Monday, October 31, 2016

"French law forbids national museums from selling anything in their collections, unlike many museums in the United States, which can de-accession works."

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Did American museums' promiscuous deaccessioning practices contribute to the decision by Spencer and Marlene Hays to leave their incred...
Saturday, October 29, 2016

"In the art market, repeat sales account for a fairly small fraction of total sales. ... Thus, any art index based on repeat sales—such as the Mei-Moses index—is unlikely to be considered representative of any market segment."

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Sotheby's has bought the Mei Moses art index, for an undisclosed price.  I'm with Columbia Business School's Arturo Cifuentes ,...
Thursday, October 27, 2016

"The score was settled thanks to outraged posts on social media."

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artnet:   Vivienne Westwood Accused of Plagiarizing Artist’s Design . Given what's in the story, I don't think the "accused o...

2017 National Cultural Heritage Law Moot Court Competition

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Details here .
Monday, October 24, 2016

Tell me again about the public trust (nearly 70 antiquities originally from Egypt and other countries edition)

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The Toledo Museum of Art is selling .  Don't be alarmed by the fact that "modern international cultural heritage laws make it impos...

"New Authentication Lawsuit Filed Against Agnes Martin Catalogue Raisonné"

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Nicholas O'Donnell has the details, and a preliminary analysis.  The complaint is here .
Friday, October 21, 2016

Another example of the indeterminacy of fair use

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Courtesy of Clancco . Southern District said fair use on motion to dismiss. Second Circuit disagreed. As I've said, no one has any ide...
Thursday, October 20, 2016

"Whatever its fate, the tale of the contested Monet shows that the world of art dealing is as opaque as any pondscape."

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Kelly Crow in the WSJ:   Art Dealer Claims Monet in 1MDB Scandal .
Tuesday, October 18, 2016

"But now he says all 24 of the Golubs he bought from the Gascards are fake."

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Graham Bowley reports in the Times on a lawsuit filed by Wall Street trader Andrew Hall against an art history professor and her son. The...
Monday, October 17, 2016

The "transformative" gift to MoMA ...

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... from the Cisneros Collection gives me a chance to re-up this piece from last year:   What culture? What public?
Saturday, October 15, 2016

More on the Shvo indictment

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From ARCA here .  The Real Deal here .  Background here .

"Today I put myself forward as a candidate for the 2018 election."

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Tania Bruguera is running for office in Cuba: "Pushing barriers has been Ms. Bruguera’s signature. She made waves in December 2014 w...
Thursday, October 13, 2016

"Some observers warned that if decided in Hoffman’s favor, the case could have meant that legal agreements ensuring a transaction’s secrecy could be used to effectively prohibit future sales of the art they governed."

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Isaac Kaplan at Artsy on the Marguerite Hoffman confidentiality lawsuit, discussed last week here .

Why do (some) museums prohibit photography?

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Five reasons .

News you can use

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Artsy:   What It Takes to Recover a Stolen Work of Art .

"Courts and the U.S. Copyright Office have been pretty resistant to the notion that the design of letters is copyrightable."

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The Wall Street Journal has more on the Dash Snow estate's claim against McDonald's.
Tuesday, October 11, 2016

Should the U.S. adopt a payment-in-kind income tax program for artists?

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This law review article by Julia Bogdanovich argues no.  ( h/t )
Monday, October 10, 2016

"The Frans Hals Revelations Cast Doubt on Both Technical Expertise and Connoisseurship"

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The Art Market Monitor on the recent news that Sotheby's has reimbursed the buyer who purchased a painting attributed to Frans Hals fo...
Sunday, October 09, 2016

"Yet another major clothing company is facing allegations that it stole the work of an independent artist without permission or payment."

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Artsy:   Kohl’s Is the Latest Fashion Retailer Accused of Stealing an Artist’s Work .

"Dash Snow’s Estate Sues McDonald’s for Copyright Infringement"

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Carey Dunne has the details at Hyperallergic.