Landscapes for the People: George Alexander Grant, First Chief Photographer of the National Park Service - Hardcover

by Ren Davis (Author), Helen Davis (Author), Timothy Davis (Foreword by)

George Alexander Grant is an unknown elder in the field of American landscape photography. Just as they did the work of his contemporaries Ansel Adams, Edward Weston, Eliot Porter, and others, millions of people viewed Grant's photographs; unlike those contemporaries, few even knew Grant's name. Landscapes for the People shares his story through his remarkable images and a compelling biography profiling patience, perseverance, dedication, and an unsurpassed love of the natural and historic places that Americans chose to preserve.

A Pennsylvania native, Grant was introduced to the parks during the summer of 1922 and resolved to make parks work and photography his life. Seven years later, he received his dream job and spent the next quarter century visiting the four corners of the country to produce images in more than one hundred national parks, monuments, historic sites, battlefields, and other locations. He was there to visually document the dramatic expansion of the National Park Service during the New Deal, including the work of the Civilian Conservation Corps.

Grant's images are the work of a master craftsman. His practiced eye for composition and exposure and his patience to capture subjects in their finest light are comparable to those of his more widely known contemporaries. Nearly fifty years after his death, and in concert with the 2016 centennial of the National Park Service, it is fitting that George Grant's photography be introduced to a new generation of Americans.

Front Jacket

George Alexander Grant is an unknown elder in the field of American landscape photography. Just as they did the work of his contemporaries Ansel Adams, Edward Weston, Eliot Porter, and others, millions of people viewed Grant's photographs; unlike those contemporaries, few ever knew Grant s name. Landscapes for the People: Photographs by George Alexander Grant, First Chief Photographer of the National Park Service shares his story through his remarkable images and a compelling biography profiling patience, perseverance, dedication, and an unsurpassed love of the natural and historic places that Americans chose to preserve.

A Pennsylvania native, Grant was introduced to the parks during the summer of 1922 and resolved to make parks work and photography his life. Seven years later, he received his dream job and spent the next quarter century visiting the four corners of the country to produce images in more than one hundred national parks, monuments, historic sites, battlefields, and other locations. He was there to visually document the dramatic expansion of the National Park Service during the New Deal, including the work of the Civilian Conservation Corps.

Grant's images are the work of a master craftsman. His practiced eye for composition and exposure and his patience to capture subjects in their finest light are comparable to those of his more widely known contemporaries. Nearly fifty years after his death, and in concert with the 2016 centennial of the National Park Service, it is fitting that George Grant's photography be introduced to a new generation of Americans."

Back Jacket

The national park idea owes a tremendous debt to the photographers who captured the beauty of America s most special places, ultimately inspiring people to push for their protection. William Henry Jackson, Carleton Watkins, and Ansel Adams are the best known, but now Ren and Helen Davis finally give George Grant the attention he so richly deserves. As the first chief photographer of the National Park Service, Grant traveled ceaselessly to capture more than thirty thousand images, documenting a crucial moment when the park system underwent tremendous growth and transformation. Millions of people have seen his work without knowing his name or his story. The centennial of the National Park Service serves as good reason to rectify that.

Dayton Duncan, producer of The National Parks: America s Best Idea

For more than two decades, George A. Grant, chief National Park Service photographer, traveled throughout this land producing superb images of America s most iconic scenery and historic sites, including those of the ancient past. Although little known to the public, Grant belongs in the pantheon of this country s great landscape photographers, such as William Henry Jackson and Ansel Adams. This is Grant s first full biography, with a gallery of his photographs for enjoyment by your fireside or in the classroom.

Richard West Sellars, author of Preserving Nature in the National Parks: A History

A Friends Fund Publication

The University of Georgia Press

Athens, Georgia 30602

www.ugapress.org

ISBN 978-0-8203-4841-4"

Author Biography

Ren Davis (Author)
REN DAVIS's travel writing and photography have appeared in such places as the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Georgia Magazine, and Atlanta Magazine. He is coauthor, with Helen Davis, of several books including Georgia Walks, Atlanta Walks, and Atlanta's Oakland Cemetery: An Illustrated History and Guide (Georgia).

Helen Davis (Author)
HELEN DAVIS taught for nearly thirty years in Atlanta public and private schools. She is coauthor, with Ren Davis, of several books including Georgia Walks, Atlanta Walks, and Atlanta's Oakland Cemetery: An Illustrated History and Guide (Georgia).