Missouri Woman Found a Bunch of Lost Art From Which Artist?

Kelly Robinson of southwest Missouri was on a mission to find old photos of Native Americans in New Mexico to add to her collection and happened to stumble on some old black and white photos of the Santa Fe railroad with Native Americans around the “Chief” engine.  She thought perhaps that these photos had the sense and style of the great American landscape photographer Ansel Adams.

She bought the photos from the granddaughter of a Santa Fe Railway advertising dept. employee and began her own research that led her to Carlsbad Caverns, NM. to inquire about the photos that weren’t signed, asking if they thought they were in fact the work of Ansel Adams.

Turns out she was correct.

She had found a collection of over 50 black and white photos from the 1930’s and 40’s when Adams had been commissioned by the Santa Fe Railway to take promotional pictures of how the Native Americans interacted with the Santa Fe Railway on reservations.

Kelly also got a second opinion from the Ansel Adams Gallery in Yosemite, Ca. that is run by Ansel Adams grandson Matthew. He concurred that the photos were indeed the work of his grandfather.

Robinson has had the photos appraised between $1000 and $4000 per image. She also believes that they should be kept together and placed into an exhibit, but also thinks they would be right at home in some of the Union Stations in the southwestern states.

This post was originally published on this site