Follow me on Mastodon:
@adcoleman@hcommons.social
 
 
|
By what authority did Ansel Adams come to have Yosemite National Park to himself as a prime marketing location from which he could sell his own prints, books, and workshops for something like five decades — a most-favored-photographer status enjoyed by no other since? And what entitles his descendants, two generations removed, none of them making art, to continue that tradition by running a private for-profit gallery on some of the choicest real estate in the entire national park system, for the express purpose of distributing the Adams family product line and other trade goods? Is this cash cow some exclusive Adams family perk in perpetuity? […]
I have none of the specialist skills necessary to contribute usefully to this investigation, nor any preferred outcome here. So I concern myself with the quality of the discourse from the two camps — and, for my money, Team Norsigian has so far proved itself measured, judicious, and open-handed, as opposed to the frothing apoplectic rage and deceitful doubletalk coming from the Adams herd. […]
This minor event has evoked such hysteria and vituperation from the Adams marketing machine — which does not own the negatives in question or have any claim thereto — that this phenomenon in itself merits some examination. William Turnage, managing trustee of the Ansel Adams Publishing Rights Trust, actually compared the claims of Norsigian to the Nazi propaganda strategy of the “big lie.” “Hitler used that technique,” Turnage said. “You don’t tell a small one. You tell a big one.” It takes one deeply sick puppy to analogize Norsigian’s assertions of authenticity for these negatives to the despised Nazi propaganda technique. Turnage should feel ashamed of himself for this loathsome conduct, which embarrasses him and the Ansel Adams Trust as well. […]
Reaching out from beyond the grave, the late Ansel Adams self-plagiarized once more by permitting the trust he created during his lifetime to grant permission for yet another use of his classic image ‘Moonrise over Hernandez.’ Including his posthumous record, Adams has now self-plagiarized this image over 5000 times in various media. […]
The triumphant return of David W. Streets to the limelight does not bear on the Norsigian-Adams contretemps, but on a brand-new situation: the 1980 garage-sale purchase by one Anton Fury of anonymous negatives of Marilyn Monroe and Jayne Mansfield. Streets has, so far, behaved in a more circumspect manner than he did with the arguable “Ansel Adams” negatives. Instead of proposing authorship or pretending to other expertise, as he did with the Norsigian material, Streets is . . . crowdsourcing. […]
|
SPJ Research Award 2014
Thought for the Day Ignorance is a condition; dumbness is a commitment.
Copyright Notice All content of this publication is © copyright 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 by A. D. Coleman unless otherwise noted. All materials contained on this site are protected by United States copyright law and may not be reproduced for commercial purposes without prior written permission. All photos copyright by the individual photographers. "Fair use" allows quotation of excerpts of textual material from this site for educational and other noncommercial purposes.
Published by Flying Dragon LLC.
Neither A. D. Coleman nor Flying Dragon LLC are responsible for the content of external Internet sites to which this blog links.
|
Cowflop from the Adams Herd (3)
By what authority did Ansel Adams come to have Yosemite National Park to himself as a prime marketing location from which he could sell his own prints, books, and workshops for something like five decades — a most-favored-photographer status enjoyed by no other since? And what entitles his descendants, two generations removed, none of them making art, to continue that tradition by running a private for-profit gallery on some of the choicest real estate in the entire national park system, for the express purpose of distributing the Adams family product line and other trade goods? Is this cash cow some exclusive Adams family perk in perpetuity? […]