Monday, October 20, 2014

"The Feud That’s Shaking Gallery Walls"

›
Robert Frank had a piece in the Times this weekend on the Perelman-Gagosian lawsuit. The story leaves out that the bulk of the case was t...

"He was taken into custody by police after he struggled with the museum’s security guards."

›
New York Times:   Vandal Strikes Koons Exhibit .

Breaking non-news: Banksy has not been arrested

›
Artnet doesn't have the news.
Friday, October 17, 2014

A Deaccessioning Puzzle

›
Reading about Mitch Rales's Glenstone collection in Carol Vogel's column today got me thinking about how museums come to be bound b...

30 months

›
Prison time for foundry owner who sold Jasper Johns fakes .

Family Squabble

›
NYT:   Charges of Looting as Heirs Dispute C.C. Wang Collection .
Wednesday, October 15, 2014

"With the advances in 3D scanning and other digital technologies, I suspect it is easier than ever to duplicate work and create copies."

›
Daniel Grant:  " An epidemic of sculpture knock-offs is plaguing the art world ."

"Are copyright laws too strict?"

›
Louis Menand in The New Yorker.  Interesting throughout.

"Deal Is Said to Be Close in Detroit’s Bankruptcy" (UPDATED)

›
New York Times story here . In other DIA news , "a pair of Oakland County politicians are poised to take action against the Detroit I...
Wednesday, October 08, 2014

"In a ruling handed down late last week by the United States Tax Court and seen by many as an important victory for artists ..."

›
The New York Times had a story yesterday on a recent Tax Court decision regarding the deductibility of art-related expenses.  Sam Brunson p...

A note on Elkins (UPDATED 2X)

›
Michael Rushton has a post on the Elkins decision which closes with the following:  "If art was previously being treated inequitably ...

Does fair use doctrine favor the rich? (UPDATED)

›
Sergio seems to think so .  I'm not sure about that, but I do agree completely with this , from my co-teacher Amy Adler: "One of...

"The temptation to view art as another capital asset has been especially intense this year across the country."

›
Another article on deaccessioning that neglects to mention that museums sell art (i.e., "treat it as a capital asset") all the ti...
Monday, October 06, 2014

"This is the first Circuit court to expressly reject transformative use, and it has done so rather emphatically."

›
Barry Werbin , at NYSBA's Entertainment, Arts and Sports Law Blog, on Kientiz v. Sconnie Nation, discussed earlier here .
Sunday, October 05, 2014

"Chapter 9 is not a privilege; it is a political failure"

›
Kristi Culpepper , excellent on Detroit. And on the Grand Bargain in particular:  " One of the concerns I have expressed about the so...

"A Potential Game Changer for Estate Taxes on Art"

›
The Elkins decision I mentioned last week makes it to the New York Times .

"After Merger, Corcoran Gallery of Art Faces Uncertain Future"

›
Blair Murphy at Hyperallergic . They used the forbidden word again .

"Judge Steven Rhodes today pressed Detroit emergency manager Kevyn Orr to provide a better explanation for why he chose not to sell Detroit Institute of Arts property."

›
That was from Friday, and I assume, based on everything we've heard about Judge Rhodes and the art, that the point of the questioning w...
Saturday, September 27, 2014

And people say we monkey around

›
Nicholas O'Donnell is with me on the pressing issue of monkeys and copyright.

We shall fight in the courtrooms

›
The New York Post:   Winston Churchill's artist granddaughter sues gallery .

2015 National Cultural Heritage Law Moot Court Competition

›
February in Chicago.  Details here .

Reminder from Detroit: the fight over DIA's art isn't over

›
Mark Stryker summarizes the state of play. Meanwhile, Detroit Free Press columnist Rochelle Riley asks:   Where's the grand bargain ...

"How should we subsidize charitable giving to the arts?"

›
Some thoughts from IU's Michael Rushton.

Copyright and Graffiti (UPDATED)

›
The Atlantic asks whether graffiti can by copyrighted.  The answer given seems to be "why not?" This post, from a couple years...

Idea vs. Expression

›
Artist's copyright infringement suit against Avatar director James Cameron thrown out, on a motion to dismiss (rather than summary judgm...

"It’s a huge affirmation that opens the door to help art owners reduce their estates." (UPDATED)

›
Was distracted this week, including by thinking about who shall be deaccessioned and who shall not in the coming year, and still catching u...
Friday, September 19, 2014

"What’s the difference between a Warhol silk-screen and a Landis copy?"

›
" It's not out of the realm of possibility that forgeries could one day become the next big thing in art ." The New York Ti...
Thursday, September 18, 2014

"Testimony from a high-end art evaluator will resume Thursday ..."

›
" . . . a s Detroit's bankruptcy trial moves toward a  focus on the city's art at the Detroit Institute of Arts ."
Tuesday, September 16, 2014

Judge Easterbrook Is Not A Fan Of The Prince-Cariou Decision Either (UPDATED 2X)

›
An interesting fair use decision in the Seventh Circuit, with echoes of Prince-Cariou and, even more so, the Shepard Fairey "Hope...

"Detroit reaches bankruptcy deal with fiercest creditor"

›
Story here . Nicholas O'Donnell :  "This does not completely put an end to discussion about the role of the DIA collection, but ...
Saturday, September 13, 2014

More animal copyright

›
Remember my hypothetical about the artist who intentionally leaves a camera out for a monkey to use? Well, Agnieszka Kurant's show u...

"No case in recent history more clearly illustrates the subjective nature of pricing art than the disparate expert opinions of value of the Detroit Institute of Art collection." (UPDATED)

›
Appraiser Cindy Charleston-Rosenberg:   Warning For Collectors . UPDATE:  Related thoughts from Jay Grimm.
Friday, September 12, 2014

Tell me again about the public trust (one of O’Keeffe’s best-known paintings edition) (UPDATED)

›
The Georgia O’Keeffe Museum is selling three paintings , including "Jimson Weed (White Flower No. 1)" from 1932, which is estimate...

Put a bird on it (UPDATED)

›
Willamette Week has a story up about how some people are bothered by the fact that the artist who created the Portlandia sculpture  retains...
Thursday, September 11, 2014

The strange, self-defeating breach of confidentiality lawsuit brought by Marguerite Hoffman took another turn last week (UPDATED)

›
The background is here .  A news story on the latest developments is here .  The judge threw out the jury verdict against the buyer of the w...

Tell me again about the public trust (collection of over 30 Tiffany objects edition)

›
The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston is selling . Remember, having fallen under the aegis of a museum, those objects are held in the public tru...
Wednesday, September 10, 2014

"Detroit Clears Crucial Hurdle on Bankruptcy"

›
A settlement with bond insurer Syncora.  Nicholas O'Donnell tweets :  "Huge. Would resolve biggest opponent to Grand Bargain....
Tuesday, September 09, 2014

An important decision under the Massachusetts consignment statute

›
Nicholas O'Donnell has all the details.
Monday, September 08, 2014

Moral rights for monkeys?

›
Philosopher Mike LaBossiere considers the question.
Saturday, September 06, 2014

"None of these guys have legal copyright. What they’re doing is breaking federal law.”

›
The NYT's Randy Kennedy reports on a lawsuit over the work of Vivian Maier. I've wondered about this from the moment I heard they...
Thursday, September 04, 2014

"They are arguing [the] grand bargain is a de facto asset sale, that it is mispricing the asset, and that it should not benefit only one creditor."

›
That's Kristi Culpepper's summary of the argument so far, and it's exactly what I predicted would happen back in June: ...
Tuesday, September 02, 2014

"Detroit is far short of the $1.7 billion it needs over the next 10 years to remove abandoned buildings, replace outdated technology and increase public safety to stem the exodus from the city."

›
Reuters:  Doubts over whether Detroit bankruptcy plan gets job done . Kristi Culpepper says it's "finally starting to dawn on th...
Sunday, August 31, 2014

"Under the plan the city hopes Judge Rhodes will confirm, Detroit’s more than 100,000 creditors would get a wide range of returns on their claims."

›
The New York Times tees up the Detroit bankruptcy trial, beginning Tuesday. Related:   10 key questions to watch for at Detroit's his...

"The company has doubled the 'maximum permissible amount of net outstanding auction guarantees' from $300m to $600m"

›
The Art Newspaper's Charlotte Burns:   Sotheby's comes out fighting ahead of auction season . Tim Schneider tweets in response:  ...

Sanction Portugal!

›
Artnet News:   Portugal Will Sell Those 85 Joan Miro Paintings After All . Background here . And do not call it a "merger....
Saturday, August 30, 2014

The Hall Monitors' new Very Important Cause ...

›
... is to insist that we never ever call what happened to the Corcoran a "merger."  In other words, these news reports -- Wash...

Is GPS technology the answer for stolen art?

›
The Atlantic takes a look.  Apparently, only 1.5% of stolen art is ever recovered.

"Study Finds Increase in Charitable Donations by Puerto Rican Taxpayers after Charitable Contribution Deduction Limitations Were Removed"

›
Shocker .
Sunday, August 24, 2014

Monkey (c)

›
In a blow to monkey photographers everywhere, the US Copyright Office has declared that photos taken by monkeys cannot in fact be copyrighte...
Tuesday, August 19, 2014

"This is a significant ruling that will have an effect on museum management beyond cy prés petitions, which are relatively rare."

›
" The court’s treatment of deaccession as a non-starter is a judicial adoption of a principle that is codified only in the regulations ...
Monday, August 18, 2014

Tell me again about the public trust (selections from The Art Institute of Chicago’s renowned photo collection edition)

›
Speaking of the inviolable principle that museums hold their works for future generations and they therefore must never be sold, even should...

Did the Deaccession Police Kill the Corcoran?

›
In his decision today, the Judge noted that, "throughout this proceeding, [opponents of the plan] have argued that the Corcoran can ad...

BREAKING: Corcoran Cy Pres Relief Granted

›
Story here .  More later, after I've had a chance to review the opinion.
Thursday, August 14, 2014

"In a complaint filed in federal court in Illinois ..."

›
". . . the three artists seek damages for the 'blatant misappropriation' of a piece they painted collaboratively in Buenos Aire...

"Our job is to advance the best interests of the foundation and its charitable mission."

›
" The Robert Rauschenberg Foundation has appealed a decision by a Florida court to award $24.6 million to three trustees who had admini...

"The suggestion that the art was ever at imminent risk of being liquidated without the city’s consent was merely a political expedient."

›
"The city used this narrative to build an artificial sense of urgency around adopting this particular solution to the exclusion of more...

"I think about what I did every day, and I find it hard to live with what I did because it still haunts me."

›
A plea deal in the Ai Weiwei broken vase case : "Maximo Caminero, a 51-year-old artist from the Dominican Republic, will be on prob...
Tuesday, August 12, 2014

Under Fire (UPDATED)

›
Deborah Solomon had a big piece in Sunday's Times on the Delaware Museum deaccessioning.  Unlike some previous efforts in the paper, t...
Wednesday, August 06, 2014

If a monkey takes a selfie ... (UPDATED 2X)

›
... who owns the copyright? UPDATE:   AFC comments: "Yes, this is silly, but it actually seems like this could have far-reaching imp...
Tuesday, August 05, 2014

Maybe we should try sanctioning somebody

›
I mentioned a couple weeks ago that the Hall Monitors didn't know how to feel about the Corcoran matter. Now, along comes Lee Rosenbaum...
Sunday, August 03, 2014

A Decision in the Rauschenberg Foundation Fee Dispute

›
$24.6 million to the three trustees.  Story here .  Background here .
Friday, August 01, 2014

"If the Corcoran’s preference for GWU and the NGA is door No. 1, and Maryland is door No. 3, the bold offer of help from philanthropist Wayne Reynolds — who says he already has 23 'alternative trustees' lined up — is door No. 2." (UPDATED)

›
Week one of the Corcoran cy pres hearing is over . UPDATE:  Good summary of the week's proceedings from Nicholas O'Donnell.
Wednesday, July 30, 2014

"Two widely divergent views of the financial troubles of the Corcoran Gallery of Art ... emerged in sometimes contentious testimony in the District of Columbia Superior Court on Wednesday."

›
The latest , from Theodore Schleifer and Randy Kennedy in the Times.
Tuesday, July 29, 2014

"Anyone who thought that the Corcoran’s dissolution was a foregone conclusion would think again after yesterday’s court proceedings."

›
A report on day one of the Corcoran cy pres hearing.

I guess it wasn't grand enough

›
An interesting scoop from Nathan Bomey and Mark Stryker in the Detroit Free Press this morning:  "[C]ity officials quietly formulated ...

The problem with the public trust ...

›
... is the public.  Why do they have to be so damn interested in seeing the works ? Michael Rushton tweets :  "If only there existed ...
Sunday, July 27, 2014

$8.5 billion (UPDATED)

›
That's the value of the Detroit Institute's collection according to an appraisal commissioned by one of the City's largest cred...
Wednesday, July 23, 2014

Interesting Sales Tax Decision (UPDATED)

›
(How often do you get to say that?)  It involves the dealer Richard Feigen.  He sold a painting in 2004 for $2.5 million and paid sales taxe...
Tuesday, July 22, 2014

Fair Use Update: It's still a mess

›
Sergio Muñoz Sarmiento flags a good student note in the Harvard Law Review on the Prince-Cariou decision. The bottom line:  "Because ...

Corcoran Update: Nine members of Save the Corcoran get standing (UPDATED 2X)

›
The Washington Post confirms .  The amusing thing about this one is that the Hall Monitors don't know how to feel about it.  On the one ...

Detroit Update: Pensioners vote in favor of Grand Bargain

›
Detroit Free Press story here .  This was as expected.  The real question is whether Judge Rhodes will force the other creditors to accept t...
Monday, July 21, 2014

Who's left standing?

›
There appears to be some uncertainty about the results of today's hearing in the Corcoran matter .  Lee Rosenbaum reports that the AG t...
Saturday, July 19, 2014

"What makes a real Matisse better than a fake? What makes any original work or art more valuable and special than a copy?"

›
The Guardian's Jonathan Jones :  "maybe we are at last about to enter the revolutionary age Benjamin predicted, when reproductions ...

Resale Royalty Update (UPDATED)

›
There was a flurry of coverage of the proposed resale royalty bill this week, centered around a hearing of the House IP Subcommittee on Tues...

"Japanese Artist Megumi Igarashi Arrested Over Vagina Kayak"

›
" A Japanese artist who made a kayak modeled on her vagina said ... she was 'outraged' by her arrest and vowed a court fight ag...

"The current value of the trust’s art collection, Shniberg says, is around $125 million."

›
Bloomberg's James Tarmy has a lengthy, interesting piece on the Artist Pension Trust, which is getting ready to start selling some work...

"Psihoyos's arguments are entirely without merit."

›
Interesting copyright decision from Judge Kaplan in the Southern District regarding rights in photographs of sculpture.  Let's just say...

Ain't it Grand!

›
The WSJ:   Detroit's Water Cutoffs Spark Protests .
Friday, July 18, 2014

Wring Wring

›
Had a chance to read the D.C. Attorney General's brief in support of the Corcoran's cy pres request.  You can read it here .  I'...
Thursday, July 17, 2014

Grander and Grander

›
The Detroit Institute announced yesterday that it has raised another $27 million towards the $100 million it pledged to contribute to the s...
Tuesday, July 15, 2014

Tweet of the Day

›
Actually it's from yesterday, but I'm still catching up after a week away.  From philosopher Nigel Warburton :  "Users of slipp...
Sunday, July 06, 2014

Whatever it is, they're against it

›
I haven't been following the Corcoran "cy pres" story very closely, and have one foot out the door to a week's vacation, b...
Sunday, June 29, 2014

In re Re

›
" An East Hampton man stands accused this week of selling over 60 forged paintings, which he claimed to be by Jackson Pollock, to priva...
Thursday, June 26, 2014

Held in the public thirst

›
Slate.com:  Detroit Resumes Cutting Off Water to 150,000 Residents, Prompting Appeal to United Nations for Help . I don't believe that...

"Both sides have now delivered their arguments and await the decision of Judge Jay Rosman of Lee County Circuit Court."

›
The Art Newspaper's Charlotte Burns has the latest on the Rauschenberg Foundation fee dispute.
Monday, June 23, 2014

More Sanctionier

›
Carolina Miranda joins Lee Rosenbaum in calling for even tougher sanctions for museums that "pawn off works held in a public trust....

Big Bucks

›
Georgina Adam has a new book out.  The subtitle is "The Explosion of the Art Market in the 21st Century."
Sunday, June 22, 2014

"Why commission original public art when you can steal an artist’s idea and outsource the work to China?"

›
Ben Davis on a $450,000 jury verdict against California real estate tycoon Igor Olenicoff.  (Davis says it's for "trademark infrin...

"Some say that the government’s ignorance is to blame for the recent failures in upholding the scheme."

›
Rachel Corbett in The Art Newspaper:   Percent for Art schemes fail to deliver .
Friday, June 20, 2014

Though the choice to sell was a difficult -- indeed agonizing -- decision, and a problem that does not admit of easy solutions ...

›
. . . the AAMD has, with regret , gone ahead and sanctioned the hell out of the Delaware Art Museum.  (Though when you read their statement...
Monday, June 16, 2014

"Note to Forgers: Don’t Forget the Spell Check"

›
" N ewly released documents in a continuing civil case show that at least one of the works bought in 2000 by Ms. Freedman herself conta...
Saturday, June 14, 2014

"After Much Debate, Picasso Curtain Will Be Moved From the Four Seasons"

›
New York Times story is here .  Background here .  I didn't follow all the ins and outs of this one, but it seems like a win for Aby Ros...
Wednesday, June 11, 2014

There's The Rub

›
Former AAMD president Timothy Rub has a piece in the Wall Street Journal today on the Delaware Art Museum deaccessioning . This follows a...

Crafty

›
More contributions flowing in to the grand bargain today.  And with them, a possible answer, from Mark Stryker of the Detroit Free Press, t...
Tuesday, June 10, 2014

We’ve already established that. Now we’re just haggling over the price.

›
The big news out of Detroit yesterday was the announcement that the Big Three automakers have pledged $26 million towards the "grand b...
Monday, June 09, 2014

"[A] potentially far-reaching decision ... that allows the victims of Nazi-related looting and their heirs to press ahead with legal efforts to reclaim stolen artwork."

›
I don't usually cover Holocaust restitution cases here at the blog, but I did write about the Norton Simon Museum lawsuit for the Journa...
Friday, June 06, 2014

"Authoritative authentication is essential to a well-functioning art market, the bill's sponsors maintain."

›
Tracy Zwick has a good piece in Art in America on the proposed authentication legislation in New York.  I'm quoted as saying I don...
Wednesday, June 04, 2014

Trust Me

›
With Detroit's "grand bargain" sweeping ahead , and the art seemingly safe , I finally got around to reading the DIA's mot...

"It makes pensioners as whole as possible and protects the Detroit Institute of Arts from having its artwork seized and sold off."

›
Detroit News:  Detroit's 'grand bargain' sweeps ahead .
Tuesday, June 03, 2014

Grubby Reality

›
I missed this before the weekend, but apparently a more "comprehensive" appraisal of the Detroit Institute's collection is und...