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Q: Looking for a photograph by Stephen M. Townsley of a mural by Barbara Kruger ( No Answer,   2 Comments )
Question  
Subject: Looking for a photograph by Stephen M. Townsley of a mural by Barbara Kruger
Category: Arts and Entertainment > Visual Arts
Asked by: springs-ga
List Price: $15.00
Posted: 10 Dec 2002 16:40 PST
Expires: 09 Jan 2003 16:40 PST
Question ID: 122684
The mural, "Untitled (Questions)" (1989-90), by the artist Barbara
Kruger, is found at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles.  I
have a post card of the mural, and I would like to have a print or a
poster.  The gift shop at the museum has a few of the postcards left,
but nothing larger. I assume that contacting the photographer would be
the next step, although I am open to other suggestions.
Answer  
There is no answer at this time.

Comments  
Subject: Re: Looking for a photograph by Stephen M. Townsley of a mural by Barbara Kruger
From: czh-ga on 06 Jan 2003 22:51 PST
 
Hello springs-ga,

I haven’t been able to locate a poster or print of Barbara Kruger’s --
Untitled (It's a small world but not if you have to clean it)1990,
which is owned by the Los Angeles, MOCA. In my search for it, I did
come across some interesting information that might help you track it
down.

Barbara Kruger is represented by the Mary Boone Gallery
http://www.maryboonegallery.com/contact.html
Please direct all inquiries to:
Mary Boone Gallery
745 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10151
Telephone: 212.752.2929 
Fax: 212.752.3939 
Email: info@maryboonegallery.com

The piece you’re looking for was the subject of landmark litigation.

http://www.artnet.com/magazine/news/artnetnews/artnetnews9-19-00.asp
Artnet News
9/19/00
KRUGER, WHITNEY IN COPYWRIGHT WRANGLE
Political postmodernist Barbara Kruger and the Whitney Museum are
being sued by Thomas Hoepker for using one of his pictures without
permission and proper credit -- a clear copyright violation, according
to Hoepker, a 40-year veteran photographer with more than 20 books
under his belt. Kruger's piece -- Untitled (It's a Small World But Not
If You Have to Clean It) (1990) -- uses a cropped version of Hoepker's
Charlotte with Looking Glass (ca. 1959), a picture of a girl peering
through a magnifying glass. Kruger's adaptation of the image, which
includes her signature superimposed text, is used in a number of items
relating to her current retrospective at the Whitney (on view through
Oct. 22), including a billboard at Eight Avenue and 42nd Street and
t-shirts, refrigerator magnets and sticky notes at the museum's gift
store.

Hoepker, vice president of Magnum Photos/New York, says the suit "is
not so much about money as about the blatant way one colleague is
ripping off another." And adds "my cousin, now Charlotte Dabney, is
puzzled and annoyed that her portrait is making the rounds in
newspapers, exhibitions and on huge billboards." Hoepker doesn't
specify a damage amount, but the sum would reflect the sales price of
the Kruger work (which is owned by the Museum of Contemporary Art in
Los Angeles), as well as the revenues on sales of merchandise and
rights for TV and Internet use, with the final total multiplied by
five in punitive damages. A spokesperson for the Whitney tells Artnet
Magazine that the organization doesn't believe the suit against the
museum has any merit.

http://www.photography-guide.com/c_news_02.html
October, 2002 
From Art in America...A written account of the copyright infringement
case brought against artist Barbara Kruger last year by German
photographer Thomas Hoepker and his model Charlotte Dabney, has just
been issued by the court. Decided in Kruger's favor, the case is
likely to become a standard for future copyright cases. The issue
concerned the appropriation of Hoepker's 1960 photograph of Dabney
holding a magnifying glass, which became the basis of Kruger's 1990
work, Untitled (It's a small world but not if you have to clean it.).
Along with Hoepker's copyright infringement suit, Dabney also sued for
violating her civil right to privacy under New York's name and
likeness law. The ruling however, states that Hoepker's image was in
the public domain at the time Kruger created the work; and although
Congress restored copyright protection to all U.S. and foreign works
in 1994 for 95 years from the time of production, Hoepker failed to
notify Kruger of his reinstated copyright. The court also declares
Kruger's piece an original work, not a reproduction, and addressed
Dabney's suit by stating that exhibition and reproduction of the image
does not violate her right to privacy.

Additional links:

http://www.eyestorm.com/feature/ED2n_article.asp?article_id=199&caller=1
Shards from the Vanity Mirror 
by Joe Scanlan
12/22/00
Untitled (Your Body Is a Battle Ground) 1989
Untitled (It’s a Small World but Not if You Have to Clean It) 1990
Untitled (I Shop therefore I Am) 1987
Untitled (You Are Getting What You Paid For) 1984
The Barbara Kruger retrospective was showing at the Whitney Museum of
American Art, New York, from 13 July to 22 October 2000.

http://twist.lib.uiowa.edu/multi/poetryimages/gallery/krueger.htm

thinking of you:
Untitled (Our prices are insane!/I'm just looking), 1987
Barbara Krueger
YOU BELONG HERE, front view of site-specific installation, The Parrish
Art Museum, Southampton, New York, July 19-September 6, 1998
Barbara Krueger
Untitled (Don't be a jerk), billboard, Melbourne, Australia, 1996
Barbara Krueger
Untitled (We don't need another hero), 1987
Barbara Krueger
Untitled (It's a small world but not if you have to clean it), 1990
Barbara Krueger
Untitled (You invest in the divinity of the masterpiece), 1982
Barbara Krueger
Untitled (When I hear the word culture I take out my checkbook), 1985
Barbara Krueger
Untitled (God said it. I believe it. And that settles it.), 1987
Barbara Krueger 

Good luck with your hunt.

czh
Subject: Re: Looking for a photograph by Stephen M. Townsley of a mural by Barbara Kruger
From: springs-ga on 16 Jan 2003 07:55 PST
 
Thanks, czh-ga!  Sorry I didn't respond sooner, but I moved over the
holidays and it took a while to get everything hooked back up.

Actually I am looking for a different "Untitled" than that one.  It's
the mural that covers the entire side of the "temporary" MOCA
building. However, these are still good leads, and that copyright case
looks very interesting.

Thank you again.

springs

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