Oscar Wilde and U.S. Copyright Law

I mentioned in class today that a photograph of Oscar Wilde played a role in U.S. copyright law. The photograph, taken by Napoleon Sarony in New York, was used without permission by a department store that wanted to promote its line of hats (nevermind that there is no hat in the photograph). Sarony sued, and the case eventually went to the Supreme Court, which ruled that photographs are not mere reproductions of life, made by machines, but works of art, owned by the artists who produce them. This was an extremely important case for photographers, but also for artists in general because the scope of copyright law was not narrowed. There was an article about this case several years ago in Smithsonian Magazine, and you can still read it online at http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/indelible-may-2004.html. It's an entertaining read. My favorite bit is where Wilde, on his U.S. tour, extols blue and white porcelain as a tasteful choice for homes of the American frontier. It reminds me of one of Wilde's famous lines: "I am finding it harder and harder to live up to my blue china."

I thought you might also like to see a few of the images of Wilde that appeared in Punch (a popular satire/humor magazine) since the article briefly mentions that magazine, and since Wilde was a favorite target of its cartoonists.

This first cartoon, The Six-Mark Tea-Pot," does not mention Wilde by name, but it clearly aludes to the abovementioned "blue china" quote. The "Aesthetic Bridegroom" says, "It is quite consummate, is it not?" and his bride responds, "It is indeed! Oh, Algernon, let us live up to it!" The name of Algernon is (obviously) a reference to The Importance of Being Earnest.

The second cartoon (Fancy Portrait No. 37) mocks the practice--and it was a common practice of the period, especially among aesthetes--of wearing a flower in one's lapel. Along these lines, you might also recall this exchange from the Second Act of Earnest (pp. 28-29):

Cecily: How thoughtless of me. I should have remembered that when one is going to lead an entirely new life, one requires regular and wholesome meals. Won't you come in?

Algernon: Thank you. Might I have a buttonhole first? I never have any appetite unless I have a buttonhole first.

Cecily: A Marechal Niel? (Picks up scissors.)

Algernon. No, I'd sooner have a pink rose.

Cecily: Why? (Cuts a flower.)

Algernon: Because you are like a pink rose, Cousin Cecily.

In case you can't read it, the quatrain at the bottom of the portrait reads as follows:

Aesthete of Aesthetes!
What's in a name?
The poet is Wilde,
But his poetry's tame.