Since the invention of photography, the world's best artists have been taking their cameras to California. "Picturing California" presents more than one hundred magnificent and dramatic images that have been selected from the nation's preeminent collection of California photography. Ansel Adams, Edward Weston, George Fiske, Carleton E. Watkins, Edward Curtis, Morley Baer, Dorothea Lange, Wynn Bullock, Imogen Cunningham, David Hockney, Man Ray, Diane Arbus, and Judy Dater are just some of the photographers featured in this elegant volume. The photographs in this book, taken from 1851 to 1987, capture the spectacular beauty of California's wilderness and the singularity of its urban landscapes. Presented in chronological order, they offer a unique picture of California and an insight into both the nature of photography and its evolution as an art form. -- From publisher's description.