Public-domain, fair use, and takedowns.

What we show

The artwork imagery on chitra.art falls into three groups:

• Public-domain works. Long out of copyright; used freely.
• Works shown with permission. Artists, estates, galleries, and museums who have approved the use — usually paired with a credit line.
• Copyrighted works shown under fair use. Used for commentary, criticism, attribution research, and scholarship, subject to the criteria below.

Our fair-use criteria

• the work has art-historical, attribution, or provenance significance to the discussion it sits inside,
• the use is non-commercial — community discussion, scholarship, or documentation,
• the image is already publicly available elsewhere on the open web,
• only a screen-resolution proxy is shown — never a print-quality or high-resolution file.

Auction-lot images

Auction listings on chitra are ingested from publicly listed lot pages on auction-house sites and link back to the original auction. We keep a low-resolution thumbnail to anchor the discussion; if a lot is withdrawn or relisted, we follow the auction house’s lead.

Community uploads

When a member uploads an image — typically to ask the community to help with attribution or provenance — they affirm they have the right to share it. Annotations and comments others have left on that image are commentary about it, not claims of ownership. If you find your work uploaded without consent, the takedown route below is the fastest.

Takedown requests

Email contact@chitra.art with the URL of the work on chitra.art, your role (artist, estate, gallery, museum, or authorised representative), and a brief statement of the claim. We respond within a reasonable time and either remove the affected work or restrict it for users in jurisdictions where infringement is asserted.

Verified artists and estates already have moderator authority over their artist’s community on chitra — you can remove posts directly, no email required.