Artist sues for co-author credit on Chris Levine’s queen portraits | Photography
An artist who claims to be the co-creator of two of the most famous photographs ever taken of the late queen is suing photographer Chris Levine, who claims to be the sole author of the portraits, in a high court dispute.
Ben Munday claims to have co-authored two 2004 portraits of the queen created using holography technology, which involves light projection and the use of multiple cameras to create a 3-dimensional image.
In a court filing seen by the Guardian, Munday alleges that Levine and his company Sphere 9 violated his moral rights over works titled Calm and The Lightness of Being, both of which appear in the series. permanent collection At the National Portrait Gallery.
Levine, who shares the copyright of the works, has not yet made a defense against Munday’s claims. This is the first time Munday has taken legal action.
The images, shot in two sessions in late 2003 and early 2004, are arguably the most distinctive portraits of the monarch. They have been exhibited in some of the UK’s most prestigious art galleries.
Munday said he was trying to get legal recognition as a co-artist with Levine when Levine came to him because he couldn’t create the holographic image without Levine’s expertise.
“I’ve been going through this cycle for 20 years,” said Munday, who studied holography after graduating from university in the early 1980s. “I’m not young anymore; I felt like this had to be fought now or never.”
The images were commissioned by the Jersey Heritage Trust to mark the 800th anniversary of the United Kingdom’s self-government pledging allegiance to the British crown.
Munday claims that he and Levine agreed with the foundation to authorize the portraits in 2005, but that Levine has since violated it.
Trust He filed a lawsuit against Levine in July 2024 The lawsuit was filed, alleging breach of contract and copyright, and claiming that the artist owed him money for the sale of allegedly unlicensed copies of the portraits, potentially worth millions.
The parties settled out of court in September this year and said in a joint statement: “The parties acknowledge that Chris Levine was the only artist commissioned by the Jersey Heritage Trust to create the portrait and both parties accept that the artist Chris Levine, the holographer Robert Munday, also of UK Company Spatial Imaging, Jeffrey, also of UK Company Spatial Imaging, Robert and Dr. Incredibly proud of the creative collaboration between John Perry (USA). The late Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. The groundbreaking and iconic portrait of Elizabeth entitled Calmness.”
Munday said he decided to take legal action after Levine posted a statement on Instagram following the agreement with the foundation. “The truth has prevailed,” Levine wrote in a now-deleted post. “I was the only artist commissioned and I am now legally recognized as the sole author of the work.”
In the joint statement, Munday was named as a collaborator of the portrait, not its co-creator. He wants to be credited as a co-author of the works and for Levine to publicly acknowledge that they created the portraits together.
Levine said: “Mr. Munday does not own any copyright in Tranquility or Lightness of Being. The Jersey Heritage Trust, which commissioned the work, has publicly confirmed that I am the only artist commissioned.”
He referred to Munday as a “technical subcontractor” hired to assist with production “not as an artistic partner, but as part of my team.”
He added: “Remarkably, no details have yet been provided to me or my lawyers and I will not comment further on the ongoing legal proceedings, but I am confident that the facts witnessed by all concerned will once again speak for themselves. This is an ongoing attempt to rewrite history and the reasons are clear. Any claims to my rights will be vigorously defended. This is my art.”
Levine, who studied graphic design at Chelsea School of Art and computer graphics at Central Saint Martins School of Art, told the Guardian in 2009 that he did not consider himself a photographer. “I am an artist who works with light and uses photography in my projects,” he said.
Levine’s upcoming monograph, Inner Light: The Portraiture of Chris Levine, uses Lightness of Being on the cover, and he singled out the portrait as his best shot in a 2009 Guardian interview.
Featured in Sotheby’s show Power and Image: Royal Portrait and Iconography Along with seven portraits of different queens in 2022.
