Photo: ©2007 David W. Sumner
Portrait of Billie Holiday: ©William GottliebSo what do we make of this? Is it an homage to Gottlieb? Is it fair use? Is it a copyright infringement? Given the context does it matter one way or another?
What if Gottlieb, were he alive, came along and signed his name to image on the sidewalk? Would that upset the person who made the stencil and painted the image on the concrete?
Should we even care?
3 comments:
Good sleuthing, Dave! I would never have recognized or thought twice about the image. I might have wondered how Gap expected to sell clothes with it. As for caring, who's got time. Certainly not Gottleib. Or Billie, for that matter.
By the way, this obit here on Gottleib shows he was a guy with a lot more class than any rip-off graffiti-sprayer.
http://www.jazzphotos.com/about-nytobituary.htm
I hear you John. Challenging this stuff could be a full time job. And I mean for the artist of the original work. People who rip off images will always find a way to do it. Very uncreative folk they are. At least we have venues like these blogs to try to increase the awareness that as cool as it may be to see Billie Holiday's image on the sidewalk, and even harmless, it's still the theft of another artist's work.
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