Another Chruchill article with picturess of his art and the original
Mike Ward
Churchills confrontation with the reporter who confronted him.
http://news4colorado.com/topstories/local_story_055200531.html
'Original' Churchill Art Piece Creates Controversy
by CBS4 News reporter Raj Chohan and news4colorado.com staff
Feb 24, 2005 8:03 pm US/Mountain
BOULDER, Colo. (CBS4) An exclusive report by CBS4 News indicates
embattled University of Colorado professor Ward Churchill may have
broken copyright law by making a mirror image of an artist's work and
selling it as his own.
Placing Churchill's work beside that of renowned artist Thomas E. Mails
and the two look like mirror images. But one is a copyrighted drawing.
The other is an autographed print by Churchill.
When CBS4 News reporter Raj Chohan tried to talk to Churchill about a
possible copyright infringement, he received an angry response.
The following text is a transcription from CBS4's footage of the
exchange between Chohan and Churchill on Thursday in the hallway outside
his office.
"Get that camera out of my face," Churchill said.
"This is an artwork we've got called 'Winter Attack.' It looks like it
was based on a Thomas Mails painting; it looks like you ripped it off.
Can you tell us about that?" Chohan asked.
That prompted Churchill to take a swing at Chohan while he held a stack
of papers in his hand.
The exchange continued:
Chohan: "Sir, that's assault, you can't do that. Can I ask you about
this? It looks like you copied it."
Churchill: "I was just grabbed by the arm. And that (camera) gets out of
my face."
Chohan: "Sir, we're allowed to take these pictures, this is a public
space."
Churchill: "You're not allowed to grab be by the arm."
Chohan: "He didn't touch you sir, we've got it all on tape. Sir, this is
called Winter Attack. It's a serigraph by you. It looks like it was
copied from Thomas Mails artwork. Can we talk to you about that please?"
* * *
Churchill made the serigraph in question in 1981 and called it "Winter
Attack." He printed 150 copies and sold one of them to Duke Prentup for
about $100.
"I have enjoyed them ever since, immensely," Prentup said. "They're,
obviously, up in my house."
But last month came a stunning revelation. As Prentup flipped through a
book of illustrations by renowned artist Thomas E. Mails, he found an
artwork of striking similarity.
"And I opened it up and, wham! There it was," Prentup said. "It's the
exact same thing, only mirror image, virtually to every detail."
The pen and ink sketch by Thomas Mails first appeared in his 1972
masterpiece, "The Mystic Warriors of the Plains."
Compare it side-by-side to the serigraph by Churchill, created some 20
years later: the composition, the images, the placement are nearly
identical.
Intellectual property attorney Jim Hubbell said it's clearly no
accident.
"It's very obvious that the Churchill piece was taken directly from the
Mails piece," Hubbell said. "There's just too many similarities between
the two for it to have been coincidence."
Several minutes after CBS4's first encounter with Churchill, he emerged
from his office and was willing to talk. He acknowledged his artwork was
based on the Thomas Mails piece. And, he said he disclosed that during
his initial release of the serigraph.
"It is an original art work by me, after Thomas Mails," Churchill said.
"The fact that the purchaser was ignorant of the reality of what was
perfectly publicly stated at the time the edition was printed is not my
responsibility."
A closer examination of the Churchill piece revealed there is no credit
given to the original artist. Churchill also refused to provide CBS4
with documentation that would prove his claims.
But even if it exists, it wouldn't be enough to protect Churchill from
copyright infringement unless he had permission from the copyright
holder.
"Unless there was consent for Churchill to do the piece, then there is a
copyright infringement here," Hubbell said.
When contacted at his home in North Carolina, Ryan Mails, the son of the
late Thomas Mails said the family still retained the copyrights to the
drawings of the Mystic Warriors book, and that his father fiercely
defended the copyrights.
"My father invested a great deal of himself in his work, and from that
he developed a great fierceness in defending his work," Mails' son said.
"I cannot imagine he would ever grant permission to anyone to copy one
of his pieces."
Back in Prentup's Boulder County home, the Churchill serigraph still
hangs. One quarter Native American himself, Prentup said he loves the
image; he's just not sure whose artwork it really is.
"Sure, it makes me angry, it makes me very disappointed," Prentup said.
"I wanted some original artwork from what appeared to be a very good
local artist. Now I don't know what I've got."
A quick Internet search indicates a number of Churchill pieces selling
on eBay, including another copy of "Winter Attack." Certainly, part of
the buzz for these art works is the ongoing controversy surrounding
Churchill.
University of Colorado Regents are investigating Churchill's work at the
university. They are expected to return a decision on whether he has
violated tenure by early March.