Titanic director's artistry questioned

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NEW YORK (AP) -- Titanic director James Cameron's artistic claims could be a little sketchy. In the Paramount movie, Leonardo DiCaprio's character shows a sketchbook of drawings to Kate Winslet's character. Cameron has said the drawings are his. But New York magazine says three sketches strongly resemble famous photographs: Sally Mann's Rodney Plogger at 6:01, Alfred Stieglitz's Georgia O'Keeffe, Hands, 1920, and Brassai's Bijou of Montmartre.

That raises the question of copyright infringement: none of the artists or their estates granted permission for their work to be used before the movie's release, says the magazine. Brassai's widow is contemplating legal action; Sally Mann apparently reached an out-of-court settlement; and the Georgia O'Keeffe Foundation is consulting lawyers, the magazine says in its June 1 issue.

"There were some sketches in the film which were inspired by other works," said a Paramount spokesman. "All necessary arrangements were made to everyone's satisfaction. But the artists did not really want publicity on this, so they've asked for their names not to be disclosed."

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-- Dan Draghici (ddraghic@sprint.ca), May 24, 1998


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