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Richard Avedon (1923 - 2004) revolutionized the art of fashion and portrait photography, transcending the boundaries of the genres with his unparalleled vision. Born in New York City in 1923, his interest in photography began at just twelve years old when he joined the Young Men’s Hebrew Association camera club. He later worked as a photographer for the US Marines where his job was to take identity photographs. After taking pictures of a hundred thousand faces it occurred to him that he was becoming a photographer. Back home in New York City, Avedon enrolled at the New School for Social Research where he studied with art director, Alexey Brodovitch. Under Brodovitch’s guidance, Avedon honed in on his technical skills while also embracing his own artistic sensibilities. His unique aesthetic and groundbreaking work throughout his career at Harper’s Bazaar, Vogue and the New Yorker had a profound impact on 20th century photography.

Not merely one of Avedon’s standout images, Dovima with Elephants is among the most iconic of all fashion photographs. Avedon described his spontaneous approach to fashion photography as "a vacation from life." Dovima with Elephants was featured in a 14-page spread on Paris fashions in the September 1955 issue of Harper’s Bazaar, where Avedon worked as a staff photographer from 1946 to 1965. Shot at the Cirque d’hiver in Paris, rather than in the studio as nearly all previous fashion photography had been, Avedon later recalled, “I saw the elephants under an enormous skylight… I then had to find the right dress and I knew there was a potential here for a kind of dream image.” The chosen dress was the first design for Dior by 19-year-old Yves Saint Laurent. 

Prints of this image can be found in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and the Art Institute of Chicago, to name a few.

Ansel Adams (1902 - 1984), one of the most influential 20th century photographers, is best known for his black-and-white landscape photographs of the American West, particularly Yosemite National Park. Starting his career in the early 20th century, he transitioned from aspiring pianist to full-time photographer, publishing his first portfolio in 1927. As an avid environmentalist and a member of the Sierra Club, Adams also used his art to advocate for conservation, helping to establish Kings Canyon as a national park.

After a disheartening photographic trip to Arizona's Canyon de Chelly, Adams came across a grove of aspens. He immediately jumped out of the car, leaving his wife, Virginia, inside. Although Adams initially considered capturing the scene in color, he chose to shoot it in black and white, aiming for a sharper and more striking contrast between the forest's shadows and the bright golden leaves of the aspens. The stillness of the trees allowed him to take a longer, one-second exposure. The image's high contrast has led many viewers to mistake it for a moonlit scene. To Adams, the photograph captured not just the appearance of the aspen grove but the way it felt. 

Prints of this photograph are now held in several public collections, including the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the National Museum of American History, the Princeton University Art Museum, and the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston.

This vintage print is from Ansel Adams's seminal Parmelian Prints of the High Sierras portfolio, first published in 1927. Featuring 18 silver gelatin photographs, the Parmelian Prints of the High Sierras represents Adams’s debut portfolio, emerging just as he committed to a professional photography career. Celebrated as a pivotal achievement in twentieth-century photography, this portfolio is renowned for its profound impact on the field.

In the 1920s, Adams was an active member of the Sierra Club and participated in the Club's annual month-long High Trips in the Sierra Nevada, along with making several trips independently. During these excursions, he captured large-format black-and-white images of many of the region's iconic features, such as King's River Canyon, Muir Gorge, the pinnacles at the headwaters of King's River, Mount Brewer, The Black Kaweah, Mount Ritter, the Minarets, and the area around South Fork of the San Joaquin and Evolution Valley. Among these, the most renowned image is Adams' first masterpiece, "Monolith, the Face of Half Dome," taken in Yosemite Valley. The photographs from these trips formed the core of the Parmelian Prints portfolio.