Supposed Ansel Adams Negs Found at a Garage Sale

[SuzanneR]

Threads merged.

 

[Mainecoonmaniac]

Good to hear that the negs are in good hands. Way better than some of the glass negs of Mathew Brady that ended up being part of someone's greenhouse.

 

[Kevin Kehler]

Isn't it possible to make proper prints from these negatives?

Possible, yes.

The link of the site the OP gave was for giclee prints, i.e. inkjet. While it is possible to make proper prints (i.e. silver prints), without the maestro directing the score, there is no performance (to paraphrase AA himself).

 

[sun of sand]

if they are ansels i believe they'd be very early work from 1920-1923
his parmelian prints of 1927 are much more advanced than these and by the 30's ansel was ansel
some of his early prints pre1925 ive seen online are similar to these with some having lanky tall for the composition trees lit from the side and stuff

"At age 17, Adams joined the Sierra Club, a group dedicated to preserving the natural world's wonders and resources, and he was hired as the summer caretaker of the Sierra Club visitor center in Yosemite Valley, the LeConte Memorial Lodge from 1920 to 1924"
"In this position, he led hikes once a week to different areas of Yosemite Valley"

the one linked to of bridal veil falls is very different to a known early print of his of bridal veil falls -I assume it's bridal veil-
to me, he must have been growing awfully fast as an artist from the early to the mid 20s for it to be by the same photographer

if its his wifes handwriting she must have been cleaning shop/helping to organize cause they didnt get married till 1928 and i just dont believe these negs were taken that late
they moved in 36/37 before the fire so

The "proof print" snowpack is different from the negative
maybe i'm missing something being online but i thought that early on
anyone with a camera up there would take a similar shot
he often took groups hikes sierra club or whatever in those early years so .. maybe these are ansels maybe theyre andys

he wasnt the first to photograph yosemite and any photographer present in yosemite would find the same vantage points

LeConte Memorial Lodge from 1920 to 1924 is the best evidence imo that they are his
i was less than 50/50 but now after finding that it looks pretty strong

 

[5stringdeath]

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2003683284_ansel27.html

Well I think this article clears it up. Now he'll get sued by the estate.

 

[Sirius Glass]

Well, I could offer to help him recoup his investment by paying $1.00 US for every glass negative that he paid $0.75 US which would yield a 33% profit for his efforts.

Steve

 

[Mr.3D]

Not a bad $45 investment

Read on.....


Dead Link Removed

 

[Christopher Walrath]

$1.25.

 

[Perry Way]

Its all a fraud. Has to be. Isn't this one of the most documented photographers on the face of the planet?

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

Threads merged.

 

[Sirius Glass]

$1.25.

$1.55 US.

 

[Christopher Walrath]

$1.55 US.

$1.99.

 

[2F/2F]

I would just sell them as historical artifacts for whatever large sum I could get, rather than trying to hawk crummy prints of crummy negatives.

What riles me up the most is the praise that the images themselves are being awarded. IMHO, they are not good pictures. My favorite thing about them is that they show us that even masters have to take a dump every now and then...because these pictures are most certainly turds!

 

[Christopher Walrath]

OK. I'm going to have to relent and check them out.

 

[Christopher Walrath]

Well, I wouldn't actually refer to the plates as crap composition. They were nice to look at. The subject matter is familiar. Not binding, though.

Now, $7500 for authentically made silver gelatin prints. 'The same way AA made them.'

Right.

 

[Sirius Glass]

Adams heirs skeptical about lost negatives claim

From: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100727/ap_on_en_ot/us_ansel_adams_lost_work

The key evidence came from two handwriting experts, who identified the writing on the negative sleeves as that of Adams' wife Virginia.
But Matthew Adams said there were inconsistencies in the handwriting and a lot of misspelled Yosemite place names.
"She grew up in Yosemite. She was an intelligent, well-read woman. I find it hard to believe she would mispell (sic) those names," he said.

Nice to hear from the other side for a change!

$1.25.

$1.55 US.

$1.99.

Based on the article from above, I revise my bid of $1.55 to $1.35.

Steve

 

[Perry Way]

I wonder why nobody has commented on the ironic title of this thread:
Be The First To See Never Before Seen Images Created By Ansel Adams
Does this mean the OP has never seen them? How can anyone purchase prints from the negatives without having seen them first? Does anyone besides me think this sounds like a carnival sideshow barker?

Agreed. At the end of the day, all euphemisms, slang and colloquialisms must stand on their own weight without any external conjecture of any kind whatsoever, if it is to be taken at word value. And the only written words of any value are those that stand up on their own if they are to be taken as facts. Anything less is fiction. Or a sales pitch.

I find this whole thing rather distressing. Someone's obviously got dollar signs turning around in the image in their mind of a slot machine at work. Ca-Ching! Ca-Ching! Let's make money!

It is patently obvious, (so I'm reading, and so I agree) that these images are rejects or someone else's works entirely (which when profits come into play this is definitely to be investigated by the prudent buyers). I heard from someone who has been charged with the duty to replace original glass plates for some hefty museum pieces. He told me on the down low that he accidentally returned copies to the museum and kept originals. The museum never noticed and he's not about to alert them because they don't know of the second set he made to keep for his own private viewing. These are very historic plates I'm talking about. Someone either fell asleep on the job or they don't care to check their property when it is returned. Now that was an accident. Think about what someone could do on purpose. Let the mind wander. There are endless possibilities.

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

What I wonder about is, if these are Adams' negs, why haven't they been matched to any extant prints? It seems that if he had them for some time, and in theory they were scorched in the fire, there must have been some prints somewhere of some of the negatives that weren't destroyed in the fire. I would take that as conclusive over the handwriting analysis and other speculation.

If they are authentic, then it would be interesting to have found some Adams negs, but they would still just be the score without the performance. If they could be authenticated, then it might be interesting to see some prints by people like John Sexton or Alan Ross who actually have extensive experience printing Adams' negatives, but I think they would have to believe that the negs are authentic to do that.

 

[sun of sand]

these wouldnt be about owning a great ansel masterpiece or performance or any of that
it would be a timeline filled in

if these are early early attempts the only value an alan ross printing would have is to see how a later ansel may have reworked an early ansel/to see just how much he advanced in the actual photographing

if these are early early works of his
so early its obvious from known early prints that he wasn't printing like "ansel"
trying to turn these negatives into "ansels"
is a crime of greed
and disrespectful

 

[hoffy]

What I wonder about is, if these are Adams' negs, why haven't they been matched to any extant prints? It seems that if he had them for some time, and in theory they were scorched in the fire, there must have been some prints somewhere of some of the negatives that weren't destroyed in the fire. I would take that as conclusive over the handwriting analysis and other speculation.

Who's to say that the negs were ever printed? Sure, lets say they are Adams negs. Lets also say that he wasn't found of them. Like most of us, if there is a neg we don't like, they get filed but never get printed.

The one interesting factor that has me changing my mind about these is the fact that the current owner searched high and low until he found an expert who agreed with him......

 

[Kevin Kehler]

"He's set up a website to sell prints made from 17 negatives from $45 for a poster to $7,500 for a darkroom print with a certificate of authenticity"

I want to know what the certificate says; I authenticate that this is from a negative that I paid some people who told me what I already thought. I remember seeing a trinket with a certificate of authenticity that the trinket had been blessed by the Pope; turns out people hold up items when the Pope blesses the crowd after giving a sermon/mass and thus the item was blessed by the Pope.

He might be able to say they are Adams like but he will never get away with saying they are Ansel Adams prints (especially authorized prints) which is where the real money is.

 

[cfclark]

The one interesting factor that has me changing my mind about these is the fact that the current owner searched high and low until he found an expert who agreed with him......

It's a shame that the possible historical interest involved in this find (and it seems to have been a find--a find of what, I'm not sure) has been overshadowed in the quest to monetize it--sure enough, the headlines today focus mainly on the $200 Million(!!!) this could be worth to the owner and the winning lottery ticket it appears to represent to him, and all most people will understand is that some guy found some famous pictures at a garage sale and now he's rich.

OTOH, if you were planning to hold an estate/garage sale anytime soon, this is your best weekend, especially if you live in Fresno.

 

[Poisson Du Jour]

Meanwhile, this news item bobbed up down here in Australia.
http://tinyurl.com/ABC280710

(The "news" is probably old; just posting it here for those needing catch-up).

 

[JBrunner]

Threads merged. This thing has more merges than a midnight run to In-n-Out in Los Angeles.

 

[Anscojohn]

when did Adams stop using glass plates and move on to flexible film?