Picasso famously said “good artists borrow, great artists steal.” Sometimes artists plagiarise without even thinking about it and some don’t consider the ethical ramifications.
I was teaching an art class years ago where I put out a bunch of photos for people who did not bring their own photos. The works were later exhibited. A photo I had used for a painting accidentally ended up back in the pile. A student picked it and did a painting at home from it. Then lost the photo. It turned out the photo had fallen on the floor and another student had picked it up and painted it too. So now there were 3 paintings from the same photo. When the works were exhibited, the two students were angry. They had not adjusted or improved upon the photo, but had just copied it, making their paintings look almost identical. Because of how much I had altered my painting from the photo, they had no idea mine had been from the same photo.
Would you want to enter a painting only to find out someone else had entered almost the same painting? Would you want to be accused of plagiarising? If you use a photo from the internet this could happen to you too. You should always use your own photo when working from photo references. If you do, don’t misplace it or post the photo online.
Using photos from the internet can create a copyright violation and can disqualify you from most art competitions. Even if you get by the judges but someone notices it later, you could forfeit your award and earn a negative reputation as an artist.
The image above shows the search results for paintings from a National Geographic cover photo. Hundreds of people are selling paintings and prints like these as “originals,” but there is nothing original about them. All of them are copyright violations. The paintings are not well done and only suffer by comparison to the well-known photo. Don’t let this happen to you.
To avoid plagiarising or being accused of it, here are some tips:
• Paint directly from life whenever possible.
• Take your own photos for reference material.
• Don’t use photos from the internet.
• Take a photo of your artwork as soon as you are done so that you have a record of when you completed it.
• Remember that the photo is just inspiration for a painting, not exactly what the painting should look like. Make it better and something new when you paint it.
Back to Picasso’s famous quote… I believe he meant to steal ideas and techniques, not to duplicate someone else’s artwork or photo. There is no art in mechanical duplication. Of course Picasso was never the ultimate authority on art anyway and you should remain ethical even if a famous artist has a famous quote otherwise.