Hasidic man upset over image
Union City man takes photographer to court
Monday, August 22, 2005
By JUDY PEET
NEWHOUSE NEWS SERVICE
It is, everyone agrees, a beautiful picture.
The subject, Erno Nussenzweig, is an 84-year-old retired diamond merchant who lives on a quiet block in Union City and spends his days reading the Torah.
The photographer, Philip-Lorca diCorcia, has filled some of the world's top galleries with his work and also has published several books.
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Four years ago, their worlds unwittingly collided in Times Square, when diCorcia discreetly photographed Nussenzweig, who was wearing a black, wide-brimmed hat and buttoned overcoat. It is a simple but haunting picture.
The photo went into a book that has since sold out, and diCorcia has sold several prints for $20,000 apiece.
Then, Nussenzweig learned about the picture this spring and launched a court battle that poses an intriguing question: Which is more important, art or privacy?
His $1.6 million lawsuit, filed last month in New York, also has created an uproar in the photographic world where the street traditionally is fair game and a subject's permission typically isn't needed.
The players in the case are almost as striking as the photograph itself.
On one side is Nussenzweig, a member of an obscure Hasidic sect, with his lawyer, Jay Goldberg, whose clients have ranged from Donald Trump to P. Diddy.
On the other side are diCorcia and his attorney, Lawrence Barth - the former art director of the New York Times Magazine, now a specialist in art and media cases for the powerful Los Angeles law firm of Munger, Tolles & Olson.
"This case is about no less than the right to artistic expression," Barth said, "which is why a lot of people will be watching."
Goldberg, while acknowledging diCorcia is a "renowned artist," says the photographer doesn't have the right to do anything he wants with someone else's image.
"We're not objecting to the picture. But what is offensive is the way the picture was taken, and the fact this guy is making a lot of money off my client's face, without his permission and without sharing."
The suit claims Nussenzweig suffered "severe mental anguish, emotional distress, humiliation and embarrassment." He wants a cut of photos already sold and a ban on any displays.
"Everybody should have a problem with their picture taken without their permission," Goldberg said. "Art can't be excluded because who gets to decide what's art?"
Barth countered that the courts have been clear about defining art and the rights of the artist.
"Artistic expression," he said, "trumps the right of privacy every time."
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