Ansel’s Public Works

Ansel Adams’ images on assignment as the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Photographic Muralist are an enduring record of the great American landscape that we all share

By William Sawalich

Published February 9, 2016
Updated October 30, 2018

In the summer of 1941, Ansel Adams was recruited for employment by the United States government.

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William Sawalich

William Sawalich made his first darkroom print at age 10. He earned a bachelor’s degree in photography from Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois, then a master’s degree from The Brooks Institute of Photography in Santa Barbara, California. He is a working commercial photographer specializing in editorial, advertising and corporate assignments, and an adjunct photography faculty member at the University of Missouri–St. Louis. He has been writing about photography for an audience of advanced amateurs and professionals since 1998.