Condé Nast, the publishing conglomerate whose titles include Vogue, House & Garden, Vanity Fair and, since March, Tate’s magazine, Tate, has blocked the display of work by British artist Graham Dolphin at the Barbican Centre in London.
Dolphin, whose art consists of manipulated or vandalised magazine covers, was asked to take part in “Rapture”, a show about the relationship between art and fashion, currently at the Barbican (until 23 December).
The artist spent several months preparing work for the show using Vogue front covers. He then contacted Condé Nast to request permission to display these pieces.
On 29 August 2001 Michael Garvin, then executive director and company secretary of Condé Nast Publications sent Dolphin an email which said: “The reputation and goodwill built up in this title over many years as the world’s leading fashion authority, is the most valuable asset this company owns, and we are not prepared to allow anyone to exploit it in an unauthorised way.... It is our policy to follow up on every case of unauthorised usage whether it be commercial or artistic, with the assistance of our lawyers whenever necessary.”
Speaking to The Art Newspaper, Chris Townsend, curator of “Rapture”, said, “The threat made to Graham Dolphin was enough to dissuade us from using work based on Vogue.” Dolphin then produced new work for the show using a range of magazines which include Cosmopolitan, Harpers Bazaar and Dazed & Confused, the publishers of which all granted permission for their distorted covers to be exhibited.
A spokesman for Condé Nast told The Art Newspaper that its position remains unchanged. This de facto censorship has caused some in the art world to question the editorial future of Tate magazine. Although Condé Nast say the new editorial team have “free reign”, the publisher’s track record is not good. Despite claiming to support artists, they have blocked the display of Dolphin’s work consistently over the last five years.
Commenting on the incident Dr Townsend said, “Condé Nast do not understand art’s need to rework mass culture. Part of the problem here is the protection of copyright out of context. Graham is not trying to reproduce fashion photographs as if they were his own work, for a fashion magazine audience.”
“I don’t have a problem with protecting copyright—rather I’d like to see the law in Britain changed to protect artists from having their ideas ripped off by ad agencies without compensation. At present copyright law works only one way, and large corporations are able to use it to secure brand identity.”
Originally appeared in The Art Newspaper as 'Condé Nasty'