A Note About Civil War Artwork and Copyright

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Posting Contemporary Artwork
Please refrain from posting images of contemporary (modern) artwork on CivilWarTalk, unless you own or have the express permission of the artist responsible for creating the artwork. Images of popular Civil War artwork such as those created by Strain, Kunstler, Troiani, and Gallon should not be posted on this forum, all such artwork is under copyright protection.

Instead, we recommend that you link to the page on the artist web site containing the artwork.

Public Domain Artwork
Some artwork at CivilWarTalk.com is Public Domain content. In most cases, this means that it was published in the United States prior to January 1, 1923 or that its first publication anywhere in the world was prior to January 1, 1909 or that its copyright expired in the United States.

Some artwork may be the work of a soldier or sailor or employee of the U.S. Army, or U.S. Navy, taken or made during the course of the person's official duties. As a work of the U.S. federal government, the artwork is in the public domain.

For more information, please refer to our copyright policy:
http://civilwartalk.com/threads/copyright-privacy-terms-of-use-advertising.63690/#post-395286

Thank you for your understanding.
 
The Last Letter by Gilbert Gaul (1855-1919).

This black, white, and gray painting was published in The Century Illustrated Magazine in December 1890 to accompany the sentimental poem "Marthy Virginia's Hand" by George Parsons Lathrop. Gaul, born too late to witness the war first hand, began during the 1880s to create works that reflected the public's interest in remembering the Civil War.

Tennessee State Museum

View attachment 126427
 
Is there really a legal issue of posting a photograph of a work of art on a public forum when not used to make a profit or claimed to be original to someone that it isn't? Genuinely curious...
If anything certain paintings would draw me to look MORE into the artists. This is a public forum of discussion. Not sure why or how publically made and advertised products (in this case paintings) violates any copyright claims whatsoever.
 
Is there really a legal issue of posting a photograph of a work of art on a public forum when not used to make a profit or claimed to be original to someone that it isn't? Genuinely curious...
If anything certain paintings would draw me to look MORE into the artists. This is a public forum of discussion. Not sure why or how publically made and advertised products (in this case paintings) violates any copyright claims whatsoever.
I concur. I used to work in the field of Intellectual Property, and it is my understanding that in the USA all federal images are public domain. Other images unless they are being used for a profitable purpose are not an issue. That doesn't negate the fact that the owner of the rights to copyright still has the right to enforce their rights, but it is seldom done when profit is not the issue. We still should attempt to credit the originator, but in this day and age of the internet, identifying the rights holder is not always that easy.

Too often for profit business such as a variety image providers regularly claim ownership to copyright images that hey have essentially stolen and in turn charge for the use of those images.
 
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