AFP, published on Thursday, May 18, 2023 at 5:30 p.m.
A photographer, whose snapshot of the musician Prince was used by the painter Andy Warhol, should have received copyright, the United States Supreme Court ruled on Thursday in a case closely followed by the art world.
The Court, by a majority of seven judges out of nine, considers that Lynn Goldsmith should have been remunerated because the portrait inspired by her work had a “commercial” use: it was used on the cover of a magazine.
“Goldsmith’s original work, like that of other photographers, deserves copyright protection, even from well-known artists,” Judge Sonia Sotomayor wrote on behalf of the majority.
“These protections cover derivative works that transform the original works”, except when the first is sufficiently different from the second, she adds.
However, in the portrait of Prince in question, “Goldsmith and the Warhol Foundation have made the same commercial use of his image”, she slices.
The file at the heart of this judgment finds its source in 1981. Lynn Goldsmith, a photographer renowned for having immortalized many rock stars, offers the weekly Newsweek to draw the portrait of a musician who is starting to break through: Prince. She takes several black and white shots of the young man with fine features.
In 1984, the album “Purple Rain” propelled him to stardom. Vanity Fair magazine wants to devote an article to him and asks Andy Warhol to paint his portrait in the style of his famous colored engravings of Marilyn Monroe or Mao.
For 400 dollars, Lynn Goldsmith authorizes the magazine to use one of her photos for the exclusive use of this article. Titled “Purple Fame”, the text is accompanied by Prince’s face, purple skin and jet-black hair, on a bright orange background.
The story would have ended there if Andy Warhol had not declined this photo in all tones to create a series of 16 portraits of the musician, whom he admired for his talent and his androgynous style.
Lynn Goldsmith discovered their existence in 2016 when Prince died, when Vanity Fair front-paged an image of the “Minneapolis Kid” taken from his photo but all orange this time.
She then contacted the Andy Warhol Foundation, which has managed the artist’s collection since his death in 1987, to claim rights. She refused, opening the door to an intense legal battle which has just come to know its outcome.
2023-05-18 15:30:59
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