Yosemite Exhibition/Uncle Earl Brooks

[Merg Ross]

Scott Nichols will be including photographs by Earl Brooks in an exhibition opening on November 4, 2010 at the Scott Nichols Gallery in San Francisco. Also works by Adams, Watkins, Sexton, Hyde, Weston and others. Exhibit closes December 31, 2010.

http://www.scottnicholsgallery.com/exhibitions/upcoming.html

[Steven Tribe]

I can't find more than 3 images in the "upcoming"?
Does this mean that Earl's granddaughter Brooke Delarco has been in touch with Nichols and given him the pick of her surprise package?

I quote:

"Which brings me to my next “teaser” and, in this case, I am “tipping” you off…. We have recently discovered a number of photo albums and writings that Earl left with his only son, Bill Brooks, who passed away last year. They are filled with numerous shots of the same subject matter as those in the glass negatives. It is all dated, from his early childhood in Visalia, summers and hiking trips to Yosemite and various other national wildernesses, up until he left California in 1925.

At the risk of exposing this information here, I must reserve further details until we have compiled a presentation of the documents and, under the advice of counsel, determined the best approach to bringing these new facts out. I can however, assure you, that these new developments will be revealed in the very near future. Soon the art world will be given a new glimpse into the life and works of “Uncle Earl” whom we all knew as Pappy!"

This is my underlining!

[Richard K.]

Very intriguing....watch the Coleman Blog for evolving information:

http://nearbycafe.com/artandphoto/photocritic/

Here is the ad for the show:

http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn15/RichardK47/mailer1.jpg

If you go, please give us a report!

[Merg Ross]

Richard, thanks for posting the link to the updated announcement. I got my info from Scott before he updated his website.

[Steven Tribe]

I now discover that Scott Nichols was already touting the inclusion of Earl Brookes images in a Gallery show back in August so he may not have made contact to the Brookes family collection who have had Brooke Delarco as their coordinator during the past month or so.
Perhaps just the well known images - but now with the correct attribution?

[Steven Tribe]

An eyewitness account from the show, which starts to-day, would be appreciated!

Meanwhile, LATimes has the following:

"William Turnage, managing partner of the Ansel Adams Publishing Rights Trust, said the family* sent him a digital copy of the memoir, entitled “The Story of Earl Brooks and His Time, or 73 Years into the 20th Century by Earl Brooks Himself.” The pictures and text offer “no smoking guns” that would conclusively establish Brooks as the creator of the Norsigian negatives, Turnage said. Curiously for a professional photographer, he added, Brooks “says very little about how he made his photographs, [and] nothing about individual photographs.” But Turnage said Brooks does write about photographing in Yosemite and working with glass plates. In a research report of its own early last month, the Norsigian team argued that a key drawback to the “Uncle Earl” theory was a lack of evidence that Brooks had used glass-plate negatives."

*Brooke Delarco is the source.

[Richard K.]

Interesting that Brooks wrote about using glass plates...this should be the nail.
Here is a photo from Brooks' memoir:

http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn15/RichardK47/BrooksYosemite.jpg

[Steven Tribe]

Not really much news. No reports from the exhibition yet?
But other contenders have appeared and Brooks worked with others and as a dark room/plate development "expert".

Ansel Adams or Not? Yosemite Photos Dispute Thickens - The Bay Citizen 9 Nov 2010

www.baycitizen.org/...adams/.../ansel-adams-not-yosemite-photos-dispute/ - United States

[Richard K.]

Steven, your link doesn't seem to work....is this the article you're referring to?

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/10/arts/design/10adams.html?_r=1&src=me&ref=arts

[Richard K.]

This:

http://www.baycitizen.org/ansel-adams/interactive/ansel-adams-uncle-earl-norsigian-compare/

may also BOI

I'm voting for Earl Brooks even though Pillsbury's grand-daughter said something about missing images and corresponding neg numbers...

It's getting very interesting, though!

[Steven Tribe]

Almost the same content. If you search for Brooks in the baycitizen page which appears in the link, the recent article appears as number 3 (approx.) in the list.
If Brooks was used by others because he access to the University development equipment and routine skills, then more complex scenarios exist and could explain why Brooks and his descendents have prints but, apparently, no plates.

[John Kasaian]

OK I've got to get up to San Francisco to see this exhibit! Thanks Merg for the heads up!
:D