The Art Law Blog

Saturday, April 21, 2018

Thursday, April 19, 2018

"In a case that is bound to rock the art world, a prominent New York collector and art patron has sued two giants of the art market in New York Supreme Court this morning ..."

" . . . charging the Gagosian Gallery, Inc. and Jeff Koons, LLC for the 'non-delivery' of three multimillion-dollar Jeff Koons ...

"The Berkshire Museum saga is headed toward a happy ending"

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The Boston Globe's Jeff Jacoby (seen earlier here ) cheers the outcome of the Berkshire Museum dispute, saying "it looks as though...

Monday, April 16, 2018

Tell me again about the public trust (Baltimore Museum of Art edition)

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The Baltimore Museum of Art is selling works by five artists you might have heard of: Andy Warhol Robert Rauschenberg Franz Kline Kenn...

The monkey selfie case is back on

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The Ninth Circuit plans to issue its ruling, despite the parties' settlement. Story here . Background here . At PrawfsBlawg, Howard W...

"The crime has remained unsolved since it occurred in 1988; no arrests have been made, and none of the artworks have surfaced"

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" Until now ."

Saturday, April 14, 2018

The Ellis Rule in Action

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Those who are deeply, deeply concerned that works, once held in the public trust, remain held in the public trust must have been happy to ha...

Thursday, April 12, 2018

Oral argument in the California Resale Royalties Case

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Story here . You can watch it here (if you're a big preemption fan). Background here . Remember this is just about sales within Cal...

Saturday, April 07, 2018

"The copy is the original"

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" In China and Japan, temples may be rebuilt and ancient warriors cast again. There is nothing sacred about the ‘original’ "

"Biggest Fake Native American Art Conspiracy Revealed"

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National Geographic has a detailed look.

"H&M’s battle with the artist Revok shows how street art is being taken seriously"

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Good piece (though a couple weeks old) from the Washington Post on the case I mentioned here , including this from NYU's Jeanne Fromer:...

"If a building owner finds itself in a position where it must remove art protected by VARA and no written VARA waiver was obtained, the owner should proceed cautiously and in good faith in the destruction or removal of the art."

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"For example, notice should be provided to the artist of the landlord’s intention to remove the art, ample time should be provided for ...

"Art Dealers Strike Back at Artist Cady Noland in an Increasingly Philosophical Legal Dispute About a Restored Sculpture" (UPDATED)

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Julia Halperin has the story here . Background here . Apparently one issue in the case is whether the sculpture -- Log Cabin (1990) -- can...

Agnes Martin Authentication Suit Dismissed

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Story here . Background here . Artnet's Eileen Kinsella says "that exhalation you just heard is the sound of art authentication...

Thursday, April 05, 2018

Over (UPDATED)

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The Berkshire Museum Gets the Final Green Light to Sell Works From Its Collection, Ending a Closely Watched Saga . UPDATE; Rounding up so...

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...

Sunday, January 28, 2018

"In reality, what goes on display at museums is, I’d guess about 98 percent of the time, just what the wall copy claims it to be."

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Noah Charney: How Did the Modigliani Forgeries Make It Into an Exhibition?

Saturday, January 27, 2018

"But in the supercilious guild of museum elitists, deaccessioning items from a collection for any purpose other than acquiring more important items is a hanging offense."

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Boston Globe columnist Jeff Jacoby writes about "the dogmatic world of the deaccession police, [where] the Berkshire [Museum] would be...

Monday, January 22, 2018

Missing the Forest

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San Francisco Chronicle art critic Charles Desmarais has a rebuttal to Michael O'Hare's recent piece on deaccessioning, which I dis...

Friday, January 19, 2018

BREAKING NEWS: The Ellis Rule Is Back

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Brought back by the eponym himself . The recent run of deaccessioning sanity continues. Glenn Lowry , Michael O'Hare , Tim Schneider ...

Sunday, January 14, 2018

"But let’s at least seriously consider how billions of dollars in stored art might be able to help solve some of the crises afflicting art museums around the world."

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More deaccessioning-related sanity, this time from Tim Schneider . (Other recent bouts of sanity here and here .)

"Lowry is moving in the right direction and will make real waves among his peers."

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Michael O'Hare (discussed earlier here ) on Glenn Lowry (discussed earlier here ).

Saturday, January 13, 2018

"This is really bad for U.S. collectors"

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The NYT Wealth Matters column this week: How the Tax Code Rewrite Favors Real Estate Over Art . It's about the elimination of 1031 e...

Friday, January 12, 2018

"This happens from time to time when a minor museum can’t fix the roof or keep the heat on, and the moral outrage machine goes into high gear, wailing that the sold works will be 'lost' to humanity forever!"

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A very good day for sanity in the deaccessioning debate. First, MoMA's Glenn Lowry joined me -- and Felix Salmon -- in the anti-anti...

Glenn Lowry Just Joined My Deaccessioning Hall of Fame

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From an interview with Charlotte Burns : " Charlotte Burns : Do you find that the current de-accession policies need adapting? ...

"The $10 million offer was to have expired Jan. 1, but the museum board has voted to extend it indefinitely."

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If you have information that would lead to the recovery of the stolen Gardner works, and didn't get around to disclosing it by the end ...

Wednesday, January 10, 2018

"What seems to be lost in this discussion is due consideration of the specious assumption at its core: That free admission actually engages low income audiences."

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Colleen Dilenschneider : "Data indicate that free admission has little to no correlation with how well museums – including the Met – w...

"Why Mickey Mouse’s 1998 copyright extension probably won’t happen again"

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Copyrights from the 1920s will start expiring next year if Congress doesn’t act .

Tuesday, January 09, 2018

"No one likes to sell art. But if there is a higher purpose to better serve the students that we serve, we will."

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Philadelphia Magazine: La Salle’s President Defends Her Controversial Plan to Auction Artwork . What makes her think better serving her s...

"What is it about art that it shouldn’t be paid for?" (UPDATED 2X)

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That's a question attributed to former Met Director Philippe de Montebello, in this Observer piece by Daniel Grant on the Met's ne...

Saturday, January 06, 2018

Breaking News: Museums Charge Admission Fees (UPDATED)

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Who knew?! Just a couple of quick notes on the uproar over the Met announcing that it's going to start doing what every other museum ...

Thursday, January 04, 2018

Here We Go Again

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La Salle University in Philadelphia is planning to sell some art, hoping to raise "as much as $7 million, or more, which would be used...

Tuesday, January 02, 2018

"5 Lawsuits That Could Reshape the Art World in 2018" (UPDATED)

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From Isaac Kaplan at Artsy . The list includes the Masterpiece Cakeshop Supreme Court case, Graham v. Prince , the Berkshire Museum lawsu...

Thursday, December 28, 2017

If you've got information that would lead to the recovery of the Gardner works ...

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... now's the time to share it: the $10 million reward offer goes down to $5 million on Jan. 1 .

Tuesday, December 26, 2017

How the new US tax law affects the art world (UPDATED)

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Martha Lufkin's take . UPDATE: Artsy's take is here , focusing especially on the elimination of like-kind exchanges of art.

Wednesday, December 13, 2017

Join the crowd

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Felix Salmon imagines an "alternative universe" where a better solution to the Berkshire Museum's financial difficulties was ...

Berkshire Museum Injunction Extended to Jan. 29

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Story here . A spokeswoman for the attorney general said the extension "will provide enough time for attorneys to finish their investi...

Tuesday, December 05, 2017

Christo Copyright Suit

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Over the use of some photographs. Story here .

"Adidas regrets these actions and is pleased that the lawsuit filed by Art Basel has been settled amicably."

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A settlement in the Art Basel-Adidas lawsuit. Background here .

Tuesday, November 28, 2017

"How Trump’s new tax plan could affect the art world"

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Martha Lufkin's take here .

"What's better for the Berkshires?"

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" Keeping two Norman Rockwell paintings in a Pittsfield museum that’s headed toward financial ruin? Or having a reinvented museum in Pi...

"Once you get a work like Salvator Mundi out of the auction house, you must figure out where to ship it."

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artnet News: So You Just Bought a $450 Million Leonardo da Vinci Painting. Now What? And relatedly, Peter Singer (and some others) have ...

Tuesday, November 21, 2017

"The gallery, Chowaiki & Co. Fine Art Ltd., filed for bankruptcy on Nov. 13." (UPDATED)

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" At least three lawsuits filed this week against the dealer, Ezra Chowaiki, accuse him and the Park Avenue gallery in which he’s the p...

Monday, November 20, 2017

Are works owned by public libraries held in the public trust?

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If not, why not? The New York Times reports on a library in Jamestown, N.Y. that "says it needs to sell most of the 50-odd works in ...

Saturday, November 18, 2017

"There's no easy answer."

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I found another member for my Deaccessioning Hall of Fame : Lynn Zelevansky, who recently stepped down as director of the Carnegie Museum of...

Photos Stolen From PS1

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Or were they just borrowed ? Definitely a weird one.

Trinity Church VARA Suit Dismissed

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The VARA lawsuit over the removal of a sculpture from Trinity Church in Manhattan has been dismissed. Story here . Decision here . I said ...

Thursday, November 16, 2017

Tyler Cowen on the Berkshire Museum (UPDATED 2X)

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Sell the Rockwells. It's Just Business . UPDATE: More from Cowen here . UPDATE 2: Another thoughtful critic of the Deaccession Po...

Friday, November 10, 2017

BREAKING: Appeals Court Enjoins Berkshire Museum Sale

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Art Newspaper story here , including that "the injunction expires on December 11, but the judge has given the AGO the option to extend ...

Wednesday, November 08, 2017

It was widely reported today that the 5Pointz graffiti artists had won their VARA lawsuit against the building's developer ...

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... but, as the New York Times reports , in a weird procedural twist, the jury's decision was only a "recommendation": "...

Tuesday, November 07, 2017

BREAKING NEWS: Injunction denied in Berkshire Museum case (UPDATED 2X)

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Story here . More later. UPDATE: Lots of interesting stuff in the decision . There are a number of museum directors in my Deaccessionin...

Monday, October 30, 2017

"Investigators suspect he swiped it during his time working for Scully."

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The Daily News: Famed artist Sean Scully's ex-aide busted for allegedly stealing, selling $500G painting from boss' Chelsea studio...

Wednesday, October 25, 2017

"In its new Parkway location, the Barnes has met or exceeded virtually every revenue, fund-raising, and attendance projection made in 2010 before the move."

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While the usual suspects continue their latest freakout , the Philadelphia Inquirer's Stephan Salisbury takes a look at the subject of ...

Hostage Situation (UPDATED)

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There were reports yesterday that the Mugrabis were suing Mana Contemporary, accusing it of holding their collection "hostage" be...

Monday, October 23, 2017

"Blue-Chip Art Dealer Accused of Scamming Clients for Millions of Dollars Goes to Jail in New York"

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The dealer is Timothy Sammons, who has been charged with grand larceny and fraud.

Saturday, October 21, 2017

"Norman Rockwell’s Sons Sue Berkshire Museum, Seeking Halt to Sotheby’s Sale"

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Story here . Brian Frye rules : "The plaintiffs lack standing & the complaint fails to state a viable cause of action. No writte...

"The family of the late African-American artist Thornton Dial has charged in a new lawsuit that Dial’s artwork was wrongly acquired by the High Museum of Art." (UPDATED)

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" Filed this week in federal court by Dial’s estate and three of his children, the lawsuit charges that art dealer William S. Arnett or...

"More than a dozen artists packed into a federal courtroom on Wednesday to watch as lawyers debated whether the destruction of their murals was a violation of their rights."

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Artnet's Eileen Kinsella has a report on the 5Pointz VARA trial, now underway in Brooklyn. Most of the commentary focuses on the que...

Monday, October 16, 2017

All in the timing

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Artnews reports that dealer Gary Nader will sell $100 million worth of works from his collection in order to fund a proposed museum in Flor...

The trial in the 5Pointz VARA case is about to get underway (UPDATED)

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Story here . Background here . UPDATE: The New York Times on the first day of trial here .

Friday, October 13, 2017

"Threats of violence in response to controversial art are abhorrent."

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"They can’t be allowed to dictate what art the public is allowed to see, lest a few deranged would-be saboteurs are encouraged to shut ...

Saturday, October 07, 2017

Rules and Norms (UPDATED)

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Felix Salmon, generally the most articulate defender of the anti-deaccessioning position, has a piece in The New Yorker on the Berkshire Mu...

Thursday, October 05, 2017

"Bank Behind Fearless Girl Statue Settles U.S. Gender Pay Dispute"

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" The custody bank will pay $5 million to more than 300 women, following a U.S. Department of Labor audit ."

Monday, October 02, 2017

Who will guard the guards?

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The Daily Beast: The Prison Guards Who Stole a Salvador Dalí Painting .

Friday, September 29, 2017

"The ‘Sociopath’ Scholar Who Made Films of His Crimes Tried to Confess to America’s Most Famous Art Heist"

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Your art law headline of the day.

Tuesday, September 26, 2017

Heckler's Veto (UPDATED)

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Guggenheim Pulls Controversial Animal Artworks From China Show Over Threats of Violence . UPDATE: Ai Weiwei : "When an art institut...

Monday, September 25, 2017

Some News in the Rybolovlev-Bouvier Case

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Eileen Kinsella has the story here . Background here .

Saturday, September 23, 2017

"Wedding Cakes, Urinals, and Other Art"

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Michael Dorf on the Masterpiece Cakeshop case currently before the Supreme Court.

Tuesday, September 12, 2017

"The dire need of Naruto is what fully underpins why we pursued this lawsuit to begin with."

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The monkey selfie lawsuit has also settled . Background here .

And then there were none

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The last of the Knoedler lawsuits has settled .

Thursday, September 07, 2017

"The foundation said that Dalí’s remains would soon return to the Figueres museum’s crypt."

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NYT: Salvador Dalí Was Not Woman’s Father, DNA Test Shows .

Friday, September 01, 2017

Deaccessioning Podcast

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Featuring Deaccessioning Hall of Fame scholar-in-residence Brian Frye.

Tuesday, August 29, 2017

"Bizarre Pollock forgery scam"

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Details here . Bizarre as they are, Tim Schneider points out that "narrative is only a few fractions of an inch ballsier than a narr...

Thursday, August 24, 2017

The logical endpoint of the anti-deaccessioning position (UPDATED)

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LA Times art critic Christopher Knight has a solution to the Berkshire Museum's financial difficulties : "Don’t sell the art. Do...

Thursday, August 17, 2017

"For most litigants, however, the ruling seems to reinforce the sensible view that a defendant should not waste its time with a 12(b)(6) motion on fair use unless its 'aesthetic alterations' to the plaintiff's work are immediately apparent and compelling."

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Bob Clarida and Robert Bernstein in the NYLJ [ $ ] on Richard Prince's latest .

Monday, August 14, 2017

Tell me again about the public trust (more than 400 photos from MoMA edition)

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MoMA is selling more than 400 photos from its collection at Christie's over the next nine months. I thought I very recently read some...

Wednesday, August 02, 2017

Groundhog Day

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I’ve basically been avoiding the latest deaccessioning controversy , in large part because it’s all so depressingly familiar – the usual sus...

Fearless Girl Update (UPDATED)