Celebrated American photographer and environmentalist Ansel Adams was known for his striking and majestic landscapes. An important figure in American photographic circles for over five decades, Adams co-founded the first museum department of photography as a fine art, at New York's Museum of Modern Art in 1940.   Bibliography: Therese Lichtenstein. Master of light: Ansel Adams and his influences. New York, NY: Todtri, c1997. Mary Street Alinder. Ansel Adams: a Biography. New York : H. Holt, c1996. Edited by Elaine M. Bucher. America's Wilderness The Photographs of Ansel Adams with the Writings of John Muir. Philadelphia : Courage Books, c1997.