“Good Artists Copy; Great Artists Steal” — Pablo Picasso
But what is plagiarism in art?
I’ve mentioned in previous articles that art is one of my favourite pastimes.
I enjoy browsing the internet for artwork produced by established professional artists and those less famous. I will make a special effort to visit galleries in my home area or places I visit on holiday.
And I love the time I spend painting with watercolours, oil paints and inks as well as drawing, usually with pastels or charcoal, sometimes with pencils. I have also ventured into lino-cut printing linked with airbrushed colour highlights. Something I intend on developing further, soon.
Art appreciation
I’ve often been attracted to the work of other artists, simply because I like their work, their styles, their finished paintings, drawings or sculptures. I make no excuse for trying to imitate what they so successfully achieve — sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. However, each time I paint, I learn something.
One of my recent discoveries is the work of . He is based here in Cornwall but exhibits widely.
Plagiary and forgery
Imitating other artists’ work for my own pleasure and education is one thing. My paintings will never get displayed in galleries, they won’t be put up for sale, and they will only ever be hung on the walls of my own home — other than a few that might be gifted to family or friends.
Copying, imitating and passing off others’ work as one’s own is another thing altogether.
Where does art forgery become plagiarism, and where does plagiarism become imitation, and is there a difference?
In producing the painting shown below, have I indulged in plagiary, or have I imitated the work or style of Daniel Cole? Is what I have done acceptable?
It would appear that ‘visual plagiarism’ is now a reality and recognised as theft just as much as any other form of copying for, at the very least, unethical advantage.
Money! Money! Money!
The usual reason for such visual plagiary is, of course, financial advantage. Forgery is a criminal act, but what about using another artist’s style to produce one’s own so-called original artwork?
My ‘Three Hawthorns, Bodmin Moor’ is clearly in Daniel Coles’ style, though nowhere near as well executed (there is a reason for that which I’ll come back to).
Have I plagiarised Daniel’s work?
Yes, I have. There are so many similarities between the two paintings that I couldn’t hope to deny it.
In the style
I haven’t yet, but I intend to do so soon: paint a piece in what I might call ‘in the style of Daniel Cole’ using similar motifs, colours, structure, and layout.
Plagiarism? Even if I’m careful not to reproduce anything too similar to Daniel’s work? Perhaps I might acknowledge Daniel’s influence by adding something like ‘in the style of Daniel Cole’ to my title or description, but I’m not sure that would make much of a difference.
It can be profitable
Throughout history, there have been lots of examples of art plagiarism, many of which have resulted in court action. Andy Warhol’s painted reproductions of Patricia Caulfield’s magazine comes readily to mind.
Then there’s (Elaine) Sturtevant, who was famed for basing her work on the product of other artists (). She achieved recognition for her carefully inexact repetitions of other artists’ works (Wikipedia).
Sturtevant even had an exhibition at MoMA (Museum of Modern Art, New York) entitled .
There have been many cases of .
PapersOwl
What follows is taken from an article by Kristian Eide in his PapersOwl article of July 2024
‘Every piece of art is inspired by another, but some influences are much too obvious to pass off as “inspiration.”
There are two types of art plagiarism: theft and tracing.
Artwork is still plagiarised if the plagiarist has added modifications or adjustments to the work.
In addition to artists, corporations also regularly plagiarise art from smaller, independent creators.’
Eide goes on to say;
‘Art theft is the provable stealing and publishing of someone else’s work as your own without consent from the original artist. Generally, the plagiarist would take dominant elements or themes from the original piece, apply them to theirs with a few adjustments, then claim the entire work as their own.
Tracing, on the other hand, involves directly and fully duplicating the original work but still adding modifications like changing colors or flipping the traced art backward. These changes still don’t make the art unique, and it falls under plagiarism.’
Given this, should I make any attempt to pass my ‘version’ of Daniel Cole’s Two Hawthorns on Bodmin Moor off as my work, I would certainly be guilty of plagiarism.
I wonder how far from any artist’s work their style can be emulated so as not to be considered plagiarism. Let’s face it, everything has been done before in some way or another. If I pick up a paintbrush and daub some colour onto a piece of paper or canvas, somebody, somewhere, will have done the same thing before. Have I plagiarised their work?
Then there is the question relating to artists producing artworks in their own style and, maybe, very similar to other works they may have produced previously.
Doing it again and again
The recycling of one’s previous works is self-plagiarism and is equal to plagiarism. However, self-plagiarism in art may be difficult to demonstrate. The artist may well claim one piece of art is simply a newer version of an older one or one in a series of related pieces. In other words, both are original pieces, despite their similarities. This is not the same as in, for example, an academic article or scientific submission.
Daniel Cole, like many other artists, has been the victim of plagiarism to the extent that some of his paintings have been copied, some accurately, then attributed to the plagiariser and even given the same title Daniel had used! A legal battle in the making?
Challenge
How about that hint I made earlier in this piece about my work perhaps not being up to the standard of another artist?
As with Daniel’s Two Hawthorns on Bodmin Moor, I give myself a challenge. I try to reproduce a painting as close as I can to an established artist’s work but within a limited time frame.
With my Three Hawthorns, I gave myself just one day (or as many hours of work that would make up a day — 8 hours — if I didn’t have the opportunity to paint for a whole day). This would tend to determine and limit my media, size of paper or canvas and, perhaps, colour combination.
You’ll notice I haven’t given any scale to either of the artworks nor have I mentioned media or on what surface the paintings were created. This usually means that no matter how the original artist created their work, I will attempt to recreate it on paper in watercolour, ink and/or pastel.
However, this does not mean I haven’t plagiarised their work.
For any artist, plagiarism is, for want of a better phrase, a potential minefield. In my case, Daniel Cole is happy for me to emulate his style for my entertainment and enjoyment on the understanding that I don’t attempt to pass off any of my paintings as original D. A. Hughes’ when they are clearly copies of Daniel Cole.
How far will I have to detach my style of painting from Daniel’s (or that of any other artist) before I can genuinely claim it to be my own?
