Outside of academic settings, is there any requirement to credit public domain works? To be sure, it's generally done, but if I paint a woman who looks like the Mona Lisa standing next to Abraham Lincoln, do I have to credit either Leonardo da Vinci or the original photographer?
place holder
WAIT a minute! If the painting is original, it's original and NOT copied. A copyist cannot claim "originality". However, if its a painted copy or facsimile of an original, the copyist must credit the original artist - even if its a photographer. I know, because I sometimes use photos for my own "art models" - not having any live models at hand. However, I am not a copiest nor a duplicator. I use a figure or face in a photograph as a guide for proportion and gesture for my entirely original subject.
Outside of academic settings, is there any requirement to credit public domain works? To be sure, it's generally done, but if I paint a woman who looks like the Mona Lisa standing next to Abraham Lincoln, do I have to credit either Leonardo da Vinci or the original photographer?
Well, thanks for that hypothetical! What I can tell you is this: some of my artist friends who copy/trace/photo project paintings, reproductions (prints,) illustrations or photographs, or parts thereof, must credit the originator IF the painting is offered for sale or exhibited.
As an example, my artist colleague copied (painted) a (millpond) scene from an old battered oil painting by an obscure artist. Because she planned to exhibit her painting for sale, she felt ethically obligated to credit the artist by noting on the back of her painting, "Based on a oil painting dated 1921 by John Doe." Her rendition slightly resembled the original because she changed the light source, the figure's clothing colour and the foliage around the pond, some background slightly different. Whether or not artist John Doe had a copyright, this is the ethical thing to do.
Ward Churchill's plagiarism and fraudulent representation is blatant, absolutely blatant!
It's certainly is a condemning load of S**T pouring out of Churchill's closet. I find that very consoling.