Copyright

Perusing March's copy of the British Journal of Photography an article on Polaroid copyright caught my eye enough to make a mention on my blog - plus it gives me the opportunity to present one of my all-time favourite self-portraits.
 Over the last 40 years Polaroid (the company) has built up a collection of between 16 and 24,000 Polaroids shot by some of the world's most famous artists/photographers included Ansel Adams, Warhol, Robert Frank and my favourite, Chuck Close (see below)

Nine-Part Self-Portrait

As everyone over the age of 30 will know Polaroid, of instant image fame, after a long illness finally perished with huge debts last year and as a consequence the courts have instructed an auction of all assets and this collection of Polaroids is one big asset. It is due to go under Sotheby's hammer in June 2012 but actual ownership of the collection (estimate $11.5m) is now being challenged by some of the artists themselves. Up to now copyright has contractually remained with the artist, but as American critic Allan Coleman explains in the article "what they are auctioning is not the copyright but the object, copyright stays with the photographer" but the fly in the ointment is that because a Polaroid is unique, then once it is sold and dispersed any rights originally struck with Polaroid will be nullified and easy access to the work will be virtually impossible. Close himself has told the New York Times that "there's nothing really like in the history of photography. To sell it is criminal". Sotheby's have already started marketing the auction but with some of the Polaroids worth upwards of $350,000 each I suspect the artists might yet attempt a last minute derailment. Watch this space.