please empty your brain below
Does this imply that we read your excellent blog in the company of a Nobel prize winner?

100andthirty | 18.01.17 - 7:04 a.m. | #

I have been been looking at his work for about five years now as there is a gallery in Birmingham ( England not Alabama) that has been showcasing different paintings of his over that period, some of his work is actually very interesting and some rather dull, I hope that you are going to follow this discovery up with some sort of "Legal Letter".

Fishislandskin | 18.01.17 - 7:07 a.m. | #

We always knew you'd be famous!

Tube Geek | 18.01.17 - 7:20 a.m. | #

Interesting how the painting shows the shadow of the lamp post but no sun in the sky.

| 18.01.17 - 7:29 a.m. | #

"So I went to the camera obscura method" I think you're confusing that with Google, Bob.

HoosierSands | Homepage | 18.01.17 - 7:35 a.m. | #

"Appropriation" versus theft. Discuss. Dylan has been doing it for decades with his music, so why not his paintings, even if he gets other people to do the actual, you know, application of pigment to medium. Studio, see, bit like session musicians.

The exhibition was held until 2 January, earlier *this* month.

Andrew | 18.01.17 - 7:43 a.m. | #

As the manics might sing, Dylan impersonator, Blackpool pier? https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=CM_R2p9GDbk

ian | 18.01.17 - 7:50 a.m. | #

Congratulations! The Nobel Prize winning brain that wrote some of the great songs of the 20th c. admires one of your photographs enough to copy it multiple times.

Whether he physically painted them or not I think that is really rather cool, I'd be chuffed.

I'd also be pretty confident that Dylan lives on his own planet where the concept of fair attribution / art v artifice etc. doesn't keep him up at night.

Kevin | 18.01.17 - 7:51 a.m. | #

Regardless of who created what, there is no doubt that the photograph has much greater artistic merit than the "painting".

Waterhouse | 18.01.17 - 7:55 a.m. | #

DG, if I had been in your situation I wouldn't know whether to feel very flattered or very annoyed. Full marks to Hilda for her tenacity in tracking down the source of Bob's "inspiration". BTW, I think the reviewer from the Irish Times needs a lesson in fashion history... a dress with a hem 10 inches above the knee would not have been seen in the 1950s.

Richard Thompson | 18.01.17 - 8:09 a.m. | #

@anon 0729, Not only does the painting show the shadow of a lamppost with no sun, but the pier in Norfolk points NE. The direction of the shadows indicates the sun is almost dead ahead (i.e. also NE), which cannot happen at the latitude of Virginia (37N).

(The photo of the real Norfolk pier shows the sun some way to the right of the pier, and about as close to the pier's alignment as it can ever get. It must have been taken on a date close to the summer solstice, shortly after sunrise)

(Source, various astronomical tables)

timbo | 18.01.17 - 8:54 a.m. | #

Hi DG - you're about to get a million hits because I linked you to Expecting Rain, the Bob Dylan site .......

Brian | 18.01.17 - 8:57 a.m. | #

It also occurred to me that in November 2013 Bob Dylan played three nights at Blackpool, which was a great surprise at the time ....

Brian | 18.01.17 - 9:05 a.m. | #

What a curious tale DG! While I imagine it's rather flattering to be linked to such a distinguished musician as Dylan, it cannot be denied that the painting appears to be heavily influenced by your photo, to the point of being more or less identical. As such, I hope you are properly credited for your work. Imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery, as they say. But they also say - copying without proper acknowledgment of sources is plagiarism

Shane | 18.01.17 - 10:30 a.m. | #

Duck! I suspect that the national news media is coming your way...

Frank F | 18.01.17 - 10:57 a.m. | #

You should release a record - perhaps call it 'Like a stone rolling'.

Still anon | 18.01.17 - 11:26 a.m. | #

Perhaps Dylan has also done a painting of Romford Armed Forces Day (29 Jun 2016), with a nice well groomed man in the foreground of the picture of the Mayor in all her regalia . . . .

scrumpy | 18.01.17 - 11:54 a.m. | #

How on earth did your correspondent make the connection? Even if it was a close friend of yours, how would they recall a single picture you took some years ago? Nothing short of miraculous!

Will | 18.01.17 - 12:44 p.m. | #

In His Own Words:

You never understood that it ain't no good,

You shouldn't let other people get your kicks for you.

Gerry | 18.01.17 - 12:59 p.m. | #

In contrast with a couple of commenters above, who seem to suggest that you should immediately reach for a lawyer (though they may not have been entirely serious), I think your relaxed attitude to this "theft" is admirable. Yes, of course there is a fine line between inspiration and copying, and yes, his Bobness may have strayed over that line, but, hey people do that kind of thing regularly, and a gentle shrug is just so much more civilised.

I would support the right of anyone in your position to take legal steps, of course, if they really wanted to, but I'm so glad that you have no such plans.

Malcolm | 18.01.17 - 2:32 p.m. | #

It's funny how in the second painting, with no visible sun as has been pointed out, the shadows of two lamposts are still to be seen, though the couple don't cast any!

bob L-S | 18.01.17 - 3:30 p.m. | #

Surely just a matter of time before Tracy Emin exhibits a full-size replica of Bus Stop M.

stevekeiretsu | 18.01.17 - 3:53 p.m. | #

Entirely coincidentally, today's the day that the number of views of my Flickr photos passes the ten million threshold.

diamond geezer | Homepage | 18.01.17 - 3:58 p.m. | #

At least we should be thankful that a certain Aussie bloke didn't copy it. Mr Dylan has a much better track record.

Rob Healy | 18.01.17 - 3:58 p.m. | #

Have you seen Dylan's latest painting?

See here:

http://anastasiapollard.com/dylan.jpg

Bert | Homepage | 18.01.17 - 3:59 p.m. | #

He's more of a songwriter than a singer.

Dubidubno | 18.01.17 - 4:08 p.m. | #

This is an utter delight

Gladys | 18.01.17 - 4:08 p.m. | #

Blimey!!
I'm gobsmacked on so many levels!

What amazes me - why didn't he just say it was North Pier, Blackpool rather than try to pass it off as somewhere different, thinking no one would notice?!
He could have been given the benefit of doubt that he'd possibly taken the photo himself from the same spot, if he'd not done that!

Cornish Cockney | 18.01.17 - 4:26 p.m. | #

Presumably the exhibition was selling the originals and/or prints to the discerning art buying public. Someone may have spent a lot of money and not have a picture of the pier they thought they had paid for.......

dg writes: 15 pictures were available as signed prints, but not this one.

Chris Milton | 18.01.17 - 4:43 p.m. | #

What an utterly depressing story of small-scale, pointless mendacity. I know this is the 'post-truth' era but one might hope that cultural icons might have some integrity even if politicians don't.

Whiff | 18.01.17 - 4:45 p.m. | #

There's probably dozens of pictures of the North Pier taken from at or near the same place that you took yours. As Bob played three nights there in November 2013 (per Brian's comment above), he might even have taken his own photo and used that as the basis of his painting.

Still, don't let that get in the way of your story.

Snapper | 18.01.17 - 5:15 p.m. | #

Oh there are dozens of photos of the North Pier's boardwalk online, but I haven't found one from precisely the same spot (although this one's close). A slight step forward, a minor nudge to the left or simply holding the camera a fraction higher, and the image wouldn't have been identical.

What's more the length and angle of the shadows is something you only get at a few minutes past six in the first week of August (or the first week of May), and certainly never in November.

diamond geezer | Homepage | 18.01.17 - 5:24 p.m. | #

Bob Dylan is a cultural icon, no doubt about that. But I haven't heard any other famous folk musicians say anything particularly nice about him. Which might mean something, alongside the fact that folk musicians are typically complimentary about each other, and they typically subscribe to my mother's dictum ("if you can't think of anything nice to say, then say nothing").

Malcolm | 18.01.17 - 5:25 p.m. | #

The almost perfect alignment of the railings with the right hand edge of the pier beyond make it very hard to believe the provenance of the watercolour is not the photograph, (although I note that in the photo there is a bird roosting on the second lamppost as well as the first........)
But even if BD had based his pictures on another photograph, taken from exactly the same spot, it still isn't a picture of Norfolk VA as titled.

I wonder how BD found it?mistitedwhere

timbo | 18.01.17 - 5:54 p.m. | #

Leonard Cohen's drawings might not have been very good, but at least they were his own.

Sarah | Homepage | 18.01.17 - 6:06 p.m. | #

Daily Telegraph: How Bob Dylan's great USA landscapes exhibition ended up featuring a painting of Blackpool pier

the i paper: Bob Dylan ‘copied’ my Blackpool pier photo for Virginia painting, blogger claims

diamond geezer | Homepage | 18.01.17 - 6:21 p.m. | #

Hi
I'm.that dutch lady.

I'd like to make another comment
Bob Dylan premiered his live performance of Roll On John in Blackpool
In the film Nowhere Boy there is a scene on the Blackpool Pier ...
With his biological mother...

Hilda Fernhout | 18.01.17 - 7:24 p.m. | #

I forgot the link for that premiere of Roll On John in Blackpool

https://m.soundcloud.com/cohenadmirer/bob-dylan-in-blackpool

Hilda Fernhout | 18.01.17 - 7:33 p.m. | #

Thanks Hilda.

And thanks Hilda for spotting the connection in the first place, without which all of this would have gone unnoticed!

diamond geezer | Homepage | 18.01.17 - 7:38 p.m. | #

I think you have a couple of journalists following you!

Cornish Cockney | 18.01.17 - 7:48 p.m. | #

I've looked at my own photo of the north pier, taken in 2015.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/joncombe/16236075034

It is from a different angle, further down the pier, but there is another striking difference. The tramway along the right of the pier is now disused and there is no fence. But in DGs photo, there is a fence to protect the track. So that had gone sometime between 2009 and 2015. I would be interested to know if it was still there in 2013 which is when Bob Dylan was in Blackpool.

dg writes: The fence was still there in summer 2013, but gone by spring 2014.I suspect it vanished during storm damage in December 2013, just after Dylan's visit.

Jon Combe | Homepage | 18.01.17 - 9:09 p.m. | #

A riveting read! I wonder if Sir Bob has an assistant who collects photos that might interest him, with not a thought given to the source. Months or even years later, when asked “Where’s this?” he or she makes a wild guess (which is what I'd do rather than say feebly "I don't know.")

Great Aunt Annie | 18.01.17 - 10:34 p.m. | #

PS: I know he's not actually Sir Bob but that's what he's called in this house!

Great Aunt Annie | 18.01.17 - 10:45 p.m. | #

DG makes the newspaper review in the Today programme! (roughly 6.40am)

Gail | 19.01.17 - 6:46 a.m. | #

Almost a whole page about it in the i today (19/1/2017)

Running Correspondent | 19.01.17 - 9:45 a.m. | #

Ask Bob for a signed giclee print of the work. Fair recompense I'd think.

Mind you, given that for weeks he ignored the Laureate Committee's attempts to contact him, I don't rate your chances of getting a reply to any request.

I don't think that there is any great 'skill' in 'his' 'painting' - I reckon that there are people in most local art groups who could do better (at least they'd get the lighting correct!). As could someone with intermediate skills in Photoshop...

Blue Witch | Homepage | 19.01.17 - 9:56 a.m. | #

Oh no! You made the Daily Mail.

Uncle Audrey | 19.01.17 - 10:03 a.m. | #

The tramway railings were still there in September 2013.

Gerry | 19.01.17 - 10:12 a.m. | #

I never did think much of Dylan anyway.

He can't sing, that's for sure.

Temp | 19.01.17 - 12:59 p.m. | #

I've been busy and didnlt read your post yesterday, so a late comment to say that I've been chuckling about this ever since I saw it in the Torygraph!

Dank U wel Hilda!

Chris | 19.01.17 - 9:44 p.m. | #

You almost feel someone should be shouting Judas at him (Dylan) :-)

Big Al | 19.01.17 - 10:46 p.m. | #

Highest number of visitors to the blog in one week ever.

diamond geezer | Homepage | 23.01.17 - 12:10 a.m. | #

In the New Statesman now. http://www.newstatesman.com/culture/art-design/2017/02/bob-dylan-s-sticky-fingers

Lorenzo | 10.02.17 - 12:25 p.m. | #

Hello, the email link in top right corner seems to be out of date..

I want to share something with you but only you...so how can I do this ?

dg writes: [email protected]

Hilda Fernhout | 10.02.17 - 4:22 p.m. | #

I'd never had any prejudice against Bob Dylan, but since I read your blog I've been suspicious. He faked a lot throughout his career, now this.

Greg S | 28.11.22 - 11:22 a.m. | #











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