I’m guessing that even in this community of image makers, few people realize that most “famous/successful” photographers - you know, the ones we all revere - stopped printing their own work the minute they could afford to hire a technician to do it for them. All of the best and busiest photographers do this (with the exception of outliers like Sally Mann, who insists on making all her own prints). And yet few of the highly skilled and talented darkroom technicians ever get recognition for their contribution to the body of work. The article linked to above speaks to that matter:
“Artists’ estates have a vested interest in playing down the role of printers and assistants and in keeping unsigned copies off the market. One reason has to do with commercial self-interest: It can be confusing or difficult to sell something if multiple people deserve an unknown measure of the praise for its excellence.” (emphasis mine)
Even when an artist is still very much in the midst of a career, the role of the hired darkroom technician is very much downplayed, because it introduces a tricky question for those viewing (or buying) the work: “where does the talent of the photographer end and the person making the print begin, and how important is the latter to the former?”
I have personal experience in this matter: in the late 1980s through the early 1990s I worked as a darkroom technician, producing exhibition work for several very talented and famous photographers. Basically there were two kinds of photographer I encountered; those who sought to downplay the role of their hired technicians because they preferred to be seen as supremely talented in all aspects of their craft; they worried that the public wouldn’t understand how the efforts of hired technicians contributed to their output, fearing the vagueness of the relationship would somehow dilute the power of their work. The other people I worked with were more gracious and generous and had no difficulty recognizing the role of their hired technicians, and often went out of their way to publicly acknowledge the skill these people brought to the making of their work. (Case in point: Arno Maggs was one of the most gracious, kind and generous photographers I ever had the great fortune to work with.)
I have great sympathy for Mr. Hoffman, and very little respect for the Avedon Foundation, whose actions I regard as self-serving and petty.