In a confidential out-of-court settlement this past March, William “Wild Bill” Turnage of the Adams Trust pledged to stop calling Team Norsigian names while Team Norsigian promised to stop using Ansel Adams’s name to validate the anonymous negatives Rick Norsigian bought at a yard sale. Turnage has, at least publicly, kept his part of the bargain. Whether Team Norsigian has done the same I can’t say for sure. […]
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A most perplexing series of grandiose, self-flattering, and wildly inaccurate statements has appeared in a press release posted at the website of WestLicht Schauplatz für Fotografie in Vienna, the museum that acquired the portion of the former Polaroid Collection designated by the Trustee for the Minneapolis Bankruptcy Court as the “Swiss Assets,” which resided until recently in the holdings of the Musée de l’Elysée in Lausanne, Switzerland. My concern remains the issuance of false and misleading statements that, inevitably, go viral and contaminate the knowledge base. […] The Ansel Adams Publishing Rights Trust, PRS Media Partners, LLC and Rick Norsigian appear to have decided to bury the hatchets ― or at least to have achieved a Mexican standoff. They’ve asked the Court to dismiss the Trust’s complaint and Team Norsigian’s counterclaim without prejudice. A spokesperson for Team Norsigian has assured me that (a) the team’s authentication efforts will continue ― under the guidance of recognized experts, one hopes, and involving strict forensic testing ― and (b) that they will continue to press their lawsuit against the University of Arizona-Tucson charging illegal civil conspiracy. […] Most-favored-photographer status for Ansel Adams at Yosemite National Park apparently goes back at least as far as 1941, and includes documented special treatment by the Department of the Interior. This included a waiver enabling him to draw down a federal government salary while also enjoying the profits from best’s Studio, his concession at Yosemite ― a conflict of interest according to the policy of the Department of the Interior. […] |
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Guest Post 8: Bill Ewing on Polaroid at the Musée de l’Elysée
The collection was not put together in the standard way — by curators picking and choosing individual pieces. Photographers gave work in return for free materials, and gave what they felt like giving. It is, frankly, very uneven; there are some great pieces at one end of the spectrum, and some godawful ones at the other. Actually, the best individual works are often by lesser-known or even unknown photographers. The “name” photographers often are represented by lackluster work. […]