While the Virginia Museum of Animal Art may own the physical artwork included in its collection, it does not own the copyright of any of them. The use of images of this artwork by the William King Museum of Art is therefore governed by US copyright law, and, in some cases, by the copyright laws of the country of origin of the artist.
Our collection can be divided into three categories; pieces that are in the public domain, pieces for which we have a license agreement with the artist, and pieces that are not in the public domain for which we do not have a license agreement with the artist or their estate. The rules are different for each category and attached is a schedule showing into which category each piece in the collection falls. In addition, the copyright of the images of the artwork is owned by the photographer, not by us or the William King Museum of Art. The use of these images is governed by license agreements we have with the photographers who took them.
This Privacy Notice does not apply to information that cannot be identified to any individual, household, or their devices, such as de-identified or anonymized data. This Privacy Notice does not apply to third parties or their services. We are not responsible for third parties’ privacy practices, and you should contact these parties directly to understand their practices.
Artwork in the public domain has no copyright protection and can therefore be used in any manner including on websites, in marketing materials, on public signs, and also as images on products for sale such as notecards. Whether required by law or not, as a practice we should always respect the moral rights of the artist, by providing attribution credit and respecting the integrity of the work. Our licensing agreements with our photographers allow their images to be used for all these functions except for creating products for sale. If we choose to use one of their images in a for sale product, we will need to negotiate the terms for doing so with the photographer. Alternatively a new photographer could be hired to take new images of the selected pieces specifically for that purpose.
Our licensing agreements with artists allow for the use of their artwork in all the situations typically used by a museum, with the exception of the production of articles for sale. These licensing agreements allow for the use of their artwork on websites, in all marketing and promotional literature, in fundraising materials, and on public signs. The language of the licensing agreements with the photographers mirrors that in the agreements with the artists, so no extra permission is required from the photographer to use their images in the same manner as the artwork itself. However, permission from the artist and the photographer would be required to use an artwork and its image in a product for sale by the museum or any other commercial use.
copyThese pieces can only be used by the museum under certain conditions that meet a “fair use” test. This is a statutory legal term which has been subject to much litigation and the penalties can be severe if a use is made of a piece of artwork that does not meet that test. In general, for a use to be a “fair use”, the use must be transformative, i.e. the use is not just the reproduction of the piece but its inclusion in something with non-profit educational value. Thus, inclusion in an exhibition catalogue which includes history, criticism and/or commentary, or the use of thumbnail images in a searchable database with provenance, etc. have been held to be “fair use”. However use of a piece of artwork in a “coffee table” handbook, or for general marketing or promotional purposes, including in “bare” form on a web page, is not considered to be “fair use”. For example, merely embedding copyrighted material images in social media posts for informational purposes without sufficient context has been found to fail the “fair use” test. As a result of the risks of failing the “fair use” test, which can be severe, considerable caution should be used in selecting how and where to use copyrighted material in this category and, in particular, they should not be used on the website or in social media without strict compliance with the law. For example, they should not be used for commercial or purely promotional purposes, for fundraising purposes or on public signs.
The William King Museum of Art + Worrell Collection is currently researching works in the permanent collection that are protected under copyright and is contacting artists and artists’ estates for permission to reproduce their works where necessary. While the William King Museum of Art + Worrell Collection has endeavored in good faith to obtain the permissions it believes are necessary to include works on this website, the William King Museum of Art + Worrell Collection does not warrant that the use of content displayed on this website will not infringe upon the rights of third parties.
If you have objections or complaints regarding content posted on this website, or if you can provide contact information for an artist or an artist’s estate, please contact: mbarker@wkmuseum.org
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