Lynn Goldsmith


Lynn Goldsmith is an American recording artist, film director, celebrity portrait photographer, and rock and roll photographer. She has also made fine art photography with conceptual images and her paintings. Taschen, Rizzoli, and Abrams have published books on her work. In 1985, she received a World Press Photo award. In the 1980s, she wrote songs and performed as Will Powers. In 2023, she was part of Andy [Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. v. Goldsmith|a U.S. Supreme Court case] dealing with the limits of fair use concerning a series of Andy Warhol silkscreen portraits based on a Goldsmith photo of the musician Prince.
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Life

Goldsmith was born in Detroit, Michigan, in 1948. She attended the University of Michigan, where she graduated in three years magna cum laude with two degrees, in English and psychology. After college, in 1969, Goldsmith worked for Elektra Records. In 1971, she met Joshua White and worked with him as a director for Joshua TV. That same year, Goldsmith was inducted into the Directors Guild of America. In 1972, she directed ABC's In Concert. After directing a documentary piece on Grand Funk Railroad for ABC, she made a film on Grand Funk called We're an American Band in 1973. This led to her becoming the band's co-manager.
In the mid-1970s, she left managing and directing to focus on her photography. Goldsmith founded the photo agency LGI, representing images of famous people in the entertainment industry. During that time, she also wrote songs, performed as Will Powers, and was signed to Island Records. In 1997, Goldsmith sold LGI to Corbis so she could concentrate more fully on her fine art photography and work with the Will Powers Institute.
She chronicled the lives of Bruce Springsteen, Michael Jackson, Bob Dylan, Patti Smith, and the Rolling Stones' stadium tours. Her photographs have appeared on the covers of magazines and have been used for book and album covers.

Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. v. Goldsmith

In 2016, the Andy Warhol Foundation filed a pre-emptive lawsuit in federal court against Goldsmith, who then countersued, citing copyright infringement of a portrait of Prince she'd taken in 1981. The Foundation argued that Warhol's "fair use" of the image was under copyright law because Warhol "transformed" the image.
The Warhol Foundation won in federal court, and Goldsmith appealed and won in the Second Circuit Court of Appeals The Foundation appealed the decision, and Goldsmith won again. The Warhol Foundation then filed an appeal to the United States Supreme Court. The case was heard on October 20, 2022. On May 18, 2023, the Supreme Court sided with Goldsmith in a 7–2 vote.

Publications

Awards