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The Inquiry: Why are Warhol’s Prince works before the US Supreme Court?

Why are Warhol’s Prince works before the US Supreme Court?

30/03/2023 GMT

BBC World Service - The Inquiry, Why are Warhol’s Prince works before the US Supreme Court?

A copyright row over an Andy Warhol portrait of Prince has gone to the US Supreme Court

The Andy Warhol Foundation and rock photographer Lynn Goldsmith are in dispute over a so-called “orange” portrait of Prince, and the copyright row has gone to the US Supreme Court

In 1981, the rock photographer Lynn Goldsmith did a photoshoot with an up-and-coming singer songwriter called Prince. A few years later, he became a superstar, and she licenced one of her photos to Vanity Fair to be used as a reference picture for an illustration.

That portrait, known as “Purple Prince” was painted by Andy Warhol.

But what Lynn Goldsmith didn’t know, and nor did anyone else, was that Warhol made multiple portraits from her photograph. After Prince died in 2016, Vanity Fair licenced a different one of these portraits from the Andy Warhol Foundation for a tribute in the magazine. That picture was called the “Orange Prince”.  

When Lynn Goldsmith saw this new portrait, she asserted her copyright – and so did the Andy Warhol Foundation. The US Supreme Court, is now trying to decide whether the photo was “transformed” when Warhol painted it, and what constitutes “fair use”. It’s a case with vast implications for artists, photographers, galleries and the art business. 

So this week on the Inquiry, we’re asking: why are Warhol’s Prince works before the US Supreme Court? 

Presenter: Charmaine Cozier
Producer:  Ravi Naik
Editor: Tara McDermott
Researcher: Anoushka Mutanda-Dougherty
Broadcast co-ordinators : Sophie Hill and Siobhan Reed

(Photo: Prince Rogers Nelson Credit: ©️ 1981 Lynn Goldsmith)

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