{"id":14168,"date":"2022-02-17T04:34:10","date_gmt":"2022-02-17T04:34:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mailinvest.blog\/index.php\/2022\/02\/17\/auguste-rodins-sculptures-are-in-the-public-domain-3d-scans-of-them-should-be-too\/"},"modified":"2022-02-17T04:34:10","modified_gmt":"2022-02-17T04:34:10","slug":"auguste-rodins-sculptures-are-in-the-public-domain-3d-scans-of-them-should-be-too","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mailinvest.blog\/index.php\/2022\/02\/17\/auguste-rodins-sculptures-are-in-the-public-domain-3d-scans-of-them-should-be-too\/","title":{"rendered":"Auguste Rodin’s Sculptures Are In The Public Domain; 3D Scans Of Them Should Be, Too"},"content":{"rendered":"

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from the free-the-scans<\/i> dept<\/h3>\n

\nAuguste Rodin<\/a> is without doubt one of the greatest sculptors in history. Equally without doubt, his works are now in the public domain, since he died in 1917. Unfortunately, the situation in France is a little more complicated, for reasons the artist and public domain campaigner Cosmo Wenman explains<\/a>:\n<\/p>\n

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\nShortly before his death, Rodin willed his estate to the French government, which created the Mus\u00e9e Rodin and assigned to it\u00a0droit moral\u00a0(\u201cmoral rights\u201d) in Rodin\u2019s oeuvre. By these rights the museum is permitted under French law to manufacture and sell a limited quantity of modern, posthumous bronze casts and represent them as \u201coriginal\u201d Rodin works. Mus\u00e9e Rodin earns considerable income from sales of such posthumous casts, as well as unlimited, simple reproductions.<\/em>\n<\/p>\n

\nMus\u00e9e Rodin\u2019s moral rights apply only within French jurisdictions, and only in very limited circumstances. They do not impinge on the public domain status of Rodin\u2019s works, nor on the public\u2019s right to freely copy them, even within France.<\/em>\n<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\nWenman believes that museums, art galleries and private collectors around the world should make 3D scans of important public domain works and release them freely, thereby becoming \u201cengines of new cultural creation\u201d. The Mus\u00e9e Rodin disagrees, presumably because it is concerned that its monopoly on \u201coriginal\u201d posthumous casts might be devalued. As a result, it has been fighting for some years Wenman\u2019s efforts to obtain the museum\u2019s 3D scans of Rodin\u2019s works through the courts.\n<\/p>\n

\nWenman has tweeted an update on his lawsuit<\/a>. One piece of good news is that thanks to his legal campaign, the scans carried out for the Mus\u00e9e Rodin\u2019s of two famous works \u2013 \u201cThe Kiss\u201d and \u201cSleep\u201d \u2013 are now\u00a0freely available<\/a>. Even better news is that Wenman has discovered the Mus\u00e9e Rodin has\u00a0scanned its entire collection<\/a>\u00a0at high resolution. As he says: \u201cThese documents are of world wide interest and immeasurable artistic, academic, cultural, and commercial value. I am going after all of them, for everyone.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\nIt\u2019s regrettable that some museums and galleries are still resisting these attempts\u00a0to liberate public domain works<\/a>. When those who are supposedly the guardians of society\u2019s cultural patrimony are fighting to stop people from having full and free access to it, it\u2019s clear that copyright\u2019s poison, based on ownership and exclusion, has entered deep into their souls.\n<\/p>\n

\n<\/em><\/em>Follow me @glynmoody on\u00a0Twitter<\/a>,\u00a0Diaspora<\/a>, or\u00a0Mastodon<\/a>.<\/em>\n<\/p>\n

\nOriginally published to the Walled Culture<\/a> site.<\/em>\n<\/p>\n

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Filed Under: 3d scans<\/a>, auguste rodin<\/a>, copyright<\/a>, france<\/a>, public domain<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n