Shelby Lee Adams

{{Short description|American photographer}} {{Infobox artist |image = Shelby Lee Adams.jpg |alt = Photograph of Shelby Lee Adams |caption = Adams in 2010 |birth_date = {{birth date and age|1950|10|24}} |birth_place = [[Hazard, Kentucky]] |known_for = Photography |alma_mater = [[Cleveland Institute of Art]], [[Massachusetts College of Art and Design]] }}

'''Shelby Lee Adams''' (born October 24, 1950)<ref name="Mark">Mark, Rebecca & Vaughan, Robert (2004) ''The South'', Greenwood Press, {{ISBN|978-0-313-32734-6}}, p. 60-61</ref> is an American [[environmental portrait]] [[photographer]] and artist best known for his images of [[Appalachia]]n family life.

==Life and career== Adams has photographed Appalachian families since the mid-1970s.<ref name="Foerstner">Foerstner, Abigail (1994) "Appalachia observed: Shelby Lee Adams exhibit features portraits out of a living past", ''[[Chicago Tribune]]'', September 25, 1994, p. 18</ref> He had first encountered the poor families of the [[Appalachian Mountains]] as a child, travelling around the area with his uncle, who was a doctor.<ref name="MJ">"[https://books.google.com/books?id=8OYDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA52 Vanishing Tribe]", ''[[Mother Jones (magazine)|Mother Jones]]'', September–October 1991, p. 52-55, retrieved 2010-10-18</ref> His work has been published in three monographs: ''Appalachian Portraits'' (1993), ''Appalachian Legacy'' (1998), and ''Appalachian Lives'' (2003).

==''The True Meaning of Pictures''== Adams was the subject of a documentary film by [[Jennifer Baichwal]] in 2002 - ''The True Meaning of Pictures: Shelby Lee Adams's Appalachia.'' This was shown at the [[Toronto International Film Festival]], and at the [[Sundance Festival]] in 2003.<ref name="Goddard">Goddard, Peter (2002) "Photographer spies on the human drama: Shelby Lee Adams's Appalachian photographs capture undercurrent of pain", ''[[Toronto Star]]'', August 31, 2002, p. H12.</ref><ref name="Harvey">Harvey, Dennis (2003) "[https://www.variety.com/review/VE1117919852.html?categoryid=31&cs=1&p=0 The True Meaning of Pictures: Shelby Lee Adams' Appalachia]", ''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]'', February 2, 3003, retrieved 2010-10-18</ref> The film critiques and defends Adams' method in photographing Appalachian people for his previously published books.

==Awards== *[[List of Guggenheim Fellowships awarded in 2010|2010 Guggenheim Fellowship]]<ref>{{Cite web |title=Shelby Lee Adams |url=https://www.gf.org/fellows/all-fellows/shelby-lee-adams/ |access-date=2023-02-28 |website=John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation |language=en-US}}</ref>

==Books by Adams== *''Appalachian Portraits.'' Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1993. {{ISBN|0-87805-646-7}}; {{ISBN|0-87805-667-X}}. *''Appalachian Legacy: Photographs.'' Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1998. {{ISBN|1-57806-048-6}}; {{ISBN|1-57806-049-4}}. *''Appalachian Lives.'' Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2003. {{ISBN|1-57806-540-2}}. *''Salt and Truth.'' Richmond, Va.: Candela, 2011. {{ISBN|0-9845739-1-7}}.

==Permanent collections== *[[Art Institute of Chicago]], [[Chicago]]<ref>"[http://www.artic.edu/aic/collections/artwork/132811 ''The Home Funeral'', 1990]", catalogue entry, Art Institute of Chicago. Accessed 3 August 2011.</ref> *[[Museum of Contemporary Photography]], Chicago<ref name="mocp">"[http://www.mocp.org/collections/permanent/adams_shelby_lee.php Shelby Lee Adams]", Museum of Contemporary Photography. Accessed 3 August 2011.</ref> *[[International Center of Photography]], [[New York City]]<ref name="icp">[http://emuseum.icp.org/view/people/asitem/items$0040null:1088/0 Shelby Lee Adams] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120328113036/http://emuseum.icp.org/view/people/asitem/items$0040null:1088/0 |date=2012-03-28 }}, International Center of Photography. Accessed 3 August 2011.</ref> *[[Musée de l'Élysée]], [[Lausanne]]<ref>"[http://www.elysee.ch/en/collections/ The collection]", Musée de l'Élysée. Accessed 3 August 2011.</ref> *[[Museum of Modern Art]], New York<ref name="icp" /> *[[Fogg Museum]], [[Cambridge, Massachusetts]]<ref name="icp" /><ref>[http://www.harvardartmuseums.org/collection/search.dot?page=1&fulltext=&artist=Adams%2C+Shelby+Lee Catalogue search for "Shelby Lee Adams"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120323135919/http://www.harvardartmuseums.org/collection/search.dot?page=1&fulltext=&artist=Adams,+Shelby+Lee |date=2012-03-23 }}, Harvard Art Museums. Accessed 3 August 2011.</ref> *[[National Gallery of Canada]], [[Ottawa]]<ref name="mocp" /> *[[San Francisco Museum of Modern Art]]<ref>"[http://www.sfmoma.org/explore/collection/artists/2478/artwork Works by Shelby Lee Adams]", San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Accessed 3 August 2011.</ref> *[[Smithsonian American Art Museum]], [[Washington, D.C.|Washington, DC]]<ref name="icp" /><ref>Results of a [http://americanart.si.edu/collections/search/ search] of the collection, 3 August 2011.</ref> *[[Stedelijk Museum]], [[Amsterdam]]<ref name="mocp" /> *[[Time Life|Time Life Collection]], [[Rockefeller Center]], New York{{Citation needed|date=August 2011}} *[[Victoria and Albert Museum]], [[London]]<ref>"[https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O147767/photograph-berthie-napier-with-pipe-and/ Berthie Napier with Pipe and John]", catalogue entry, Victoria and Albert Museum. Accessed 3 August 2011.</ref> *[[Whitney Museum of American Art]], New York<ref name="icp" /> *[[Middle Tennessee State University]], [[Murfreesboro, Tennessee|Murfreesboro]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.dnj.com/story/news/2016/11/04/photographer-shelby-lee-adams-create-mtsu-archive-appalachian-images/93255292/|title=Photographer Shelby Lee Adams to create MTSU archive of Appalachian images|date=2016-11-04|website=DNJ|language=en|access-date=2019-08-24}}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== *[https://shelby-lee-adams.blogspot.com/ Adams's website] *{{IMDb title|0334548|The True Meaning of Pictures: Shelby Lee Adams' Appalachia}} 2002.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Adams, Shelby Lee}} [[Category:1950 births]] [[Category:Living people]] [[Category:Appalachian studies]] [[Category:People from Perry County, Kentucky]] [[Category:Photographers from Kentucky]]