On Signal Hill, Overlooking Long Beach, California
In this photograph, and in many of the pictures from Adams's series Los Angeles Spring, trees symbolize nature as a whole. Photographed along highways, against cityscapes, and on the fringes of suburbia, they appear out of place, puny, strangled by smog, and yet, as in this work, possess a wiry strength and vitality. Exquisitely printed in rich tonalities, this photograph ironically (and intentionally) harks back to nineteenth-century photography of the American West, which captured the California landscape when it was wild, untouched, and Edenic. Combining tragedy and hope in an object of certain beauty, this poetic work is a compelling expression of the artist's preoccupation with the progressive disappearance of nature.
Artwork Details
- Title: On Signal Hill, Overlooking Long Beach, California
- Artist: Robert Adams (American, born Orange, New Jersey, 1937)
- Date: 1983
- Medium: Gelatin silver print
- Dimensions: 38.1 x 47.4 cm. (15 x 18 11/16 in.)
- Classification: Photographs
- Credit Line: Purchase, The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation Gift, through Joyce and Robert Menschel, 1996
- Object Number: 1996.179
- Rights and Reproduction: © Robert Adams
- Curatorial Department: Photographs
More Artwork
A slider containing 5 items.
Press the down key to skip to the last item.
Press the down key to skip to the last item.
Robert Adams
1977, printed 1983
Robert Adams
1976, printed 1979
Robert Adams
1968
Robert Adams
1968
Robert Adams
1968
Research Resources
The Met provides unparalleled resources for research and welcomes an international community of students and scholars. The Met's Open Access API is where creators and researchers can connect to the The Met collection. Open Access data and public domain images are available for unrestricted commercial and noncommercial use without permission or fee.
To request images under copyright and other restrictions, please use this Image Request form.
Feedback
We continue to research and examine historical and cultural context for objects in The Met collection. If you have comments or questions about this object record, please complete and submit this form. The Museum looks forward to receiving your comments.