U.S.-photographer Robert Adams won the 2009 Hasselblad Award for his modernist documentation of the American West landscape, organizers said Wednesday.
Adams, 71, who does not travel because of health reasons, was given the 500,000 kronor ($60,000) diploma and gold medal award at a joint news conference and awards ceremony in San Francisco on Tuesday, Hasselblad foundation spokeswoman Jenny Blixt said.
The ceremony is traditionally staged in Goteborg, Sweden.
In its citation, the jury called Adams "one of the most important and influential photographers of the last 40 years," praising his ability to document the impact of human activity on the landscape.
"Precise and undramatic, Adams' accumulative vision of the West now stands as a formidable document, reflecting broader, global concerns about the environment, while consistently recognizing signs of human aspiration and elements of hope across a particular changing landscape," it said.
Adams, who lives and works in Oregon, has won numerous awards for his work, which include The New West, Summer Nights and Turning Back, and has hosted exhibitions at art museums in Denver, Philadelphia and New York.
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His photographs will be put on display at the foundation's exhibition hall at the Goteborg Museum of Art on Nov. 6.
The Hasselblad award was founded in 1979 and is announced on the birth date of Victor Hasselblad, the founder of the Hasselblad camera equipment company.
The Erna and Victor Hasselblad Foundation promotes scientific education and research in natural sciences and photography.
