Need Permission to use this art...

January 23, 2007 4:55 PM

Would anyone know how I might find out who owns this painting by Amos Bad Heart Bull in order to get permission to use it? It "shows (Crazy Horse) on a white horse charging in among Custer's fleeing troopers at the Battle of the Little Bighorn". Sorry that I don't have a link, I just can't seem to find it online. Thanks so much for any help.
posted by Jujee to Media & Arts (4 answers total)

Do you have an image that you're trying to get permission to use, or are you looking to take a photo/otherwise make a copy of the painting? If it's the former, you don't need to go to the owner of the actual painting, you'd need the owner of the copyright. In this case, the painting was created so long ago, it's almost certainly unprotected by copyright -- so you're free to do whatever you wish.

Now, if you need to get/make a copy of the painting, that's a whole 'nother story.
posted by katemonster at 5:05 PM on January 23, 2007

Since Amos Bad Heart Bull died in 1913, his work is definitely in the public domain.
posted by IshmaelGraves at 5:54 PM on January 23, 2007

Be careful, while IshmaelGraves is correct (Amos Bad Heart Bull's are in the public domain), unless you plan on photographing the painting yourself you're going to have to work with a reproduction and it is possible for a reproduction to be under copyright despite being derivative of a work in the public domain. Fortunately for you a relatively recent court case (Bridgeman Art Library, Ltd. v Corel Corp. (1998)) ruled that museum reproductions, whose purpose is to duplicate the original work as precisely as possible, do not involve enough originality to be copyrighted as a derivative work. So, since Amos Bad Heart Bull's paintings are in the public domain, museum reproductions of his paintings are in the public domain as well. So if you're planning on working from a reproduction, make sure you work from one that is a "slavish copy."
posted by RichardP at 6:42 PM on January 23, 2007

Try Art Resource. They were a good resource for when I had to track down permissions of paintings for a publication.
posted by perpetualstroll at 7:47 AM on January 24, 2007