Customer Reviews

Permissions, A Survival Guide: Blunt Talk about Art as Intellectual Propery

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Permissions is a useful guide written by an author who knows her craft. (Her description of the multiple headaches she created for herself as she contracted for a photograph of an unknown Sicilian "masterpiece" is simply the most entertaining of her chapters.) Although the book is specially directed to authors preparing scholarly works about art, any writer who requires illustrations will profit (or if they've already been through the drill, perhaps wince) at the sound advice given here. Yet behind Bielstein's banter and helpful suggestions, she makes a serious point, that material supposedly in the public domain is being steadily drawn back into private--and especially, corporate--hands.

Susan Bielstein unpacks the quagmire of copyright permissions that authors must go through in their attempts for permission to publish photographs of visual images in books and articles. The process is an arduous and expensive one for the authors, but the reality of copyright permissions and the law behind them turn out to be more complex and confusing than I had imagined. Biestein unpacks the compexity of the legal issues with humor and ease, enabling authors and publishers to understand the complexities and pitfalls of copyright permissions in the visual arts. This is a must for all authors and publishers! And a pleasure to read.

While I can easily see this book as assigned reading in every law school class for intellectual property, it really deserves the greater readership of those who found joy in reading Eats, Shoots and Leaves. Its erudition is apparent, but never pedantic. The message of concern for our becoming a society that knows the price for everything, but is not willing to share anything of value, is woven skillfully into the fabric of its clever teachings. And for those folks who like a nicely designed hardback book, people who know things about fonts and book cover color, this is a great book to own new. The University of Chicago has given Ms. Bielstein the star treatment she is due.

Amazing: a book that delivers what it promises. But not only is this book clear-eyed, candid and full of practical advice, it manages at the same time to be both a breezy read and a compelling analysis of disturbing trends in intellectual property. Highly recommended.

Bielstein manages both to demonstrate how complex the tangle of permissions is and to offer clear direction. Most remarkable, her lively prose transforms a potentially miserable topic into truly enjoyable reading.

This book not only tells all, but also reflects humor in the telling of the ins and outs of intellectual property management. This author masters the art of presenting the facts concerning this complicated subject and uses great examples to illustrate the points she makes. Her photo captions say it all. In spite of the subject, this is a most pleasurable book.

Susan Bielstein is the executive editor for art, architecture, classical studies, and film at the University of Chicago Press. In that capacity, she has dealt with the vexed and complex question of how intellectual property law applies to the visual arts, in the context of the use of images to illustrate academic texts.

Now, it would not be unreasonable for you to think that this is a subject that only lawyers could love, but you would be wrong. In Bielstein's capable hands, it is a fascinating and, at times, even humorous subject. The distinctions between copyright permission and use permission, the way practicalities (the need for a reproducible image, the desire to avoid offending an institution with which one may have to deal in the future) affect whether and how one requests permission, the intricacies of determining what is in copyright, these are the stuff from which she has created a volume that is of great practical use to the author, editor and publisher.

But the non-professional will also find it of interest. How does the ease with which technology allows reproduction of images affect these issues? What is the interplay between property rights and personalty rights and privacy? What effect does the institutional claim of copyright over images that are likely public domain have on future use? These are questions the answers to which concern us all, because they will have an impact on the availability of information. An example from my own recent reading comes to mind. I had read a non-fiction book about a Caravaggio painting, and commented negatively on the absence of images. How, I wondered, was it possible to write a book about a piece of art without showing us that art? I think now that it is quite likely that permission to use images of the work was denied. If that is the case, then I can say without hesitation that the book was much the poorer for it. Why an institution would deny such permission (or make the cost prohibitive) is, frankly, beyond me.

To make her points, Bielstein has included with every image information regarding not merely the copyright, but whether and how much of a fee was requested, how the image was obtained (JPEG, transparency, etc.), and sometimes lengthy explications of the image's status.

As she says, "Welcome to the Fun House."

I can't recommend this book highly enough to all non-fiction authors. Not only does it give sound, practical advice on how to acquire rights to reproduce images in printed works, and carefully tackles the difference between copyright permissions and "use" permissions, it also answers all those "what if" questions everyone attempting to find the right illustrations or photographs to accompany their text grapples with. What if I just sneak into a museum and take my own pictures? What if I just scan a picture of the picture I want from a book? What if I just use pictures from sites such as flickr? Why am I still being asked to pay for permission to reproduce something that was made 1000 years ago, surely the artist is dead?! Do yourself a favor: put your manuscript aside for a few hours and read this book now. It's not only full of useful advice, it's also well-written and a delightful read. In fact, even non-authors would enjoy Permissions for its amusing anecdotes and stories drawn from Bielstein's experiences as an Executive Editor at the U. of Chicago Press. Moreover, it raises some very real questions as to the role museums are playing: isn't one of their objectives to make art more accessible to the world? Why then are they the institutions demanding reproduction fees that often prevent authors from being able to illustrate their scholarly and non-fiction works in ways that make reading more enjoyable and educational? Bielstein asks for more reasoned consideration by those who set the fees, and has several good suggestions for how such fees, and/or application of "Fair Use" could help save what otherwise might turn into the death of published, illustrated art books.

Great book, very relevant to the project i was working on. I recieved it promptly and it was in great condition.