fictional_fans | Reposting Lost Art To A Comm

A fan artist pointed me to this comm so I can discuss this.

There is an artist on LJ who has been inactive since 2011. However, their albums are still up. In the meantime, their fan art has been reposted across the internet. Tumblr, DW, LJ, Pinterest, Fanlore, Fanpop and pretty much any other site that has fan art. Much of the art that was originally posted to a comm (not member only) has disappeared.

I've been trying to contact the artist without success, even though I have been trying to.

So, here's the issue. I posted some pictures on a comm I moderate, with a link back to the original albums. Was this the wrong thing to do? Or not, since the artist is no longer around and the work is everywhere? My feeling tends to be that the horse left the barn some time ago. Most of the art is reposted without attribution. There are also Discord sites that archive the art where members can view it. The work is gorgeous and was meant to be public at the time. There are no requests not to repost, etc.

What do folks think? Should I take them down?

Thanks!

ETA: There are a number of posts c.2009 where the artist has allowed people to repost her art publicly.

ETA ETA: I tracked down which ones were available publicly by the artist, including illustrations for a fanzine, and deleted the pictures that aren't.