Soap Opera

I wrote a while back on the supposed discovery of 65 Ansel Adams negatives at a garage sale by Rick Norsigian, and his attempts to sell prints of the negatives. I have been busy with other things and lost track of the story over time, but recently became curious and searched online for any news.

Some background: Rick Norisigian, a painter for a school district in Fresno, California purchased a box of glass plate negatives at a yard sale in 2000 and over a ten year period sought out experts to confirm his theory that the negatives were made by Ansel Adams. He approached several people with ties to Adams, including members of the Ansel Adams Trust, all of whom rejected his theory and refused support. He eventually did find supposed technical experts who were willing to go on record as believing that the negatives were made by Adams. None of the experts had any experience authenticating photographic works. Norsigian also had an art collector value the collection of negatives, who came up with a $200 million total for the lot. Norsigian announced he would be selling prints and was then sued by the Adams Trust. Around mid-2010 a woman came forward to say that prints made by her uncle look suspiciously like those made from the alleged Adams negatives. Shortly after that, another woman came forward saying that the photos resemble those made by her photographer grandfather. The Adams Trust was caught twisting the arm of the Center for Creative Photography (CCP, which houses Adams' archive of negatives and prints, notes, correspondence, etc) to get them to deny that the negatives are Adams'. Both technical experts have recanted their testimony to one degree or another; one changed his mind completely, while the other is mostly sure they are not Adams'. (While not terribly thorough, I believe this summary is accurate. Please feel free to correct me if I am wrong.)

Both sides, the Adams Trust and Norsigian and his experts and lawyers, have made fools of themselves. They are tripping over themselves to disprove the other party and making what should be a fairly straightforward process into a circus. Why, if they believe so strongly that Adams made the negatives, doesn't Norsigian and his crew let the CCP perform actual tests on them to verify that? Why don't they let independent experts, not paid by Norsigian, examine them? Why doesn't the Adams Trust encourage this and make things easier for Norsigian to do so? If in fact they are found to be Adams' work, Norsigian can't sell prints of them as such without the permission of the Adams Trust, so what's the problem?

Anybody interested in this saga needs to check out the blog of A.D. Coleman, a noted photography critic and expert. He has followed this story closely and been in contact with many of the main players. Of anybody else involved in this topic, his views are the most measured and well thought out. Read all of his posts, if you can. It will take a little time, but he has some very good insights.

As for me, I continue to believe--as I said in my previous post--that the negatives are most likely not Adams'. I am sure that Norsigian believes they are, and is pursuing this quest in that belief. He has unfortunately surrounded himself with some well meaning, but poorly informed people, as well as some bloodsuckers. He has invested a great deal of time and money in his pursuit, to say nothing of his pride. We all know how hard it is to face being wrong, especially in such a public way, and would probably fight just as hard as Norsigian to prove we are right. I could easily be wrong in my assessment, as I am no technical expert and am drawing conclusions based only on what I have read. But, in the absence of any compelling evidence, I feel strongly that authorship of the negatives should not be assigned to anybody: Adams, Earl Brooks, or anybody else. We'll see how this plays out.

Also, you can check out the LA Times coverage of the topic. There are several articles on the subject, most linking to the article I have referenced.