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Hi,

I am not sure how one replies on the ARLIS and keeps the reply on list. I already sent a reply to Donna that I intended for the list. The long and the short of it is that no one owns the copyright to photos of Starry Night or any other two-dimensional art work  in the public domain.

For two-dimensional artworks, this issue was settled in the U.S. in Bridgeman Art Library, Ltd. v. Corel Corp.

http://www.law.cornell.edu/copyright/cases/36_FSupp2d_191.htm

There has to be an original component to a work for copyright to apply. The court determined that there was no original content whatsoever in a photograph that reproduces two-dimensional artwork. Therefore the photograph is not covered by copyright. If the work is in the public domain, the photograph is in the public domain. The decision was based on American and British law. Although the principle has not been tested in court outside the United States, there seems a good chance that British and Canadian courts would reach the same conclusion at American courts. 

Photographs of three-dimensional works are different. The photographer can be credited with the angle of view, the perspective, the lighting, the framing, the background, and so on. The minimum requirements for originality in a photograph of three-dimensional works have not been tested, but most photographs of three-dimensional situations are probably covered. (Thanks to Dwayne Buttler of Louisville for that advice.)

For sculptures:

Showing an image live from the internet by means of a projector does not seem substantially different than viewing an image live on a monitor, so one would not be violating a museum's intent by displaying an image in a classroom. Why would museums make the images public if they didn't want them to serve an educational (and promotional) purpose? This paragraph is my own logic.

Best,
Steve Tatum
Visual Resources Curator
Virginia Tech
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On Feb 3, 2011, at 11:30 AM, Bill Cole wrote:

I wonder if this copyright protection would hold up in court.

I mean, the MoMA owns Van Gogh's "The Starry Night".  But owning an artwork
doesn't confer ownership of copyright.  Does the MoMA have the right to
assume that ANY photograph of The Starry Night is the property of the MoMA,
and that such photographs are protected by copyright?  The forthcoming
(March) issue of Print Quarterly (the leading scholarly journal of prints)
will have an essay on this subject by Anthony Griffiths.

Best

Bill Cole


On 2/3/11 4:53 PM, "Donna Bowman" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

Isn't there a problem, though, with the fact that the images are
copyright protected by the museums who uploaded them?

Here in Canada, I think that makes them unable to be shown in class,
for instance. We can point students to look at them themselves, but if a
prof shows them in class, that would be in contravention of copyright.

What a pain!

Donna

Donna Bowman
Visual Arts Liaison Librarian
Dr. John Archer Library
University of Regina
Regina, SK  S4S 0A2
(306)585-5118
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Ulla Volk <[log in to unmask]> 2/3/2011 9:23 am >>>
Yes, we had already put a link to it on our Web site.

Ulla

On 2/3/2011 8:52 AM, Moira Steven wrote:


Have a look at this!   http://www.googleartproject.com/

A prof used in her art history class.  Most impressive.

Moira
______________________________________
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Joanne Waxman Library @ Maine College of Art
522 Congress Street, Portland, ME 04101
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