Ansel Adams' son sues Fresno Metropolitan Museum over prints

[Kadie]

Ansel Adams' son sues Calif. museum over prints
Thu Mar 4, 4:47 pm ET

FRESNO, Calif. – The son of legendary photographer Ansel Adams is suing the Fresno Metropolitan Museum to keep the now-defunct museum from auctioning off six of his father's prints.

Adams' son, Michael, filed a lawsuit Monday in Fresno County Superior Court to keep the board from selling his father's prints, including "Moon and Half Dome" and "Clearing Storm."

Museum officials are selecting auction houses to sell what they can of the Met's collection to pay off its creditors. The museum closed in January because of financial troubles.

Michael Adams is requesting an injunction to stop the auction, which he says would violate a donation agreement made years ago. His lawyer, Melody Hawkins, declined to comment Thursday.

A bankruptcy attorney for the museum says they are trying to work out a solution with Adams.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100304/ap_on_en_ot/us_ansel_adams_museum_lawsuit_1



******

Family sues over Adams' Met Museum prints
Posted at 03:46 PM on Thursday, Mar. 04, 2010
By Paula Lloyd / The Fresno Bee

snip...
The complaint says the prints -- among them a photo of Half Dome in Yosemite National Park taken in 1938 -- were given by the Adams family to the Met in 1983.

The complaint says the family did not give the Met permission to ever dispose of the prints and wants the prints returned.

The Met closed in January and has already auctioned off office equipment, tools and other items to raise money to pay creditors. An art auction is planned for a later date.

The complaint alleges that Met officials have refused to return the prints to Michael and Jeanne Adams.

http://www.fresnobee.com/2010/03/04/1846722/family-sues-over-adams-met-museum.html

[Canuckistanian]

1. Moon and Half Dome

A classic photo.

[begin_within]

2. The Ansel Adams Gallery just got a new 10-year concession contract in Yosemite

so why doesn't the Fresno museum just give the prints to the Ansel Adams Gallery and they could put them on display there. What better place for those to reside at than the gallery named for him?

The Ansel Adams Gallery® Awarded New Concession Contract in Yosemite National Park
Date: March 4, 2010

Best's Studio, Inc. doing business as The Ansel Adams Gallery® in Yosemite National Park, was the awarded a new 10-year concession contract that became effective March 1, 2010. The Ansel Adams Gallery® has been operating in the park since 1902, making them the oldest, family owned and operated concessioner in the National Park Service. The Ansel Adams Gallery® is a photographic and art business with an emphasis on Ansel Adams and the history of art and photography in Yosemite.

In addition to selling Ansel Adams photography, the gallery also rents photographic equipment, sells photographic and art supplies, park related publications, and authentic American Indian handicrafts. The gallery also provides instruction in photographic and artistic methods and complementary visitor education programs.

Ansel Adams is inexorably associated with Yosemite and is recognized worldwide. Images of Half Dome, Inspiration Point, and El Capitan made by Ansel Adams set photographic standards of the national parks that are still respected and admired today.

“We are pleased to offer this concession contract to The Ansel Adams Gallery®. Art and photography are incredibly important to Yosemite, and all national parks, and there is no greater example than the work of Ansel Adams,” said Acting Yosemite Superintendent Dave Uberuaga.

The Ansel Adams Gallery® is located in a historic building in Yosemite Village, where Ansel Adams lived and printed some of his iconic photographs. The new concession contract runs through February 29, 2020.

[EFerrari]

4. Yosemite is my favorite place on this planet

and one of the most attractive things about the park is how art/crafts have been made part of the experience. It's good to hear this concession has been renewed. :thumbsup:

[begin_within]

6. I was pleasantly surprised and amazed

by how pristine Yosemite Valley still is on my first visit there a couple of years ago. After visiting about 14 other national parks and seeing some pretty trampled areas, I was expecting a kind of worn-out look, but Yosemite Valley (at least in the springtime) had an amazingly pristine look considering the hundreds of millions of people who have been there. I never saw a single piece of trash, there were wildflowers blooming right next to the road, and it had an almost otherworldly "perfect" look like being on an idealized planet. I'm sure it's a lot more worn out and trampled after the summer season though. There were far more photographers than painters there but it did seem like a mecca for people who appreciate the beauty of nature. It hit me in the afternoon when I was taking pictures of Yosemite Falls and turned around only to realize another 2,000 foot waterfall was right behind me.









Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WELCF3f5XWc

[XemaSab]

5. They're shysters at that gallery

The smaller prints are unsold calendars. :P

[EFerrari]

3. Holy cr@p! Why don't they just have a fundraiser?

This is heartbreaking. :(

[stopbush]

7. Because the Fresno Met Museum is out of business at this point.

They did a big renovation project that was supposed to cost around $15MM, but once they got into it, the cost soared to $28MM, mainly due to asbestos abatement and seismic retrofitting that was needed to bring the 1922 building up to CA code.

When the economy took a dive, so did the Met's fund raising. Renovation ground to a halt and creditors started screaming. Eventually, the City of Fresno guaranteed a $15MM loan to finish the renovation. The Museum reopened in Nov 2008...and defaulted on repaying the $15MM last June. At that point, the City of Fresno took possession of the building. The Met was allowed to stay in the space as a tenant while the City looked for a solution. But by last November, it was clear the Met was still in big financial trouble, and the Museum closed for good in January, still $5MM in the hole from operating expenses.

The Met board is selling assets to pay off that $5MM. Furniture etc was auctioned last week. The selling of art work to pay off creditors has raised red flags throughout the art world, especially considering that a group called "Friends of the Met" advanced the Met $ to help pay final salaries and closing costs. These people refuse to identify themselves, but most people assume it's the rich people in Fresno who couldn't be bothered to help the Museum when it needed it most, but are more than happy to toss a few dollars their way now if it means they get first shot at buying the art work - like an Ansel Adams original. Oh, and these "Friends" are also the first in line to be reimbursed from the sale of the art work. Sound fishy? You bet.

A local attorney has asked the CA AG to look into the auctioning of the art work to see if it is even legal. It's a question that needs to be asked, what with the total lack of transparency the Met and its Board have displayed throughout this sorry mess. One wonders what promises, fund raising strategies and statistics were presented to the City to get them to guarantee that $15MM loan, for example. Fresno isn't exactly a city with overflowing coffers to throw at such projects.

[Kadie]

8. Thanks for the background info stopbush!

Sounds real fishy!

:hi:

[EFerrari]

11. Wow, that sounds really shady. Thanks for the info. n/t

[KittyWampus]

10. And then look at the BILLIONS poured into Olympics. It breaks my heart.

Sports are great and should be encouraged. But American society at large just doesn't care about more Fine or Performing Art.

[KittyWampus]

9. Once you donate something to museum- that's it. The museum can turn around the very next day

and sell it.

This is happening in museum across the country, btw.

The reason I know about it- personal interest in museums and art and culture as personal interest and there was a big stink not long ago about similar circumstance.