---------------Original Message---------------
Hi, Amalyah.  Re. your post to museum-l about the contemporary painting where th
e artist recreated a photo of a soldier.  You mention that your decision regardi
ng this painting was simple and immediate, but you don't say what you chose to d
o!  I am very interested in your response, because I have been faced with a simi
lar situation.

Previously, artists that manipulated or completely changed the medium of an imag
e were legally exempt from copyright infringement, but I believe a recent court
case here overturned that ruling.

Thanks in advance for your response.

--Melanie Solomon


----------End of Original Message----------
I deliberately didn't include our decision - I wanted to present it as a *proble
m*, not a solution, and also to see if anyone else had faced anything similar.

Our decision was based on sensitivity to the family's wishes, the issue being ta
ken as a  private one and not one connected to general issues of controversy: th
e image is  of a specific person, and not a generic soldier or generic nude, etc
. In other words, the issue is actually one of something amiss in the work of a
rt - not style or subject or quality, but something technically  problematic. Th
e analogy might be to the removal of a painting which is discovered to be a fake
.

The artist, in deference to the family's wishes, himself contacted the Museum an
d asked us to take down the painting, which we did.  He also immediately offered
 to exchange it for another of his works, as he realized that the painting was o
f no value to our collection if it could not be displayed. The problem of copyri
ght is still open, as the original photographer has not brought action.  But the
 case has made the artist -- and the Museum -- aware that the problem exists.

Now I'm curious about your similar situation!

-------------------------------------
Name: amalyah keshet
visual resources / the israel museum, jerusalem
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
Date: 03/10/96
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