.64 members, including Ansel Adams, Edward Weston, and Willard Van Dyke, all but swept the jury's awards. Yet 'California Trees' did not herald a complete changing of the guards; many other works featured in the 164-photograph exhibition included photographs by Pictorialist hangers-on.

This exhibition is drawn from the original 'California Trees' photographs, now in the UCR/California Museum of Photography's permanent collection, and features work by Ansel Adams, Willard Van Dyke, Alma Lavenson, and Brett Weston alongside lesser known Pictorialist photographers also exhibited in the original 1932 exhibition.