Transformative use of a building: does it infringe architect's moral rights?

A recent article in the NL Times, here, raises an issue which reflects a popular exam question for copyright students. The article is "Architect sues Leiden museum on copyright charge" by Hanna Daych and it reads, in relevant part (with links added):

Architect Fons Verheijen is planning legal action against the Naturalis Museum in Leiden, whose exhibition space building he designed. He argues that the museum is violating Dutch copyright laws by transforming the exhibition space into a storage facility and office space.

“They’re mutilating the building,” Verheijen told NL Times. “Somebody who creates art cannot have their work mutilated. Transforming my exhibition space into a storage space is mutilation.” ... [H]e plans to begin legal proceedings against the museum in April. His aim is to force the museum to scrap its current plans. ...

“My building is of a high architectural quality; it should not be used for storage,” Verheijen said. He insists that the existing exhibition space should be maintained and recommends the museum instead build an extension onto the current space for the office and storage requirements. “I’m not against another architect designing that,” he noted.

Architect Michiel Riedijk understands Verheijen’s disappointment. “But a client always has the right to make modifications to a building. Our work is a product and not an autonomous work of art, such as a painting. We are articulating his design rather than inflicting an injustice to it,” he said in an article in de Volkskrant. ...

This blogger loves the line about "we are articulating his design rather than inflicting an injustice to it" and wishes he had composed it. Having said that, copyright does not impose a binary system on the outcomes of intellectual creativity. It is open to an initiative to be both an articulation of a design and injustice to it.  Since there is no accounting for taste, no attempt will be made here to predict the outcome of the forthcoming legal proceedings -- though readers will doubtless have their own opinions.

Thank you, Chris Torrero, for this link.

More art enters the Public Domain

1 January is a special time of year for lots of reasons, not least the fact that lots of art enters the public domain (in Europe and several other jurisdictions – for an overview of the copyright terms worldwide – see here). It is also time for the annual Art & Artifice overview of some of the artists whose work has now become available.

Walter Sickert

Sickert - The Camden Town Murder

Sickert is considered by many to be the greatest British painter between Turner and Bacon. He developed a distinctive form of impressionism and was known for his urban scenes. Whilst he was known for his focus on ordinary people he was not above the occasional celebrity painting, including Winston Churchill.

Some, notably Patricia Cornwell have alleged that he was Jack the Ripper (or at least knew his identity) but this claim remains unsubstantiated.

Albert Kahn

Kahn - The Fisher Building, Detroit

Kahn was the architect associated with the development of Detroit. He moved to America from Germany in 1880 and forged a successful career as an architect.

Notable buildings include the Ford Motor Company's Highland Park plant, the Fisher Building, the General Motors building in Detroit and much of the original campus at the University of Michigan.

Grant - American Gothic

Grant Wood 

Wood is an artist best known for his paintings of the American Midwest, particularly the iconic American Gothic.




Ivan Bilibin

Bilibin - Morozco

Bilibin was a Russian illustrator and stage designer.   He was inspired by Slavic folklore and contributed to the Ballet Russes. Bilibin’s fame was established with a series of illustrated Russian fairytales. He lived in Paris for much of his life but returned to Soviet Russia in 1936.  He died in the siege of Leningrad.

Johannes E Akkeringa

Akkeringa was part of the Hague School of painters. He painted a variety of quaint subjects using oils and watercolours.

Mikhail Nesterov  

Nesterov - Taking the Veil

Nesterov was a major representative of religious symbolism in Russian art.