Roots, Foster Gardens, Honolulu, Hawaii

About the Art

Captured by one of America’s most well-known photographers and founding member of Group f/64, Ansel Adams, this image depicts the roots of a Moreton Bay fig tree in Foster Gardens, Hawaii’s oldest botanical garden. Adams visited Hawaii repeatedly, first in 1948 when he was commissioned by the Department of the Interior to photograph national parks. This image may have been taken during Adams’s 1948 assignment.

This work is an exquisite example of Group f/64’s photographic intent, providing a close-up image with sharp details (the group’s name refers to the smallest aperture on a camera that yields the sharpest image) that highlights the object’s essential forms, such as in this case, the beautiful curves of this tree’s buttressed roots.

FEATURED IMAGE
Ansel Adams (American, 1902–1984), Roots, Foster Gardens, Honolulu, Hawaii, no date, gelatin silver print, 14 x 11 inches (35.6 x 27.9 cm). Museum purchase with funds provided by the family of Ethel L. Rike and gift of the artist, 1968.41