Well it looks like there is a new case of “appropriation” or “inspiration” in the news as Luxembourgish artist Jeff Dieschburg’s work “Turandot”, exhibited at the Strassen Stroossen Culture Center, and awarded a €1,500 prize, AND presented to Luxembourg’s Princess Stéphanie, is “virtually identical” to a photograph by Jingna Zhang. Even though the image was horizontally flipped, one source stated, “Even the hairs and rose petals match up.”
You can read the full story here:
This topic has come up before in our zoom group which included a few striking examples. From a Jan. ‘21 Zoom Artist Roundtable Newsletter:
“The main topic for this week was appropriation, plagiarism, and fair use. More specifically, what happens when two artists put forward highly “similar” works? Where is the line between fair use and appropriation? Take for example something this specific:
Here is a 2011 work from artist Ramon Gutierrez and another from artist Alexandros Hairetakis painted in 2013.
The similarities are uncanny—even more so when digitally layered:
Or how about two artists sharing extremely similar stylistic traits:
Is this a matter of influence, inspiration, or something closer to plagiarism?
WHAT IS COPYRIGHT & PLAGIARISM?
Copyright is a form of legal protection prohibiting others from copying one’s creative work without permission. A copyright is a property right. Copyright law grants the creator of an original work exclusive rights for its use and distribution.
Plagiarism is an ethical violation resulting from failure to cite sources and engaging in the act of passing someone else’s work or ideas off as one’s own. This applies even if you have only copied a part, rather than the whole, of another’s work.
Many resources exist online to become better informed with the law and general protocol on these matters:
https://www.copyright.gov/
https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-art-copyright-explained
[Copyright Issues for Artists - Bellevue Fine Art Reproduction -Bellevue Fine Art Reproduction –]
As always, it is important to contact a legal professional for the best advice should you find yourself navigating these waters.”
For those interested, here’s an additional post on this topic: COPYING: Is it Homage, Plagiarism or Fraud?