guidelines for portraits of public figures, alive/dead/historical?

Forum|Forum|3 years ago
October 19, 2022
5 replies
383 views

If I'm not using someone else's artwork as a base – i.e., making a painting based on a specific photograph or other image – can I paint or draw pictures of historical or other culturally important figures and sell them via Adobe stock? For example, portraits of Huey Newton (modern era but dead) or Nina Simone (same); Franz Liszt or Beethoven (historical), or recent presidents or contemporary/living political figures?

Does the 70 year rule apply to the visage/portrait of a person – that is, does their estate own the general look/feel of their face, even if it's original artwork on my part?

This topic has been closed for replies.

Correct answer Abambo

You will need a model release from the dead person signed by that person, if that person has been dead for less than X years. Obviously, you will have a problem, heirs cannot sign for them. Somewhere, hidden deep in these fora, there is an answer from @MatHayward on a similar subject.

Public persons like politicians can't claim the same privacy rights than ordinary people, but they still control the use of their image for commercial aims. You simply can't put a Snowden image in a commercial for your spyware, but you can produce a news article about spyware and use a picture of Snowden for that article.

And yes, also deceased people still have rights through their estate. You won't find an Einstein picture in stock for commercial use, the same for Elvis. And the estates are famously defending their rights.

Jill_C

Community Expert

Do you have a question for the community?

Jill C., Forum Volunteer

Abambo

Community Expert

@sey321548565krd ,

What is your intend with this oversaturated picture?

(the entry this post refers to has been deleted)

ABAMBO | Hard- and Software Engineer | Photographer

Abambo

Correct answer

Community Expert

You will need a model release from the dead person signed by that person, if that person has been dead for less than X years. Obviously, you will have a problem, heirs cannot sign for them. Somewhere, hidden deep in these fora, there is an answer from @MatHayward on a similar subject.

Public persons like politicians can't claim the same privacy rights than ordinary people, but they still control the use of their image for commercial aims. You simply can't put a Snowden image in a commercial for your spyware, but you can produce a news article about spyware and use a picture of Snowden for that article.

And yes, also deceased people still have rights through their estate. You won't find an Einstein picture in stock for commercial use, the same for Elvis. And the estates are famously defending their rights.

ABAMBO | Hard- and Software Engineer | Photographer

Nancy OShea

Community Expert

Commercial content has different rules than Editorial content.

I have an artist friend who created a massive collage of Sigmund Freud at various stages of his adult life. The artist could not sell the canvas without first obtaining written permission from Freud's estate. Anna Freud (his daughter) who was still alive at the time said OK.

Nancy O'Shea— Product User & Community Expert

Jill_C

Community Expert

This article describes some of the issues relating to using an image of a dead person. I didn't do any further research to determine whether it matters how long they've been deceased.

https://www.bhandlaw.com/can-i-legally-use-the-image-of-a-dead-famous-person/

Jill C., Forum Volunteer