American photographer Robert Adams was named winner of the 2009 Hasselblad Award, the Hasselblad Foundation that funds the prize announced on Wednesday.

The foundation lauded Adams, known for his photographs of the American West, as "one of the most important and influential photographers of the last 40 years."

"As photography has altered and fragmented, he has refined and reaffirmed its inherent language, adapting the legacies of 19th century and modernist photography to his own very singular purpose," the foundation said in a statement.

Precise and undramatic, Adams' accumulative vision of the American West now stands as a formidable document, reflecting broader, global concerns about the environment, it said.

Adams, 71, received the prize in San Francisco on Tuesday. The award sum is 500,000 kronor (about 60,000 U.S. dollars).

An exhibition of his work will open at the Hasselblad Center of Goteborg Art Museum on Nov. 6, the foundation said.

The Hasselblad Centre and award were named after Victor Hasselblad (1906-1978), the founder of the Hasselblad camera equipment company. The award was founded in 1979.

(Xinhua News Agency April 16, 2009)