MAKE: Noise — Discuss this article

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• Do your homework
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  Mr. Doctorow,
  
  Shame on you. Your seemingly categorical condemnation of museum curators as "traitor[s] to history" with regard to the reproduction of objects in museum collections betrays your thorough lack of any knowledge or understanding of the most basic facts of copyright as it relates to works of art. Under current U.S. law, copyright is automatically assigned to the maker of a work of art the moment the work is completed. It remains in force for the remainder of the artist's natural life plus seventy years and is independent of the ownership of the actual work of art. Prior to the 1976 Copyright Act, there was an assumption that copyright and other associated rights were inextricably bound to the object and transferred with the object from owner to owner (i.e., ownership of an object constituted possession of copyright). The intent of the reform instituted by the 1976 Copyright Act was the protection of the artist's interests. The fact is that museums that collect twentieth and twenty-first-century art DO NOT possess the right to reproduce many of the objects in their own collections. In most cases, the rights are held by the artist or her estate and are often managed by organizations such as the Visual Arts and Galleries Association (VAGA) and the Artists Rights Society (ARS). In practice this means that often museums have to pay cash for the privilege of reproducing works in their collection in exhibition catalogues or other publications. And this only after applying to VAGA or another rights management entity and having that application approved.
  
  Bill North
  Senior Curator
  The Marianna Kistler Beach Museum of Art
  Kansas State University

  Posted by B_North on March 10, 2006 at 00:41:02 Pacific Time

• Ill-informed opinion
  Reply
  
  Dear Mr. Doctorow,
  
  I was extremely disappointed by the ill-informed nature of your opinion piece in the most recent issue of Make magazine regarding photographing works of art.
  
  Large museums have a very small margin of profit. Even those "generally funded by your tax dollars". Smaller museums even less so. Do you honestly believe that your entry fee to a museum can even begin to cover the costs of conservation, environmental controls, new acquisitions, security, and overhead?
  
  Aside from entry fees and donations, selling and licensing photos of works of art are often the only source of income for museums. For every famous work of art that visitors want a picture of there are hundreds of lesser known but more historically significant (but not as pretty) works that need to be preserved. If museums were to follow the free sharing of culture (and as I understand for your opinion piece, photographing art and posting it on a website equals the free sharing of our "world heritage" and "shared culture") you are advocating, only the most famous works of art would be preserved for future generations. Charging for admission and photographs is how many museums (in the U.S. anyway) are able to offer free admission one day a week.
  
  Indeed every creator stands on the shoulders of giants and budding artists do learn from the great masters. I've been to the Louvre many times and have seen Art students sketching the great works housed there. I have never seen a no sketching sign in any museum.
  
  It's Western chauvinism that perpetuates this fallacy of a "world heritage" and a "shared history" and portrays a museum's purpose as spreading culture. Museums are conservators of great works true but many were built as showcases for the spoils of war or empire*. In some cases the greatest works of art were stolen from their countries of origin and are not being repatriated because the museums in the West don't believe they can be properly cared for in their country of origin. You cannot honestly tell me that the mummy of Ramses II meant as much to the people of Atlanta as it does to the people of Egypt. They would not have returned it otherwise.
  
  *I suggest you visit the Greek ministry of culture's website and read their opinions on the Elgin Marbles. They consider them stolen property.
  
  I strongly suggest you speak to an MFA student, Art Historian, Art Conservator, and the director of a *small* museum and educate yourself on the economics of museums and the nature of Art education.
  

  Posted by j_knight on February 08, 2006 at 07:09:05 Pacific Time