ansel adams garage sale find

There is a lot of doubt being expressed in other forums about the independence of the supposed experts who authenticated these plates, the marketing hype accompanying this, the question of whether they rightly belong to the Adams estate, having been (apparently) 'lifted' after a fire in Adams own workrooms and as if that wasn't enough, the skill of the unknown person who is going to do the silver prints and the whole question of whether digital prints are at all in keeping with the Ansel Adams tradition.
I'd exercise some caution in accepting everything that is being touted about these photographs.
 
Leigh Youdale said:
There is a lot of doubt being expressed in other forums about the independence of the supposed experts who authenticated these plates, the marketing hype accompanying this, the question of whether they rightly belong to the Adams estate, having been (apparently) 'lifted' after a fire in Adams own workrooms and as if that wasn't enough, the skill of the unknown person who is going to do the silver prints and the whole question of whether digital prints are at all in keeping with the Ansel Adams tradition.
I'd exercise some caution in accepting everything that is being touted about these photographs.
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One of Adam's former printer/assistants worked for me as an assistant for several years. He knows Adam's taste in finished prints. He's still working and would be up to the task I'm sure.
 
PKR said:
One of Adam's former printer/assistants worked for me as an assistant for several years. He knows Adam's taste in finished prints. He's still working and would be up to the task I'm sure.
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Well, that would be a plus if it were known he'd got the job of doing the printing. At this stage I don't think anybody knows for sure.
 
Leigh Youdale said:
Well, that would be a plus if it were known he'd got the job of doing the printing. At this stage I don't think anybody knows for sure.
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John Adams, Ansel's son is involved with the trust. The printer knows the family and I'm sure they could be in touch. Adams had a number of darkroom helpers who are active in photography currently. The Adams trust will likely be involved in this. I don't know how something like this would work. My guess is that if the fellow who bought The Negatives knew what they were, he would have sent up a flair. This may have been caught up in the world of art inspectors. The money thing will be interesting. If it were me, I would try to deal directly with the family. It's tricky stuff. We may all learn a little from this. I think Adams lived in San Francisco in his early years, the photos will be fun to see.
 
Making 200 million of 65 plates is quite a trick. Equals 3.07 million a plate. You would have to find a lot of collectors that will pay quite the price for a print while OTOH there would a lot of them be made. Even if you would charge anyone for any reproduction the share of the collectors still would have to be substantial.

Can't see how that would happen.
 
I thought the Adams trust were caliming that the images are not Adams work. Therefore they have no claim on them or interest except that they must believe that the image owner is using Adams name to make money. Expect a Law suit soon.
Personally, having looked at the images online, the quality of printing seems very dubious to me. I don't care whether they are Adams work or not. If I wanted an Adams reproduction I would buy it from the Adams trust for a lot less money.

http://www.ricknorsigian.com/http://www.apug.org/forums/redirect...www.ricknorsigian.com/norsigian_purchase.html
 
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tlitody said:
I thought the Adams trust were caliming that the images are not Adams work. Therefore they have no claim on them or interest except that they must believe that the image owner is using Adams name to make money. Expect a Law suit soon.
Personally, having looked at the images online, the quality of printing seems very dubious to me. I don't care whether they are Adams work or not. If I wanted an Adams reproduction I would buy it from the Adams trust for a lot less money.

http://www.ricknorsigian.com/
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I don't know the details. I'm sure it will show up in the photo press. Years ago I was working in Taos. I was staying in a hotel just off of the town square. I would have breakfast in a small diner that was next to the Taos Theater. The theater was closed and was one of the properties that Dennis Hopper purchased. This was all in around 1969-71. One day at breakfast, the waitress told me, knowing I was a photographer, that a large number of Paul Strand's negatives were found stored in the basement of the theater. Strand's wife was alive at the time and lived in the area. Hopper, a good photographer, likely did something good with the Negs.. like turned them over to Ms. Strand. I didn't hear any more about the find.
 
martin s said:
This New Yorker article about art and fraud is a very interesting read, it's about paintings rather than photographs though.

martin
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Thanks Martin.

Another story.. In the early 80s I was at a huge Photo Auction in San Jose CA. The place was huge and full of people selling cameras and photographs. There must have been 500-1,000 people in this building. A printer from the lab I used, found me in the crowd and she dragged me over to a high-end booth. The guy was selling photographs. Very expensive prints. He had a copy of "Moon Rise" that was framed and unsigned. There was no price on the print. I'm guessing from memory it was printed on 16 x20 paper (in my youth, I worked for the people who supplied Ansel's printing paper. I shipped most of it to him while I worked there and knew the brands he liked). Anyway, I asked if i could have a closer look and my printer friend and I agreed that the grain was too fine for the 8 x10 film Adams normally used. it looked like Kodalith. Kodalith could be processed to hold a good range of tones. It was an extremely good copy. Adams normally dry-mounted and signed the mount, just below the print. He also would sign the back of a print if it was unmounted. This was framed and so no signature could be seen on the front. I think the starting price was $5,000. I don't know what became of this. A printer, or photographer who had worked with big film would have caught this. One of the people who had flown in from off-shore, with $30K cash in their pockets might be taken.
 
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Malcolm Gladwell wrote about art fraud in the first chapter of "Blink" I highly recommend reading it, as a $10 million statue fooled all the experts and scientists hired by the Getty Museum, who spent a year on a thorough analysis of the statue and then declared it authentic, but didn't fool Thomas Hoving, who only needed a split second to state that it was a fraud.
 
Vic said:
Malcolm Gladwell wrote about art fraud in the first chapter of "Blink" I highly recommend reading it, as a $10 million statue fooled all the experts and scientists hired by the Getty Museum, who spent a year on a thorough analysis of the statue and then declared it authentic, but didn't fool Thomas Hoving, who only needed a split second to state that it was a fraud.
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Thanks Vic, I'll have a look. p.
 
Vic said:
Malcolm Gladwell wrote about art fraud in the first chapter of "Blink" I highly recommend reading it, as a $10 million statue fooled all the experts and scientists hired by the Getty Museum, who spent a year on a thorough analysis of the statue and then declared it authentic, but didn't fool Thomas Hoving, who only needed a split second to state that it was a fraud.
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Man I love Gladwell - haven't read blink yet, but it's on the shelf. I read "What the dog saw" the other day - what a good book.

martin
 
martin s said:
Man I love Gladwell - haven't read blink yet, but it's on the shelf. I read "What the dog saw" the other day - what a good book.

martin
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Blink will really open your eyes about how people make decisions.

Make sure you also read Outliers. It is a wonderful book. Shows you that there is no such thing as genius, it's all hard work and dedication. But Gladwell is so eloquent in his writing, it is a joy to read.

You can also read all his articles here:

http://www.gladwell.com/archive.html

Best!
 
Is it just me that thinks "hype" with this stuff? "they're just after the money"

"When I heard that $200 million, I got a little weak," Norsigian said at a Beverly Hills art gallery
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Well I suppose starting off from being pretty indifferent to Adam's in the first place doesn't help
 
Sparrow said:
Is it just me that thinks "hype" with this stuff? "they're just after the money"



Well I suppose starting off from being pretty indifferent to Adam's in the first place doesn't help
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It's my experience that it's all about hype. I was with a gallery years ago that had a PR vector. I was handed a copy of my Bio. and I didn't recognize the individual described. I made a comment and was politely told that they knew what they were doing. My experience and minor connections to the art world were exaggerated to the point of embarrassment. It's a business, and in the case of Adams and an argued value of $ 200 million, a big business. Remember, there are lawyers involved. As an old pal used to say, "Sharks in shallow water". It will be interesting to watch.
 
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