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William Henry Hunt, The Artist, c. 1836, & My Thoughts on Auctions, Pt. 8

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Artwork Details

Title:	William Henry Hunt, The Artist, c. 1836, & My Thoughts on Auctions, Pt. 8
Artist:	William Henry Hunt (All)
Media Type:	Paint - Watercolor
Art Type:	Other
For Sale Status:	NFS
Views:	153
Likes on CAF:	0 1
Comments:	1
Added to Site:	7/2/2021
Comic Art Archive:

Description

Although many works by Hunt were included in the 1857 Art Treasures Exhibition in Manchester, England [the largest world's fair dedicated solely to art), this was the only watercolor which was lent to the exhibition by Hunt himself.

My Thoughts on the Comic Art Market:

When I bought my first pieces of comic art at the beginning of the 1970s, I never even thought about unpublished drawings by comic artists. At the 1971 Disneyland Comic Book Convention, Carmine Infantino drew sketches of Flash and other characters for which he was known, but he gave them away to fans for free. Artist alleys came about quite a bit later, and I never paid any attention to the art that was being created -- I own no commissions and never have. This is not because I fail to appreciate such art, much of which I consider to be very interesting and/or beautiful.

If artists have obtained permission in writing from those authorized to give permission to use copyrighted characters or to re-create published images, there should be no problem with either commissioning or buying such fan art. But, absent express permission, I think that it could be very risky to collect this type of art. I suspect that most collectors do not give any thought to what could be devestating consequences under federal copyright laws.

Copyright owners have many rights that are not widely understood by the public -- and I haven't looked at these laws for a few decades, so they might have changed in recent years. But, historically, the consequences of violating copyright laws can be devastating. The copyright holder can have infringing copies seized and destroyed, with no compensation to either the artist who makes the infringing copy or to anyone who bought the copy. There have always been laws which provide for statutory damages to be imposed against anyone who is involved in violating the copyright owner's rights in amounts that can be huge. There can also be criminal consequences. Even if a defendant ultimately wins in a copyright action, the costs of defending against claims of copyright owners can cost so much that it can result in financial ruin for the one who had to hire attorneys to mount a defense.

While a company who holds the copyrights on characters may authorize an artist to use their characters, such authorization can be withdrawn at any time, even if innocent parties end up paying for the copies made after permission is withdrawn. This happened with Carl Barks, who Disney had given permission to paint his recreations but later withdrew permission for him to paint more. And, even if a license to use characters is given at one point in time, changes in relationships with artists can result in such licenses being withdrawn. Alex Schomburg obtained written permission from Stan Lee to recreate his Timely covers; I have seen the actual letter in which Lee consented. Can you say the same about the artists who created your own commissions?

I saw Rick Hoberg's 4 page spread of the All-Star Squadron members in an art show at San Diego and spent the rest of the convention trying to find Hoberg to see if he would sell the originals. Person after person told me that he had just been around, but I never could find him. Many years later I obtained his telephone number and finally bought the art. Recently, however, I saw on CAF that another collector had commissioned Hoberg to recreate the art in color, with certain minor changes which the collector thought to be improvements. Considering the amount of effort I went through to buy the originals, I am not very happy that someone could simply pay to have what many would consider to be superior copies painted -- the copies have many more comments than the very few comments that have been posted over a far greater period of time in connection with the published art. I really don't believe that artists should make replicas without the consent of the purchaser of published pages, just because someone requests such copies and pays for them. I feel differently when it comes to recreations of art that has been lost or destroyed over the years, but an artist who creates new examples of originals for which they were paid seems to be diminishing the value of owning the originals despite what the buyer of those originals might have expected when he decided to seek out and buy the published art.

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About the Owner

	C E
Joined:	April 2006
Last Login:	August 2025
Country:	UNITED STATES
On CAF:	C's Want List Artworks Commented On Liked Art Site Activity on CAF

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Marcus Wai
Member Since 2005

Posted on 7/2/2021

Looks like the kid is reading his iPad the latest post from C E.

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