Silver & Smoke: George Masa & Ansel Adams

May 9, 2026 - October 4, 2026 | Rankin West Gallery

George Masa (1881-1933),  Bridal Veil Falls, lower side, undated. Photo: Courtesy of the Highland Historical Society.

George Masa (1881-1933), Satulah Cliffs, south side, undated. Photo: Courtesy of the Highlands Historical Society.

George Masa (1881-1933), Sunset from Bearpen, undated. Photo: Courtesy of the Highland Historical Society.

This exhibition brings together the photographs of George Masa and Ansel Adams—two early 20th-century artists whose images helped shape America’s relationship with the natural world. Adams is renowned for his sweeping views of the American West, particularly Yosemite, while Masa, a Japanese immigrant working in Western North Carolina, quietly documented the mist-laced terrain of the Great Smoky Mountains. His photographs and mapping efforts were instrumental in the campaign to establish Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Though their names carry different weight in the public imagination, both photographers used the camera as a tool for preservation. Silver & Smoke places their work in dialogue, tracing shared values and divergent legacies. The exhibition invites visitors to consider how beauty, advocacy, and authorship intersect—and how images can both define and defend the landscapes we call home.

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