{"id":7541,"date":"2011-03-15T23:11:42","date_gmt":"2011-03-16T03:11:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nearbycafe.com\/artandphoto\/photocritic\/?p=7541"},"modified":"2012-09-06T10:24:09","modified_gmt":"2012-09-06T14:24:09","slug":"norsigianadams-game-over","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nearbycafe.com\/artandphoto\/photocritic\/2011\/03\/15\/norsigianadams-game-over\/","title":{"rendered":"Norsigian\/Adams: Game Over?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Norsigian<\/a>Breaking news:\u00a0The Ansel Adams Publishing Rights Trust,\u00a0PRS Media Partners, LLC and Rick Norsigian appear to have decided to bury the hatchets \u2015 or at least to have achieved a Mexican standoff. They released the following “Joint Statement”<\/a> on Monday, March 14:<\/p>\n

\u2022<\/p>\n

JOINT STATEMENT BY THE ANSEL ADAMS PUBLISHING RIGHTS TRUST, RICK NORSIGIAN AND PRS MEDIA PARTNERS, LLC REGARDING SETTLEMENT OF LITIGATION<\/p>\n

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
\nSAN FRANCISCO AND LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA
\nMARCH 14, 2011<\/p>\n

\n

On August 23, 2010, The Ansel Adams Publishing Rights Trust filed a civil complaint in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California against PRS Media Partners, LLC and Rick Norsigian. On December 28, 2010, Rick Norsigian and PRS Media Partners filed a Counterclaim against the Trust in the same court.<\/p>\n

The parties deny the validity of the claims brought against them. PRS Media and Norsigian believe that sixty five glass plate negatives purchased by Rick Norsigian were created by Ansel Adams, and prepared a report they believe authenticated the Negatives as being created by Ansel Adams. The Trust disputes the conclusions of the report and that the Negatives were created by Ansel Adams.<\/p>\n

The parties have now agreed to resolve these disputes and have entered into a confidential settlement agreement in which each side assumes its own costs and fees in connection with the claims. Under said agreement, Rick Norsigian and PRS Media agree to not use Ansel Adams’ name or likeness or the ANSEL ADAMS trademark in connection with the sales, promotion or advertisement of negatives, prints, posters, or other merchandise based on negatives. Norsigian and PRS Media may continue to sell negatives, prints, posters and other merchandise associated with negatives, subject to a disclaimer approved by The Trust, and provided they do so in a manner consistent with state and federal law. Further, both parties have agreed not to make any defamatory statements about the other or unlawfully interfere in each other’s businesses. As a result of the agreement, the parties today submitted a joint request asking the Court to dismiss the complaint and counterclaim without prejudice.<\/p>\n

\u2022<\/p>\n

\"Norsigian<\/a>As I write this, on the morning of March 15, Team Norsigian’s “Final Report of Investigative Team,” titled “The Lost Negatives of Ansel Adams”<\/a> and replete with claims of having authenticated these works as Adams’s creations beyond any reasonable doubt, remains online. Presumably that will come down shortly, so download your free copy now. (I have it archived, so you can find it here<\/a> once it goes offline.)<\/p>\n

That will seriously deplete the already thinned content at Rick Norsigian’s website, which got more cautiously renamed\u00a0The Lost Negatives<\/a> awhile back. Looking through it now, and subtracting the “Final Report,” I can see that someone coming to the site for the first time would have absolutely no idea what this was about. Absent the backstory, it comes across as much ado about nothing. Team Norsigian now faces the daunting task of replacing the earlier content, with its headline-friendly claims of $200 million in market value and absolute proof of Adams’s authorship.<\/p>\n

All the other reports and press releases there have already vanished, leaving only\u00a0the delightfully melodramatic trailer<\/a> for the planned documentary films and a few slideshows of public events at the Beverly Hills gallery of convicted felon David W. Streets<\/a>. Of these, I’m particularly fond of one undated event billed as “THE LOST NEGATIVES EXHIBITION FOR THE LOS ANGELES DIPLOMATIC CORPS,”<\/a> an otherwise unidentified delegation consisting of Streets, Norsigian attorney Arnold Peter, and a gaggle of what Tom Wolfe dubbed “culture buds.”<\/p>\n

\"Arnold<\/a>

Arnold Peter with the Los Angeles Diplomatic Corps, 2010<\/p><\/div>\n

So Norsigian’s site will not serve as an archive of this debacle, making Photocritic International<\/em> the most complete permanent repository of material on this story. You’ll find links to the relevant documents embedded in the reports I’ve posted, listed here sequentially<\/a>. Should any of these links go inactive, with the material taken offline or made otherwise unavailable, I’ll replace it with a PDF of the document. And of course I’ll update the story as it evolves, since it has yet to run its course.<\/p>\n

\u2022<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Speaking of which, a spokesperson for Team Norsigian has assured me that (a) the team’s authentication efforts will continue \u2015 under the guidance of recognized experts, one hopes, and involving strict forensic testing \u2015 and (b) they will continue to press their lawsuit against the University of Arizona-Tucson<\/a> charging illegal civil conspiracy.<\/p>\n

Some predictions from Photocritic International<\/em>:<\/p>\n

\"Katharine<\/a>

Katharine Martinez, incoming CCP Director.<\/p><\/div>\n