Only one thing is impossible for God: To find any sense in any copyright law on the planet.
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/m/marktwain163473.html#VIrCwl8tJbOpPQHj.99
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/m/marktwain163473.html#VIrCwl8tJbOpPQHj.99
"Only one thing is impossible for God: to find any sense in any copyright law on the planet."
Mark Twain
Allonby - Fishing Village 1840s
If an artist takes something old - a sketch, a painting, a book, a sculpture - anything that once constituted another person's intellectual property and modifies it, transforms it or re-interprets it so that it is new and different, is it fair to call that art? Many painters and sculptors work from original photographs in creating their final artworks, but for one reason or another, such as lack of mobility, other artists are unable to obtain those original shots. Or perhaps the object/subject that interests them no longer exists except as an image or painting in an old book, a museum, a collection of pictures in the Library of Congress or some government agency. These images are referred to as "public domain" - images, sketches, prints, photographs of paintings that are available for unrestricted use because they are out of copyright or none ever existed.
For example, the image above is based on a book of sketches published in 1840 in England. The original sketch no longer exists but the book itself and the images in it are now in the public domain - simple black and white sketches in a book that has been scanned in its entirely as jpeg files approximately 400 x 600 pixels per page. As most of you who are familiar with photo editing know, it is extremely difficult to enlarge a small low resolution image into a large enough image to print as is. Clearly this scene no longer exists in real time and my only reference for this piece is the sketch I purchased. I couldn't enlarge it digitally - instead I had to enlarge it by hand using an old trick my cousin who is a trained artist taught me: print the sketch out on 1/8 inch graph paper and then carefully transfer the lines from each block to blocks on larger graph paper or paper lined to a bigger scale...in this case one inch squares. (My freehand drawing abilities leave something to be desired). Beyond using the original reference sketch, however, every other detail, brushstroke, color choice, texture and background are original to me. Question - am I not only permitted to use the original in this way but also allowed to copyright the final product for commercial use?? The answer - yes...but...
Researching public domain, fair use and copyright laws can be a nightmare - as Mark Twain indicated - so here's a very knowledgeable article in Artpromotivate - the online art marketing newsletter.
Artpromotivate: Understanding Public Domain, Fair Use and Copyrigh...: I recently received this question pertaining to copyright of online images: Question: Have you done or could you do a comprehensive article about copyright pertaining to artworks/photographs? ...Read the rest and follow the links for even more insights at http://www.artpromotivate.com/2013/07/public-domain-fair-use-copyright.html?spref=blI hope when you've had a chance to read it and evaluate it you'll agree that work that builds on or re-interprets public domain images is "art" just as an original painting or sculpture is. And the creator of the new piece is entitled to copyright all of his/her manipulations of, additions to or changes to the original as a new work of art...as long as he/she acknowledges that the original remains in the public domain for someone else to reinterpret!
No comments:
Post a Comment