Copyright Law

"Unable to sell art because of the legal battle, the university instead decided to terminate or restructure 18 academic programs."

Posted on February 14, 2011
The Brandeis Hoot: Two years after The Rose: Where are we now?

"There really is an opportunity cost of this money."

Posted on February 14, 2011
Tyler Cowen says that states that are cutting back on arts funding are doing the right thing:"If you're a libertarian, the choice is obvious. If you're a progressive, it is better to spend the money on Medicaid expansion or other more worthy goals...

Because we say so, that's why (UPDATED)

Posted on February 11, 2011
One way of looking at disputes like the one around the University of Iowa Pollock is as a clash of values.On one side, you have the Art Lobby -- the people who think it's more important to keep the painting than to have $150 million in additional scholarship money...

"If we have an asset valued at $100 million to $150 million . . ."

Posted on February 10, 2011
". . . are we not better served to have those resources deployed to actually educate Iowa students in the arts?"The idea of selling the University of Iowa's Pollock has come up again in the state legislature. The chairman of the House Appropriations Committee has introduced a bill calling for the sale, with the sales proceeds going "into an endowment that could provide $5 million a year for scholarships for resident students at the UI majoring in art...

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Ascalon Settlement

Posted on February 10, 2011
I mentioned a couple months ago that David Ascalon's VARA lawsuit seemed to have settled. That's now been confirmed. The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review has the story here.Rosie Burbidge says "this case offers an important reminder to arts owners that just because you own the physical work of art does not necessarily mean that the work is entirely yours to do whatever you choose...

"My problem is that the figure is difficult to justify . . ."

Posted on February 10, 2011
". . . and detracts from the larger discussion about how to preserve, protect, and secure our cultural heritage."Art Theft Central's Mark Durney on the $6 billion figure often said to represent the scope of the illicit art trade on an annual basis.

Linkage

Posted on February 10, 2011
Drouot death knell? More here. (Background here.)Dispute over Koenig Sphere.One very good reason to be reading The Journal of Art Crime. (For others, keep scrolling.)Balloon Dog settlement."Fakes, Forgeries, and Mysteries" in Detroit.

One more time, the public trust is not served by having museums shut down

Posted on February 08, 2011
Paddy Johnson has more on the closing of the Jersey City Museum.She says I "think the museum should deaccession some of its holdings so it can remain open," which I guess is fair enough, though I would amend that slightly to say that I have no idea how deep their troubles run, and whether deaccessioning could save them from closing, but ...

"There?s plenty to go around here."

Posted on February 08, 2011
The NYT's Randy Kennedy reports that LACMA and the Getty have "jointly acquired a huge collection of" Mapplethorpe prints, negatives, and letters. Sounds like a part-gift/part-sale, with the total collection valued at over $30 million. The two museums "will collaborate on exhibitions and publications using both the photographs and archives...

"So much for the public trust and the public interest."

Posted on February 03, 2011
I can't recommend highly enough this brief essay on deaccessioning in the Broad Streeet Review by Gresham Riley, the former president of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.It's rhetorically very interesting, a little sneaky even.He begins by paying homage to "the most important [deaccessioning] guideline," i...

Linkage

Posted on February 03, 2011
The NEA's Rocco Landesman on supply and demand."Clowns everywhere can breathe easier."Litigation is in the air in New York.A victory for Christie's."An obscure legal dispute that has turned into a full-scale diplomatic feud between the United States and Russia...

"The largest sale of works from its collection in a half century"

Posted on February 02, 2011
Steven Litt: "The Cleveland museum's sale -- the end result of a process known as 'deaccessioning,' barely raised an eyebrow in the art world."This is as predicted. As long as a museum announces that the sales proceeds will be used (someday) to buy more art, you might get some mild criticism from one lonely member of the deaccession police...

"He says donating the money to charity will result in huge tax deductions, depriving governments of much-needed tax revenue."

Posted on February 02, 2011
Billionaire art collector Carlos Slim on charity.

Linkage

Posted on February 01, 2011
"Instead of creating a teachable moment, everyone stoked the controversy."The life of the courtroom artist.Legal help for emerging artists.Should the charitable deduction be eliminated?

"Here's hoping that the Kennaugh-Amadio's website works its magic and lures this major masterpiece back into the light."

Posted on January 29, 2011
Greg Allen on the art-historical significance of the Pebble Beach Pollock.

Will estate tax changes discourage charitable bequests?

Posted on January 27, 2011
The Art Newspaper's Martha Lufkin examines the question.

Tell me again about the "public trust" (New York Times edition)

Posted on January 26, 2011
The New York Times notices that hey, maybe museums don't hold their works in trust for public after all. They can -- and do -- sell them all the time.The story begins by cataloging a bunch of recent sales:"On Thursday at Sotheby?s in New York, the Cleveland Museum of Art is putting 32 old-master paintings up for auction, and the J...

"Don?t let these treasures become assets to a bank trying to recoup its losses on an unpaid debt."

Posted on January 25, 2011
Paddy Johnson notes that the Jersey City Museum remains closed. She puts out a call for "Jersey City?s Eli Broad," a "wealthy benefactor out there willing to donate $600,000 to save an entire institution."That sure would be nice. But, failing that, where else might they come up with $600,000?Hmmm...

File Under "It's Only Wrong When Brandeis Does It"

Posted on January 24, 2011
The New York Times had a story this morning on how, with "government subsidies ... falling and corporate donations ... dwindl[ing] as the economic crisis spreads," European museums are "seek[ing] new revenue sources."That includes the following:"Museums are also raising money by sending masterworks on global tours...

"Tell them I?m not a bad guy. I?m awful sorry if I caused them any trouble."

Posted on January 24, 2011
The FT's John Gapper has a terrific story on serial forger Mark Landis (mentioned earlier here):"Landis was clearly disturbed but he was also intelligent and funny, and his story ? although bizarre ? was plaintively human. By his own account, he had spent nigh on three decades forging and donating paintings as a tribute to his parents...

"That?s one step below attempted murder."

Posted on January 24, 2011
A Chicago artist faces up to 15 years in prison -- for recording his arrest for selling art without a permit. The New York Times story is here. Howard Wasserman says the problem with laws like that "is that they allow government to eliminate the check on misconduct that comes from the public being able to watch/listen to Big Brother and use the recording to document and help prove misconduct...

The Gallery Strikes Back

Posted on January 21, 2011
The New York Times reports that the San Francisco gallery that was on the receiving end of a cease-and-desist letter from Jeff Koons for producing and selling ?Balloon Dog? bookends has brought a declaratory judgment lawsuit: "'As virtually any clown can attest, no one owns the idea of making a balloon dog, and the shape created by twisting a balloon into a dog-like form is part of the public domain,' the gallery says in its federal complaint...

New Issue of Journal of Art Crime

Posted on January 20, 2011
The Fall 2010 issue of ARCA's Journal of Art Crime is out. I wrote about the latest (legislative) developments regarding Von Saher v. Norton Simon Museum. An excerpt:"But here, the Ninth Circuit, on hazy 'foreign affairs powers' grounds, essentially ruled that it was improper for the legislature to have singled out Nazi-looted art cases for special treatment...

"There is also a ... Girolamo di Benvenuto Nativity that was once (1966) considered important enough to rate a museum publication."

Posted on January 20, 2011
Another museum sale that will not cause somebody to say, "Why should I give this to you? What guarantee do I have that you're not going to sell this tomorrow?"Don't be so touchy. Collections aren't meant to be static.

"Simply irrational"

Posted on January 20, 2011
Cristina del Rivero reacts to the BBC article I mentioned earlier in the week:"The fear among the 'anti-deaccessioning police' that without a blanket prohibition against deaccessioning museums will sell-off vast amounts of their collections is simply irrational...

Linkage (questions edition)

Posted on January 20, 2011
Should art museums dabble in variable-rate demand bonds and interest-rate swaps?Who owns balloon dogs?What happened to the missing Mystic Lamb panel?Should dead people have publicity rights?

"A BBC Freedom of Information request found the British Museum had spent £86,280 in 2009 and 2010 keeping 99% of its collection in storage."

Posted on January 19, 2011
They're holding them in trust.

Park West Update

Posted on January 19, 2011
The Art Market Monitor is monitoring Park West Galleries' "roster of lawsuits."

"Thus, the adversaries ? the multinational corporation and the street artist ? become business partners. Long live capitalism!"

Posted on January 18, 2011
The LA Times editorial board on the Fairey-AP settlement.

"In other words, to bankroll today's curatorial spending sprees, PAFA sold historic works ..."

Posted on January 17, 2011
". . . that its own curators had previously valued enough to include in special exhibitions (and probably also in the museum's permanent-collection displays)."From Lee Rosenbaum, the only member of the deaccession police who takes the notion of the public trust seriously.

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