[pure-silver] Re: Experts: Ansel Adams photos found at garage sale worth $200 million
- From: Robert Hall <robert.g.hall@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: pure-silver@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 29 Jul 2010 11:41:58 -0600
I received and email from Alan Ross about this I thought it was of interest
so with his permission I am reposting his response to it here...
Dear Robert,
This is going to be a quick message in response to numerous emails I have
received concerning some glass plate negatives purchased by a Mr. Norsigian
at a California garage sale, and which he attributes authorship of to Ansel
Adams. He now seems to be claiming that the plates have been
"authenticated" at a value of $200,000,000. The Norsigian group contacted
me earlier this year, and I have seen jpegs of all the images. I do not
believe they ARE the work of Ansel Adams. See below for my opinion.
Cheers,
[image: Sig on clear]
alan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
www.alanrossphotography.com<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1103587631580&s=318&e=001Es5ppnvR_eUjw2dhy8JoQSgS-GUBLW8wqfvqVPy-wufImVQ5PHlWD21OqF_3RyOZmYdg-CIzxA7a_6YMVR0zacNV12QMbKRmRVYtyOoPnck_QrF9q3CKhe_8BQZDq4sM>
CNN Newsbreak:
"Experts: Ansel Adams photos found at garage sale worth $200
million"<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1103587631580&s=318&e=001Es5ppnvR_eV49lNOsskkYTTbHrkqlfi7HpgSfm8TBsV1a1DLVHN3M65CvG157A3_7i32AkspvlslVtl_iWe-vjMaV-6Mtzf-dEPhixfP6K5-9SEOKB4JBrJOMrPEptICYq1sqdGSRYK28TLJZH06tyi2Ey-4uVSW8N0URwUPNOeZ3FKFkhSZCIq0yQHtlQZ1ugZ1Bv5mOXI=>
Interestingly enough, the New York Times has not seen fit to provide
coverage of this claim as yet.
The images in the Norsigian collection do seem to be the work of a competent
photographer working in Yosemite, San Francisco and Carmel. In a format
used by AA in the late 20's. The camera locations are similar to known
Adams favorites - but then, most of those were primary tourist viewpoints
offering an obvious place to plant a camera.
Some of the images are of yachting scenes on San Francisco Bay. Nothing of
any similarity in subject or format exists in the Adams Archive. LIkewise
some utterly bland images of a Spanish-style mission.
A major claim in the voice for authenticity is that one image - I believe of
the Jeffrey Pine on Sentinel Dome - shows some same/similar cloud formations
as exist in a known Adams image. Anyone who knew Ansel also knows that he
very often had fellow photographers at his side - either by invitation or
coincidence - when he was out photographing. The clouds could easily have
been recorded by a different camera a few feet away.
The plates seem to show signs of fire damage. Yes, Ansel's Yosemite
darkroom caught fire in 1938 and a number of prized negatives were lost.
For me, this is the weak-link/downfall of the authenticity claimants. Ansel
was working with a 6.5x8.5 plate camera when he did Monolith in 1927. The
fire was in 1938. A good number of negatives made prior to the fire had
been printed many times - Pine Branches in Snow comes to mind, for one
example. As well as I know Ansel's work, and as far as I have otherwise
heard, not ONE authenticated AA print from ANY of the Norsigian plates is
known. If it was a good image - and some of these are - Ansel couldn't have
NOT resisted making more than one print of each - and even then SOME would
have survived to exist in Ansel's own archive or in the collections of
photgapehr and Sierra Club friends.
They are some nice images, but I cannot believe they are the work of Ansel
Adams.
And 200 million dollars is ______. You fill in the blank.
Robert Hall
www.RobertHall.com
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