In art, an homage (from the French hommage – gratitude) is an imitative work, a tribute to another artist, musician, architect, and other creators. The term originated in the feudal era and had a slightly different meaning. This was the name of the oath: the future vassal, with his head uncovered and without weapons, dropped to one knee, folded his palms and gave them to the feudal ruler (suzerain). He appealed to the latter to accept him as a vassal.
Homage in the Middle Ages was a kind of oath of loyalty. This meaning in the modern context is rather metaphorical. Homage is often used in cinema: the director recreates a famous scene to pay tribute to the work of the author of the original film. You may have heard phrases such as “homage to silent cinema” or “homage to high culture”.
This is a technique when, during the creation of a work, the author deliberately creates a reference to the work or creative method of another artist. The form, appearance of the work, style or title may be repeated. Or just the content and philosophical concept.
In art, what happened is often repeated. And this is not because the authors have no imagination. Sometimes references, allusions help immerse the viewer in the context. There is another similar technique that should be distinguished from the ones mentioned – homage.
A reference is a detail, a fragment that refers the viewer to another work, and this technique allows you to immerse yourself in the context of the work of art. But the reference itself does not serve the purpose of paying “tribute” to the author.
Another term close in meaning is allusion. This stylistic figure is an allusion to some literary, historical, mythological or political fact. Often catchphrases or quotes are used, which complement the content laid down at the beginning.
In the USA, in the case of proof of plagiarism or borrowing, the court can issue a large fine, oblige the “inspired” to credit the creator of the track, and also force him to pay deductions from streaming platforms for life.
Why homage is not plagiarism ?
Modern authors are often reproached for being secondary and using the genius of the classics of world art. Along with such accusations, Picasso’s quote often appears: “Good artists copy, great artists steal” (although in fact this phrase belongs to the English writer and journalist Davenport Adams). But don’t be in a hurry to get angry when you notice that the work of a contemporary is very similar to the work of his predecessor. Plagiarism is very easy to confuse with homage.
The author as an artist paints a picture that is similar to the earlier work of another artist, but does not mention the influence, deny it, or even claim its uniqueness. This will indicate inexperience, narrow-mindedness, unprofessionalism or simply lack of principles. But by using homage, the artist consciously refers to someone else’s work and openly declares it. And even better – it explains why he chose a particular source as a reference point.
Turning to the past, to existing works, phenomena, ready-made forms is one of the characteristic features of postmodern art. And postmodernism is a whole layer of culture of the half of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century. In addition to addressing the past, it is characterized by freedom of self-expression, blurring of boundaries between art and other spheres, irony and play. It is based on the idea that it is impossible to invent new forms. Therefore, the artist can only use existing images, transferring them to another context and giving them a new meaning.
And exactly how the artist will do it depends on his personality. Creative handwriting and attitude are formed by many factors: life experience, teachers, idols, communication environment. The artist uses homage not because he has no ideas, but to record or show these influences, to fit himself into a certain artistic movement and to show where the roots of his work grow from.
It is legal to copy from others
Yes, and there are several ways. Some artists legally copy others, using such a technique as homage. A musician may intentionally use someone else’s melody, lyrics, or parody vocals—often for homage. Rapper Drake, for example, released the track Chicago Freestyle in 2020, in which he almost completely repeated the chorus from Eminem’s track “Superman”. In addition, Drake freely changed the text of the hook, making it more politically correct (he removed the checkmate and decided not to offend women).
An artist can also use sampling — the technique allows you to take a piece of an already created song (or any other audio file) and use it in your track. The method became popular in the 80s of the last century thanks to hip-hop. At first, artists struggled with sampling, but later the technology caught on, and those who used other people’s excerpts simply began to pay authors for the use of sound (the amount of royalties is negotiated directly with the copyright holder).
As an example, remember one of the main bangers of the British electronic Prodigy – Voodoo People: the composition contains a sample of the guitar riff from the song “Very Ape” by the Nirvana band
Later, even those who were not paid for it came to terms with sampling. Musicians realized that if someone takes excerpts from their tracks, then this is more likely a chance to reincarnate an old song than a malicious appropriation of intellectual work. A few years ago, Boulevard Depo covered Victor Tsoi’s “A Star Named Sun” on the track White Trash, and Pharaoh turned to R&B classics and used an excerpt from Got 5 on It (Luniz) in the banger “Lollipop”.
But if in the case of the headliners of the domestic scene of those years, everything is quite transparent (especially when the performers indicate the authors of the sample), then in recent years there have been really serious plagiarism scandals in global practice.
Examples of homage in art
“Your picture reminds me of something…”
“Great artists copy, geniuses steal.” One can doubt that this phrase was uttered by Picasso, but its meaning is quite accurate. She reminds us of what we tend to forget: nothing comes out of nowhere, everything has a starting point, and ideas are no exception. Artists influence, inspire, copy, version and obsess over each other, enriching and intertwining their works.
There are many different reasons why artists seek inspiration from their peers. Someone uses other people’s ideas as a way to their own style, someone dares to imitate a sign of admiration, and someone tries to hide borrowing, which sometimes leads to accusations of plagiarism.
On the one hand, we find Rubens, who admired Titian so much and created exact versions of several of his masterpieces that he seems to challenge the viewer to find 5 differences. On the other hand, we can mention Jeff Koons, who was accused of copyright infringement in 2017-2019.
Yes, the 2011 film “The Artist” is a tribute to silent cinema. The film is made in black and white, dialogues are rarely used in it, and some scenes convey the atmosphere of the beginning of the 20th century.
1) In the fine arts — a series of lithographs by pop art representative Roy Lichtenstein in memory of Pablo Picasso. They depicted a bull, but in a different style. Lichtenstein did not copy the work, but tried to imagine it as if Picasso had written it in the 70s.
2) Titian 1550 – Rubens approx. 1628
Passions by Velázquez – Edouard Manet’s work would have really developed differently without the influence of Titian. His “Olympia” has obvious parallels with the Venetian’s “Venus of Urbino”.
But who really changed the concept of his painting is Velázquez. Manet’s “The Flutist” is a good example of the influence of Velázquez’s portraits, specifically “Pablo of Valladolid”. The painting made a huge impression on Manet, and he said that “it is perhaps the most amazing example of painting ever created.” Such enthusiasm did not prevent Manet from becoming one of the founding fathers of modern art.
3) Velazquez 1635 – Manet 1866
Passion for Velázquez. – Edouard Manet’s work would have really developed differently without the influence of Titian. His “Olympia” has obvious parallels with the Venetian’s “Venus of Urbino”.
But who really changed the concept of his painting was Velázquez. Manet’s “Flute Player” serves as a good example of the influence of Velázquez’s portraits, specifically “Pablo of Valladolid”. The picture made a great impression on Manet, and he said that “it is perhaps the most unusual example of painting ever created.” Such enthusiasm did not prevent Manet from becoming one of the founding fathers of modern art.
4) Millet 1857-1859 – Dali 1934
Dalí’s obsession had less rational reasons: when he first saw the reproduction hanging in his school, he felt an inexplicable connection to it. The picture seemed to him a sea of mysteries and feelings, so he wrote an essay entitled “The Tragic Myth of “Angelus” Millet” and throughout his life he repeatedly reinterpreted this image.
When rumors reached Dali that the basket between the two villagers was later rewritten by Milly himself, he knew what to pull. An x-ray of the canvas revealed the likeness of a child’s coffin, as a result, the plot is a farewell to a baby who died before baptism, and therefore should have been buried outside the cemetery. Dali found out why he was so inexplicably attracted to this picture, and in his interpretation connected it with the main fact of his own biography: his older brother died before he was born, and Dali inherited the name Salvador from him.
Although the motives that lead one artist to reinterpret the work of another are usually positive, such experiments always find approval. Today, those who take the work of other living artists, sculptors, designers and photographers as their starting point are more likely to be sued.
Recently, Jeff Koons was accused of plagiarizing his nude sculpture, which bears an undeniable resemblance to a photograph by Jean-Francois Boret. Comparing the objects of Koons with the works of the plaintiffs, it is not difficult to find coincidences. But in this case we are talking about pop art, and this movement in art developed on the basis of more or less established images of mass culture.
Where is the commonality between inspiration and plagiarism? It seems that it is impossible to agree on this issue. In addition, there are appropriating artists who defiantly deny copyright. Richard Prince in an interview with “El País” stated: “Ask, borrow, steal. Use all possible methods.” In 2011, the court found him guilty of using someone else’s photos without the author’s consent. Today, we will find the answer to our question sooner in court than anywhere else.
