Commons:Deletion requests/File:J.K. Shillington of W&L University.pdf

From Wikimedia Commons, the free media repository
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This deletion discussion is now closed. Please do not make any edits to this archive. You can read the deletion policy or ask a question at the Village pump. If the circumstances surrounding this file have changed in a notable manner, you may re-nominate this file or ask for it to be undeleted.

Modern art. I think artist identity/permission confirmation via Commons:OTRS is necessary. EugeneZelenko (talk) 14:33, 2 June 2017 (UTC)[reply]

This portrait (actually a picture of the portrait that I took) was commissioned bought and owned by Dr. J. K. Shillington. It was entirely his property. Upon his death, it was given to W&L University. It was uploaded to this site for his many former colleagues and students (several of whom are prominent MDs and professors) who will never get to see it in person. DWA — Preceding unsigned comment added by Wikidwa (talk • contribs) 17:18, 2 June 2017‎ (UTC)[reply]

If J. K. Shillington was copyrights holder, when he died? In which country painting was made? --EugeneZelenko (talk) 13:49, 9 June 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Dr. Shillington died in 1993. the painting was done in Lexington, Va, USA by his friend and fellow professor who was in the art department of Washington & Lee University (Ray Prohaska) who died several years earlier. [D. W. Armstrong] — Preceding unsigned comment added by Wikidwa (talk • contribs) 18:39, 9 June 2017‎ (UTC)[reply]


Deleted There is good news and bad news here.

  1. As a general rule, commissioning a painting does not transfer the copyright. Copyrights to portraits are almost always held by the artist. Even if Shillington owned the copyright simply giving the painting to the school, would not transfer the copyright to the school, so, unless there were a separate written transfer, the school would not have right to license the copyright.
  2. Note also, that Wikidwa's claim of "own work" is incorrect. There is no copyright in making a photo of a painting.
  3. However, the good news is that the painting was done in 1964. If it was "published", in the technical copyright sense of the word, before March 1989, then it is in the Public Domain for lack of notice. In order to claim that as a reason for having it on Commons, Wikidwa must prove that either it was photographed and printed copies were distributed, or that it was on public display before 1989. If it was simply hanging in Shillington's home until then, then it will not qualify for {{PD-US-no notice}}.
  4. However, we do not keep PDFs of images, so the current version cannot be kept.
  5. Finally, there is the question of notability. I do not see any WP article on J.K. Shillington and Google does not turn up any relevant hits. We do not generally keep images of non-notable people. Commons is not Facebook or Flickr.

If, and only if, Wikidwa can prove that Shillington was notable for some reason -- simply being a professor at a major university does not qualify -- and either (a) he can prove that it was published before 1989, or (b) Prohaska's heir sends a free license using OTRS, then he could upload a new version of the image in JPG format. .     Jim . . . (Jameslwoodward) (talk to me) 21:56, 9 June 2017 (UTC)[reply]