Art Passions, Design Passions, Artsy Craftsy

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Frequently Asked Questions

Art Passions is a tribute to artists whose work I grew up with and has meaning for me personally. You won't find a lot of marketing here. A few recommended links almost support the website, and allow me to add new art. For years, Art Passions was housed on an entirely different server than my other projects: Design Passions, or Data Design books and posters that include illustrations by the artists presented here, and Artsy Craftsy for tile and art prints. I am starting a project to make William Morris / Arts and Crafts Art Tile (link dead for now). We'll see how it goes.

Why do you do this?

I don't know. I think it is a justification to continue with my antique fairy tale book habit.

But really, these artists mean a lot to me, and life has generally been good, and every so often I get this strange urge to give something back to the Internet community (within reason). This site happened one of those times that I gave into that urge.

Why do you choose these artists?

Cuz I like them a lot personally and showing the pictures to my cats isn't enough acknowledgement. Have you ever met a cat with insomnia? Me either.

Where can I find prints or posters of these images?

Possibly here: Where to Find Art Prints and Posters and Fine Art Prints and Artsy Craftsy. For the Dore and Rackham posters, you have to start with art prints. I do my best to keep the Find Art Prints and Posters link current. Current coupons are also listed there.

Reproduction art tile (not just Morris and Arts & Crafts, but yes, fairies, too) for individual display, accent tile, or projects will eventually be available at: William Morris Tile.

Where can I find the books these illustrations are in?

I try to keep Art Passions as non-commercial as possible so whatever resources I have for finding books or posters by these artists are listed in the FAQ, on the Books by Artist, or Prints by Artist resources pages. Art and accent tiles by these artists will eventually be available at William Morris Tile. Basically, everything on this webnet starts here: Data Design.

Some of these books are very hard to find. I try to keep an up-to-date list for each artist at the different online bookstores: List of Bookstores. But for many, you will have better success with an online booksearch, where I have listed out my recommendations based on the kind of book you are looking for, complete with commentary.

I am looking for more resources by artist XXX. Can you tell me where to look?

Google or Amazon or the art/poster reference page

All I see are flying pigs!

This can occur if you a) have a bookmarked page and it is cached. In this case, your cached page functions like a hotlink so you get a flying pig. Reload the page, or change your setting to refresh each time the page is visited. You can also have this problem b) if you link directly to an image from google or another search engine. In that case, just link to the actual page and the images will appear correctly. Two other cases, c) you are trying to view from a blog or other page that is hotlinked. The flying pig is there to discourage this. And finally, your ISP (for example, AOL) might have cached the page, so you really have situation a). I think reloading the page will fix this. I'm not sure.

I am starting my own business and I want to put these images on T-shirts, cups, and frisbees. Is that okay?

Go for it. You don't have to ask my permission. I read somewhere that self-made millionnaires have an average of seven failed businesses before they succeed. Just persist. If you mean can you use the images, I really have answered that: I don't own any copyrights and I don't believe these images are copyrighted. Beware of people who claim to own copyrights they don't; they're predators. It seems to me it is impossible to prove a negative (not under copyright), so those claiming copyright have to prove that it is. But I am not a lawyer, and I am definitely not your lawyer. You should really read the section on copyright on this page. If you are in the U.S., you are in luck (one of the few times, lately, considering the exchange rate and everything else):

In most countries copyright protection extends until the January 1 following the 70th anniversary of the artist's death. In the U.S. there is currently a freeze on new works entering the public domain, but according to the U.S. Copyright Office: "The U.S. copyright in any work published or copyrighted prior to January 1, 1923, has expired by operation of law, and the work has permanently fallen into the public domain in the United States."

I have created a website to sell xxx and I want to trade links with you.

Curt answer: I am not selling anything at artpassions so I don't need your links.

Sometimes the products are things that would help artists and I want to do that, but nevertheless, the links page is gone forever. This is because a) links go away, b) links turn into porn site links after I put them up, and c) it's jut too high maintenance. I'm sorry but wish you luck with it.

However, I do want to encourage the entrepreneurial spirit so that people don't spend their days in an windowless office just so they can continue to return to the windowless office tomorrow. I'd like to get out of that myself. So when I get the Arts and Crafts Store site up, if your content aligns, like these folks do Arts and Crafts grilles, then maybe. I would rather not link to pages that are just virtual storefronts because, by linking to that page, I am recommending it and it must therefore have value. That was the original spirit of the Internet, and I am old school.

Join our affiliate program and with the traffic you generate, we'll make you rich.

Curt answer: No thanks.

Very rarely, I will recommend a product on artpasions. I won't pimp out the website; I am too emotionally invested in keeping it pure.

On the other hand, Vishnu, if you have a product that would be fun for artpassions visitors, I will definitely consider it and if it helps to keep artpassions up and running, that's cream.

I have a copy of XXX print or book by artist XXX. Do you want to buy it?

No.

I have a copy of XXX print or book by artist XXX. Can you tell me what it is worth?

No. If you are only casually curious, search for the book on amazon.com, zvab, or even ebay. If you are serious (meaning you care enough to spend a bit of money), go a museum or public gallery, or university art department for a referral to an unbiased dealer, appraiser, or auction house. You might also check artnet.com - there is a subscription fee to do a thorough search but you can get a very general idea for free.

I am looking for the book that image xxx is in.

Email me. If I know, I'll tell you.

Can I use these images on my website?

I think so. But I am not a lawyer. See discussion here.

Would it be possible if you could provide me with a bibliography (i.e., author, date, publisher and place of publication) as I need to cite this site.

No. Rackham images, and some others, are signed with the date on the actual work. Look closely. Also refer to this recommendation.

My company wants to use images for commercial purposes. Please provide the name of the actual copyright owner and contact information. I am on a tight deadline and my boss is all over me to get this done. Please respond immediately.

No. Did I mention I am not a lawyer? I am not a lawyer. This is a much more complicated question than it appears because a) people claim to own copyrights that they don't, b) not all works by an artist are owned by the same copyright owner or even owned at all, c) more than one person or group can claim to own the copyright, and d) U.S.A. copyright laws differ from EU laws. For example, in the U.S., if a photograph is taken of a museum work that does not materially contribute to its artistic value but rather is intended to be reproduce the work accurately as in say, a book, then the photograph is not copyrightable. The original work may or may not be under copyright. See discussion at Bridgeman Art Library v. Corel Corp. and at Wikipedia copyright jumpoff page.

Can I use your backgrounds?

Absolutely. I made them. There aren't many left (Styles change) but you are welcome to what you find. Rightclick and choose save the background. You can avoid the flying pig problem by saving the background to your own server. You'll know right away if this isn't working out.

I can't see the images! / There are broken links on the page!

I'm sorry. First, try refreshing the page. And make sure your browser is set to display images.

Sometimes broken links result from a typing error on the link. However, I have only a certain amount of bandwidth allocated. A BBS site in Korea was using one image for a background and linking to this site directly. A woman used one of the fairies in her signature file on a sex and marriage site. Everytime someone downloaded one of those pages, Art Passions supplied the image and my bandwidth tripled just like that.

However, policing bandwidth theft was bad for my mental health. So when an image is broken, it is probably because another person linked directly to the image so I removed the image hoping they would wake up. Sometimes if I had time, I renamed the original image and change the link in the pages. When I felt particularly naughty, I replaced the original image with something else that expressed my demonic side.

None of this worked however. I believe I have prevented hotlinking (the direct downloading of images to forums and other websites) so now I can create new pages with new artists.

The Artpassions forum links don't work.

I removed the forum mainly because it took up too much space that I needed for more art. Also, I got tired of removing the porn site advertisements. It must be human nature to litter.

Can I link to your site?

This is such an innocuous question. Let's clarify: You can link to any .html page on my site. In fact, I'd like that. However, it is not okay with me if link directly to images on your cruising blog and suck my bandwidth dry. If you don't know how to do this, you are probably fine and don't need to worry. Please do not mirror an entire page on your website.

I was linking to an image on your site from my home page and now it's broken. What happened?

I moved the image to prevent just that. Save the image (start by right-clicking and choosing Save Picture As) to your own server and link to it there. We'll both be happier. Please don't take all the images I scanned and make your own page without giving some credit - I did do all the scanning and touch up, after all. Manners count!

But WHY?

Cuz I pay for the bandwidth, that's why.

I was using wget or leech and it didn't work out

There are almost 400 MB of images on artpassions, which leaves me room for about 100 MB more, by the way. However, bandwidth is limited, and after it is exceeded the site is either shut down at the whim of the sysadmin, or I upgrade to higher bandwidth and / or a dedicated server. Do the math. Hint: Art Passions gets about 233K visitors per month. Thank you again for giving me the opportunity to learn so much about Apache.

I wrote my own script or got a script kiddie to circumvent your precautions and stripped your site. Nyah.

You are a probably teenage boy who has never had a date. You'll outgrow this. Meantime, I banned most the countries where you have accounts, so be sure you use your actual IP address. If I'm in the mood, I can complain to your ISP about his Acceptable Use Policies. He might cancel your parents' DSL account! Don't use your own hackerz domain name unless you've got private registration. At the end, what goes around comes around. Don't panic.

I want to use these images on my record album or book.

They'll look ugly because they're at web resolution.

Are these images copyright free?

That seems to be the general consensus but the rules change depending on where you live and other things. Do see the enthralling discussion here.

I need high-quality electronic copies of the images on your website immediately

Every so often a magazine intern writes me in a hissy fit about a deadline and wanting me to drop everything to give her stuff for nothing for a big spread. I have a real job and I really couldn't do this on short notice even if I wanted to, and I would so much rather work on my own projects here than on someone else's. Dave Nalle offers some high-quality printable images by some of these artists at the Scriptorium.

I own the copyright for image xxx.

Great. If you would like the image removed from this non-commercial site, please send written evidence that you own the copyright for the specified images, and the exact images in question, to P.O. Box 532, Goleta, CA 93116-0532. Include a written statement that you forbid their display on a non-commercial site. If your claim is valid, I'll take them right down.

Can you give me a list of exactly which images are copyright and which are not so I can use them on my commercial site?

No.

I am looking for a picture I saw on your site, but I don't remember the name and it isn't there anymore. It looks like....

I'm a visual learner and amazingly bad with descriptions. But you can write to me at the contact link at the top of this page, or you can try the Wayback Machine. The 1998 and 1999 archives are not available so if it was that long ago, you'll have to describe it to me very very well.

I am an artist and I want you to put my work on your site and not charge me so that I can share my work with other people. Can you help me?

Amazingly yes, there is a free lunch. The line above about having my own projects doesn't apply to you. I do want to help artists get exposure and I am willing to help you out on this within reason. I am redoing the website, but if your art was here before, it will be back when I get to that section. Meanwhile, here are the rules:

No more than 2 pictures per artist (choose wisely).
Must contain contact information (I suggest a yahoo, google, or hellokitty webmail address so you don't get inundated with spam). Email me your request and contact information and I will tell you where to email the pictures. Or I can put up a link to your website.
The art must be your own, and you need to a) ask me to display it for you, b)say that you understand that it is a free on-line gallery, c) that you agree to the rules outlined in this section of the FAQ.
Must be appropriate contact for artpassions, which is determined solely by me. My mind is easy to read: No porn, no hate, no offensive kitsch unless it is really funny.
I don't substitute, change or otherwise modify your entry, even if you beg me nicely, so make your submission count. All artists are prima donnas, it's expected. However, I am also a prima donna and will ignore requests that seek to turn me into a webslave.

I would like to contact artist XXX personally. Can you give me his/her email address?

Most of these are late 19th and early 20th century artists who no longer answer mail.

Mother Goose

Copyright Information

General copyright information with links to copyright information by country is available at Wikipedia. Read on for information about the copyright saga at Artpassions.

Additional Copyright Information:
The following court decision that went against Bridgeman is of interest:
Bridgeman vs Corel Corp
in which the court said:

The court determined 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. In other words, a museum reproduction of fine art in the public domain is itself public domain, and unauthorized duplication of the reproduction is not copyright infringement.

The entire article is well worth reading. The site contains several other relevant links, if you want to use art images on your website, or in your projects.

In Previous Episodes...
Please try to stay awake.
In the fall of 2000, I was contacted by the State Attorney General's office of New York state as part of an investigation of people claiming to hold copyrights for Maxfield Parrish. The attorney I spoke to did not believe that his works were under copyrights. However, I had not been contacted by anyone in that regard.
In mid-December 2000, I was contacted by two people asserting that they hold the copyrights to some of these images. In good faith, I took the images down over the Christmas holiday on the promise that I would receive copies of the contracts that Mr. Kevin Stewart says prove that Hodder and Stoughton Ltd. have a claim regarding the copyrights to Edmund Dulac's works. I took them down for two weeks but did not received anything from Kevin. Finally, something arrived. It looks reasonable. Kevin doesn't want anyone to be able to download and print out the images. I don't think I can stop that entirely, but these are images for the web and will certainly not be commercial quality when printed out. This is how the images came to be displayed with the show-image script; those images aren't indexed in the web image databases. As you can see, I was much more intimidated by official looking mail then so that was how I spent my Christmas weeks that year.
I was also contacted by Ms. Dawn Hathaway, who claims that Bridgeman Art Library represents the artists Arthur Rackham, Edmund Dulac, and Gustave Dore and that "Bridgeman Art Library is authorised by these collections to grant reproduction permission to commercial users and collect a reproduction fee on their behalf."
I explained in my email to Ms. Hathaway that this site is a tribute to the artists. These pages link to bookstores where you can order books containing these images, from which I believed the actual copyright holders would benefit. I offered to remove those links. I do not charge for the images on these pages and again, being low resolution images, they are not suitable for inclusion in any hardcopy publication. To my great surprise and delight, Ms. Hathaway said that Bridgeman Art Library had no objections to the display of the images on a non-commercial website. Meanwhile, Kevin independently came to the same conclusion so the images are back up, unless there are bandwidth problems. See the Question and Answer section of this page about that.
On 15 January 2001, Ms. Hathaway wanted to clarify information I had put up on this page. The following is excerpted from Ms. Hathaway's 15 Jaunary 2001 email. I am leaving it up so readers can apprise themselves of the Bridgeman position.

1 Receiving commission from sales made through links on your website means that regardless of the size of the income, it is a commercial site.
2 Regarding my previous correspondence and the note posted on the website relating to copyright queries, I would like to clarify the situation regarding copyright and reproduction rights.
Copyright is an intellectual property right. It is an automatic right afforded to a creator giving them economic rights of control over copying, adaptation, issuance of copies to the public, performance and broadcasting.
Copyright is an intellectual property right according to U.K. and E.U. legislation. It is an automatic right afforded to a creator for their lifetime and an extended period of 70 years after their death. It does not have to be registered and it gives the creator economic rights of control over copying, adaptation, issuance of copies to the public, performance and broadcasting.
The creator also has the moral rights of paternity (the right to be identified), integrity (the right to object to any derogatory treatment of their work), privacy and the right not to have a work falsely attributed.
Copyright protects original artistic, literary, dramatic and musical works as well as sound recordings, films, broadcasts, cable programmes, published editions, computer generated works and computer programmes. Therefore a creator can be an artist, musician, author etc.
It is important to note that there may be multiple copyrights and copyright holders in a work.
Copyright in the transparency
All transparencies supplied by the Library are copyrighted photographs. The Library either owns the copyright in the photograph or acts as the authorised agent of the copyright holder. A licence must be obtained from the Library before any reproduction is made or this will constitute an infringement of copyright. This is known as Reproduction Permission whereby we obtain clearance of the subject of the transparency (i.e. the artist's copyright in the work that has been photographed).