Ansel Adams: A Legacy Photographs Sold for $4.6m

Sotheby’s' recent Ansel Adams: A Legacy - Photographs from the Meredith Collection featured a comprehensive selection of Ansel Adams’ most significant images, from his views of Yosemite Valley to his abstract studies of the Pacific Coast. 

Highlights included:

• Aspens, Northern New Mexico which went for $720,000, more than double its high estimate, setting a record for the highest price ever attained for this image
• Surf Sequence, sold for $576,000 (high estimate: $300,000), again setting a record for the series of five images
• Rose and Driftwood, San Francisco, California, which achieved $132,000, also more than double its high estimate and also setting a record for the highest price ever achieved for this image
• The Snake River & the Tetons, Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming was sold for nearly triple its high estimate at $96,000, more than six times Sotheby’s existing record from 2010

The live auction in New York achieved a 100% sell-through rate, generating a total of $4,567,680, exceeding the pre-sale estimate of between $1,775,000 an $2,801,000.  

The collection was comprised of photographs selected by Ansel Adams himself and later gifted to The Friends of Photography, the non-profit organization he co-founded to elevate photography as a fine art medium. Since assuming ownership of the collection in 2002, Austin residents Lynn and Tom Meredith have been guardians of these photographs and champions of Adams’ legacy.  

“We are deeply gratified to see Ansel Adams' legacy honored in such a profound way. This collection represents the very essence of Adams' vision," they said, "his reverence for the natural world, his technical mastery, and his unwavering commitment to photography as an art form."