The Ansel Adams Controversy

A recent slew of headlines have described what may be the undiscovered works of Ansel Adams, selling for $45 at a garage sale. The buyer reportedly bought a set of 65 vintage glass negatives, which he held for several years until recognizing they may, in fact, be the product of photographer Ansel Adams, known mostly for his photographs of Yosemite Valley and the American West in the first half of the century. He brought the slides to the attention of a team of so-called experts, who used visual comparisons and handwriting analysis of the numbered plates to determine that they were authentic, and the handwriting belonged to Adams' spouse. They valued the collection at $200 million, using assumptions from print revenue and licensing rights. The claim is hotly disputed, especially by Matthew Adams, Ansel's grandson and curator of his collection, who doubts their authenticity.

It's easy to remain skeptical of this claim, for several reasons. First and foremost, the beauty of Adams' work was not so much his stunning compositions, but his work in the darkroom. He used several techniques, notably dodging and burning in their most primitive form, to bring his works to life and produce the fine art that is widely appreciated in replicas, art books, and rare authentic prints. Some would argue that without Ansel's hand in the processing, the slides themselves are worthless because he is not around to print from them. Any attempt to produce prints from these slides would certainly be less than authentic.

Second, Ansel Adams kept tight control of his negatives. He reportedly kept them in a lockbox, and took them out one at a time to produce his prints. While the examiners suggest that the slides were taken out en bulk for teaching purposes, and perhaps deemed lost as a result of his darkroom fire, it is hard to believe that someone who was so meticulous with his work would "lose" a large set of slides.

Finally, one has to recognize that hundreds of not thousands of photographers were shooting in Yosemite Valley at the time, and compositions made famous by Ansel Adams, such as Tunnel View, had already become widely known among photographers, as well as tourists who may have pulled off the road for a "photo-op." That notwithstanding, Adams was known to be an avid teacher, and frequently traveled with other photographers. As a photographer who has been on several such expeditions, I can tell you it is commonplace to come home with a shot that looks almost identical to the one taken by the photographer whose tripod was set up within inches of mine.

The slides are currenly in a vault, and the agent for the owner claims to have thousands of offers to buy. Deemed by many to be Mr. Adams' most famous work, "Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico," sold for $609,000 in 2006; his most expensive piece ever sold was "Clearing Winter Storm, Yosemite National Park," at $722,500 this year.

Truly, if authentic, these slides would rightfully secure their place in history as the 'lost works of Ansel Adams." Unfortunately, I can't think of any way this can be proven, especially with the circumstantial evidence that has been presented so far. So far now, I remain skeptical. Especially for $200 million.