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Ansel Adams trust sues over contested negatives

The Ansel Adams Publishing Rights Trust filed a lawsuit in federal district court in San Francisco today against Rick Norsigian and consulting firm PRS Media Partners. The suit seeks to prevent Norsigian and the consulting firm from using Ansel Adams’ name, likeness, and trademark to sell prints and posters not authorized or endorsed by the Trust.

As you remember from our last exciting episode, glass negatives purchased at a garage sale by Fresno painter, Rick Norsigian, 10 years ago, are believed by some to be lost works of Ansel Adams, worth an estimated $200 million. However, Ansel Adams’ grandson, Matthew Adams, and William Turnage, the managing trustee of the Trust, questioned the authenticity of the find.

According to the San Jose Mercury News online, the lawsuit today alleges trademark infringement, false advertising, trademark dilution, unfair competition, and contains other claims. The lawsuit does not specify damages. but it asks the court to pay restitution from their profits of any sales, as well as award any other monetary relief.

The suit states that there is “substantial evidence” that suggests the negatives to be the work of another photographer, Earl Brooks, whose niece announced that she had a photo of her uncle’s that looked identical to one of the negatives.

The Mercury News article has many other relevant details.

Ansel Adams established the Trust in 1976 to protect the integrity of his work. His print, “Clearing Winter Storm, Yosemite National Park” brought $722,500 at auction in New York this summer, which is a record for 20th century photography.

-Bill at

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