The last World’s Fair held in the United States was in 1984 in New Orleans. I thought that they no longer occurred and was surprised to learn that there is a major fair scheduled for 2010 in Taipai (Taiwan) with the theme of “Garden and Horticulture”. It would be fair to say that recent World’s Fairs do not carry the same significance that they did earlier in the Century, as the 1915 Pan-Pacific Exposition in San Francisco did. The fair then represented a unique opportunity to showcase information from states, countries, and companies. Today information can travel much more quickly and in many forms not available in the 1915. (The first Transamerica phone call was placed during the 1915 Exposition.)
First Ansel Adams experienced the destruction of the 1906 Earthquake, and then he had the opportunity to see all the best the world had to offer at the 1915 Exposition. Ben and I saw the irony of a father sending his 12 year old son off for a day of self-schooling in this incredible venue. Adams had the curiosity and determination to take advantage of that opportunity.
Do you think the Earthquake or the Exposition had a more important impact on the man that Adams would become?
I am sure Ben’s flute playing would improve if he had a $70,000 flute, but I do not think I would encourage him to go out and buy one. Ansel’s father seems like a very interesting man. I am sorry the book does not explore him in more detail. (Quote liked: Ansel disliked practice but 'soon discovered play improved greatly when he worked hard'.)
Do you think the location that Ansel displayed his diploma said something about his work ethic?
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Chapter 2 - Self Schooled
Posted by Mr. Z at 9:56 AM
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3 Comments:
I would say that the fair effeced ansel the most. He got a chance to see all that is going on around him. He got to see all this technology behind thing in life, and he also got to see many structural designs.However, the earthquake affected him more physically.
I think that ansel thought about his work ethic negatively, if he hung his diploma in the bathroom. He must not have thought he learned much then, but I feel differently. Either that, or he felt like homeschooling isn’t like a real school, and hanging it there was just a joke.
I believe that the wonders of the Pan-Pacific Exhibition had a greater impact on Ansel’s life then the Earthquake did. The earthquake showed him that bad things could happen. The years that followed also showed him that you could recover from those bad things. That is certainly an important lesson. However, the Exhibition allowed him to see and touch things that otherwise he would never have had the opportunity to. Things came together in that venue that otherwise would have required him to travel far and wide to see. As the author said, “The Exposition had given Ansel a sense of the world beyond San Francisco…”. An inquisitive person like Adams certainly would have sought to see that world on his own, but the Exposition made it easy at a formative point in his life. It was noted in passing in the reading that one thing he saw at the fair was the work of Edward Weston. As we will learn later, he formed an important working relationship with Weston in his life and no doubt the seeds of that relationship were planted when he first saw Weston’s photos.
As for hanging the diploma in the bathroom – I may be reading more into it then I should, but I see it as a reflection of Adams understanding that the measure of what he knew was found in the work he did not in a piece of paper.
I have to agree - the fair would have had a greater impact on Adams as a young boy, simply because that experience would have been about broadening his mind. The earthquake, as said before, "showed him that bad things could happen," and while this is something that could impact the development of his psyche and subconscious desires, the Exhibition gave him a direction to go in consciously. It evidenced for him that there were millions of things outside his purview, from which he could pick and choose.
I've heard that the reason Adams hung his diploma in the bathroom was because he didn't particularly see the value in a piece of paper declaring he'd learned something. And that he had a sense of humor.
-Kate
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