Saturday, March 24, 2018

A surprise addition to the anti-anti-deaccessioning crowd

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Martin Gammon (mentioned recently here ), who now says  (see comments): "I have no complaint with the marketplace, and in fact think ...
Friday, March 23, 2018

Tell me again about the public trust (foreign museums edition)

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Rio de Janeiro's Modern Art Museum is selling a Jackson Pollock. The National Gallery of Canada is selling a Chagall. Are these sa...
Wednesday, March 21, 2018

"Is there an ethical case against deaccessioning by museums?"

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Asks Michael Rushton on Twitter, after succintly capturing the nature of most anti-deaccessioning arguments: "These arguments seem t...
Thursday, March 15, 2018

"The notion that museums could simply liquidate the bottom 1% of their collections for a cash windfall that would solve most fiduciary challenges is simply a canard."

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That's from this piece by Martin Gammon in The Art Newspaper, and I suspect it will quickly be adopted as a talking point by the Deacce...

This is interesting

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According to The Fashion Law blog , a street artist complained to retailer H&M about their use of his work in an ad campaign ... H&M...

"According to the Association of Art Museum Directors, nationwide 59 percent of museums charge admission, 34 percent are free and 7 percent suggest a donation amount"

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That's from this NYT story. As far as I can tell, only one museum from that 59 percent is the object of protests over the policy.
Wednesday, March 07, 2018

More on the Shagalov case

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Mentioned earlier here .  Georgina Adam and Anny Shaw have lots more detail in the Art Newspaper, including this from New York Judge Charle...

"France’s highest appeals court has now ordered a retrial on the grounds that there was insufficient evidence that the goods held by the suspects had been stolen."

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The saga of Picasso's electrician goes on .  Background here .

"We want to keep admission fees low, keep the state role to a minimum, and, in terms of donors, insist on clean hands. But if we want to do *all* that, something has to give."

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Michael Rushton on the question of " tainted money ."

"But it’s the Copyright Act not the court that’s blocking the road, and [artists] have an easy way around. All they’re required to do is share their profits with the creators of the content they seek to exploit."

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Stephen Carter on the Second Circuit's TVEyes decision, but maybe also on the visual art  appropriation wars ?

5Pointz Lessonz

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Eileen Kinsella rounds them up.
Saturday, March 03, 2018

"The 5Pointz case produced a strange role reversal. Graffiti artists, who started out as apostles of irreverence and improvisation, were now arguing for preservation and permanence. And a real-estate developer had reason to regret his former friendliness to art."

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I'm a little late to it, but Justin Davidson on the 5Pointz decision is worth reading:   Artists Won the 5Pointz Case, But the Decision ...

Tell me again about the public trust (thinning out its art collection edition)

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The Augustana Teaching Museum of Art is selling about 450 works . That's 450 works which, having fallen under the aegis of a museum, a...
Monday, February 12, 2018

$6.7 million in damages in the 5Pointz case (UPDATED)

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Story here .  I've got to say I did not see that one coming. From the opinion (reproduced here ):  "If not for Wolkoff's ins...
Saturday, February 10, 2018

"On Thursday, a New York Supreme Court judge dismissed the auction house’s request for a summary judgment against Anatole Shagalov, who the house claims ponied up a record-breaking bid for the work but then failed to pay up."

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Artnet news:   A Legal Battle Between Sotheby’s and a Dealer Over a Record-Setting Keith Haring Painting Is Headed for Trial .

"A lawyer representing the artist behind Digital DNA, a 7-foot-tall sculpture in Palo Alto's Lytton Plaza slated for removal later this month, has threatened to sue the city under the Visual Arts Rights Act"

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Story here .  As I've noted before , VARA claims over the simple  removal of work have not fared well.
Friday, February 09, 2018

BREAKING: "Berkshire Museum Victory" (UPDATED 3X)

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Andrew Russeth:  " Berkshire Museum Victory: Massachusetts Attorney General Agrees to Art Sales, With Rockwell Going to Public Institut...
Tuesday, February 06, 2018

"A deal to resolve the Berkshire Museum art sale dispute is on the table, legal observers predict."

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" But it could be days before the public learns what that compromise might look like ."
Monday, January 29, 2018

"Museum industry standards on deaccessioning are inflexible and antiquated."

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Nina Simon, executive director of the Santa Cruz Museum of Art, has an interesting piece in the Berkshire Eagle arguing against "cling...

AG requests one-week extension of Berkshire Museum injunction

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Reports the Berkshire Eagle, which adds that "because the museum does not oppose the request for an extension of the injunction, it is...