Rene Wanner's Poster Page / Deja vu

WEB POSTER EXHIBITION - Deja vu posters

It often happens that I see a poster where I ask myself "Haven't I seen this before ?". Locating the visual sources for a work of art is a whole branch of art history, and it is an interesting challenge to find the origin of two or more pictures that look remarkably similar.
There are many reasons why different posters may resemble each other:

"quotes", paying homage to a classic poster by introducing new elements or placing it in a different context, also called "appropriation", "retro", "remix", "tracing", "paint-over", "fan-art", "ripping", "referencing", "emulation", "sampling" ...
There is a long discussion in the Typophile blog about where to draw the line between "homage" and "ripoff", and sometime the quoter is severely critized. (Shepard Fairey, Paula Scher ). Lincoln Cushing wrote some guidelines about "Suggested "best practices" for using the graphic artwork of others". Vandelay's blog gives practical tips for taking desing inspiration without copying, with many additional links. "Tracing" is discussed critically in deviantArt.
If a work is quoted by many, it becomes a "meme", like Fairey's Obama poster which has now reached over 1 million variations, or Rodchenko's Lengiz, or Miller's Rosie, or Flagg's I want you.
"parody", joking about another poster
a student work in the style of a great master done for practice
the works of teachers and their students
using the same picture for a different country or language or year, quite common in cinema posters
reprints, misprints, different color versions
same poster in different formats
re-inventing the wheel, i.e. arriving independently at the same solution for a given problem
being impressed by a poster, forgetting it, and later thinking it was your own idea
re-formulating the same idea differently
taking a picture or an idea and placing it in a different context to develop it further. This device is actually one of the most powerful engines of progress. Many of internets most sucessful applications (ebay, amazon, web newspapers) are examples of transplants of traditional concepts into a new environment, and modern science would not be possible if ideas could not be shared.
using the picture of a famous person (Che Guevara, Lenin, Uncle Sam, Mickey Mouse) or landmark (the Statue of Liberty, the Muchina monument, the Twin Towers)
Fads and fashions in poster design
censorship
"plagiarism", stealing an idea or a picture and passing it on as your own, hoping that nobody would find out, or care.
pure coincidence

Combinations of these reasons and gray areas are also possible and frequent, and usually there is strong disagreement why posters look similar, particularly among those who designed them. I have tried to refrain from any value judgement, please classify the following examples yourself if you think this is necessary.
I know how much it hurts to be plagiarized, and keep a long list of websites that copy Posterpage without asking. But I also see the complete non-sense that current copyright law sometimes produces and the damage it does to visual culture. We live in an exciting but difficult time and still have to learn how to adapt our customs and rules to the rapid technological change. Needless to say, more than just posters are involved.

2006, Photo by Linda Dawn Hammond (Indyfoto) from a pro Lebanon demo in Toronto, found on flickr

2007, Ebuseleme Gülen, Peace to the Middle East