[pure-silver] Re: Experts: Ansel Adams photos found at garage sale worth ...
- From: "bonner" <bguil@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <pure-silver@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 31 Jul 2010 14:01:50 -0400
More opinion from real, not lawyer hired non photo experts on the plates
supposedly from AA. Statement below from John Sexton, also an AA assistant.
Internal link is grandson’s opinion.
Bg
I am sending this “mini-edition” of my email newsletter in response to the
scores of emails and voice mails I have received in the past few days, while
traveling, concerning the recent media attention concerning a group of 65 glass
plates, purchased ten years ago for $45 by a fellow named Rick Norsigian at a
garage sale in Fresno, California. These negatives are alleged to have been
made by Ansel Adams. The recent “authentication” announcement, and wide spread
media coverage, have certainly been fascinating. It is amazing how much
attention Ansel, and his photography, commands.
First of all I want to state that I have NOT seen any of the glass plates in
question, nor have I seen any actual prints made from those negatives. I have
however seen reproductions of many of the images since the first round of media
coverage quite some time ago. I have looked at the statements claiming to
verify that these negatives were indeed made by Ansel, but personally can find
no “proof” to indicate that such is the case.
I do believe these images were made by a talented and competent photographer
who, like many photographers then and now, was drawn to photograph places of
great beauty like Yosemite. A friend or acquaintance of Ansel might even have
made these images.
One of the most revealing pieces of information suggesting that Ansel did not
make these negatives is that there are no known prints from ANY of these glass
plates, and I personally believe Ansel would have likely printed at least some
of these images. In addition, throughout Ansel’s photographic career he was
meticulous in the way he handled and stored his negatives. It’s beyond my
comprehension that Ansel would have allowed negatives to end up in a storage
facility in Los Angeles, when he took such good care of the approximately
44,000 negatives that reside in his archive at the Center for Creative
Photography at the University of Arizona.
I also find it surprising that among the “experts” that the attorney
representing Mr. Norsigian assembled there is not a single recognized
photographic historian or scholar. As many readers of this newsletter are large
format photographers it will come as no surprise that film or plate holders
have different methods for securely holding the film, or glass plate, in
position. If one had access to these photographic plates, it would be easy to
compare the edge artifacts on the plates in question with glass plates that
were definitely made by Ansel to see if any of the plates were exposed in the
same holders. Plate holders in use during the time frame in question would each
have unique characteristics that would easily be visible. Ansel, like virtually
all photographers, kept his plate and film holders for a long period of time.
As I said... interesting!
I am not along in my skepticism about these images. Matthew Adams, Ansel’s
grandson and President of The Ansel Adams Gallery, William Turnage, Managing
Trustee of The Ansel Adams Publishing Rights Trust (who referred to situation
as “Ansel Scam”), Alan Ross, Ansel’s Photographic Assistant prior to me - who
still makes the beautiful Special Editions Prints of Yosemite from Ansel’s
original negatives, along with other photographic friends and colleagues, have
all expressed doubt that these images were made by Ansel.
Here are a couple of interesting links to check out:
http://theanseladamsgallery.blogspot.com/
http://www.npr.org/blogs/pictureshow/2010/07/29/128854843/adamsscam
It will be interesting to see what unfolds. Along with the massive amount of
attention suggesting Ansel made the 65 glass plates, I found it interesting
that “Uncle Earl” Brooks - a photographer from Fresno photographing during the
time period in question, might have made them. If you haven’t heard about this
possibility, you may want to check out this link:
http://www.ktvu.com/news/24432262/detail.html
In the meantime, I would advise people to think carefully before rushing out to
order prints from these glass plates thinking you are purchasing a photograph
by Ansel Adams. But then again... it might be nice to add a beautiful image by
“Uncle Earl” to your collection.
From: pure-silver-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:pure-silver-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of mark@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Friday, July 30, 2010 1:09 PM
To: pure-silver@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [pure-silver] Re: Experts: Ansel Adams photos found at garage sale
worth ...
Don it is not quite as cut and dried here in the US. When dead the copyrights
go to the estate as long as they are in force. But there is another
complication in that a name can be a brand, and branding can be transferred by
contract here. For years and years much of the items sold by teams in Nascar
with the drivers image or logo, but none of the revenue produced from the image
or name of the driver actually found its way to the driver. It was considered
part of the job of driving a race car. Now most if not all have their on brand
and companies that deal with that part of the business, and have their own ways
of licensing products.
I'm no lawyer and don't play one on TV, but Ansel Adams could be considered
both a name and a brand. I don't know if Ansel trademarked his name or the
ramifications that would hold.
If in the US the artist is dead and the copyright has expired, the work falls
into public domain and anyone can use it.
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [pure-silver] Re: Experts: Ansel Adams photos found at garage
sale worth ...
From: Don Sweet <don@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Thu, July 29, 2010 10:52 pm
To: pure-silver@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
That's interesting. In my country an artist's right to prevent false
attribution of authorship is one of the so called moral rights covered by
copyright law. I don't know how it works in the USA.
Where the artist is dead, and assuming any copyright has expired, who has "the
right to the name"?
Don Sweet
----- Original Message -----
From: Carlileb@xxxxxxx
To: pure-silver@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Friday, July 30, 2010 2:40 PM
Subject: [pure-silver] Re: Experts: Ansel Adams photos found at garage sale
worth ...
In a message dated 7/29/2010 1:23:33 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time,
don@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx writes:
As there would therefore not be much point in starting a court case over the
authenticity of these negatives, I fail to see why these people are talking
like Melvin Belli.
If the Adams estate owns the right to the name, there certainly is cause for a
dispute.
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