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ARMENIAN MAN STUMBLES ON TREASURE AT GARAGE SALE
ALEXANDRIA HEIN
asbarez
Tuesday, July 27th, 2010
Ten years ago in California, Rick Norsigian purchased two small boxes
containing 65 glass negatives for $45. Today those glass negatives
are being identified as belonging to famous nature photographer Ansel
Adams, and are valued at $200 million.
CNN.com reports that the negatives are dated back to a 1937 darkroom
fire that destroyed 5,000 of Adam's plates. David W. Streets, an art
dealer and appraiser believes that the photos were taken between 1919
and 1930s, before Adams became well known.
Photography expert Patrick Alt believes that Adams carried the
negatives to a class he was teaching in Pasadena, California, which
would help to explain how they wound up in a Los Angels warehouse.
This is where the person who sold the negatives to Norsigian found
them in a 1940s warehouse salvage.
The negatives are of Yosemite landscapes and San Francisco landmarks,
areas well known to Adams. "It is truly a missing link of Ansel Adams
and history and his career," said Streets, who will put the works on
display tonight in Los Angeles.
Norsigian, an artist himself, has been working to prove the
authenticity of these photographs since the purchase in 2000.
From: A. Papazian
ALEXANDRIA HEIN
asbarez
Tuesday, July 27th, 2010
Ten years ago in California, Rick Norsigian purchased two small boxes
containing 65 glass negatives for $45. Today those glass negatives
are being identified as belonging to famous nature photographer Ansel
Adams, and are valued at $200 million.
CNN.com reports that the negatives are dated back to a 1937 darkroom
fire that destroyed 5,000 of Adam's plates. David W. Streets, an art
dealer and appraiser believes that the photos were taken between 1919
and 1930s, before Adams became well known.
Photography expert Patrick Alt believes that Adams carried the
negatives to a class he was teaching in Pasadena, California, which
would help to explain how they wound up in a Los Angels warehouse.
This is where the person who sold the negatives to Norsigian found
them in a 1940s warehouse salvage.
The negatives are of Yosemite landscapes and San Francisco landmarks,
areas well known to Adams. "It is truly a missing link of Ansel Adams
and history and his career," said Streets, who will put the works on
display tonight in Los Angeles.
Norsigian, an artist himself, has been working to prove the
authenticity of these photographs since the purchase in 2000.
From: A. Papazian