Tuesday, March 19, 2024
 


Collector Sues Gallery Over Basquiat


football-helmetAn art collector claims a Manhattan gallery owner said he wanted to borrow a Basquiat artwork, Untitled (Football Helmet), to show it “to his family,” then sold it for $300,000 without permission.  The collector, Lio Malca, demands damages for breach of duty as bailee, conversion, and fraud, and wants the art back or $500,000 (the “actual value of the piece”). Via Courthouse News.

 

The Ethics of Art


Erin Donnelly has just informed me that Art21 has just launched what appears to be a timely and exciting program dealing with ethics and law. The Flash Point program, The Ethics of Art, will explore the issue of ethics in art from a variety of perspectives.

Throughout this topic, we’ll feature artists who make this ethical debate a focus in their work, from artists who question the role of the institution, such as Hans Haacke or Marcel Broodthaers, to artists like Alfredo Jaar, who examines the disparity between an oil-rich government and a poverty-stricken populace in his work Muxima.

Read the rest of this entry »

 

Photographer Steps Into Copyright Fight


100204_dancing_steps1

Watch where you walk, some sculptors take their work seriously. Jack Mackie, the artist who created The Dance Steps in Seattle, WA, has sued a photographer for taking pictures of his work and profiting from these pictures, a whopping $60. Mike Hipple, the photographer and also from Seattle, said his agency complied with Mackie’s wishes and destroyed the remaining images.

A few things to consider.

Read the rest of this entry »

 

Peter Hirtle Does It Again: Updated Copyright Term and Public Domain in U.S. Chart


Peter Hirtle, Senior Policy Advisor in the Cornell University Library and member of the Stanford Copyright & Fair Use Advisory Board, has updated his Copyright Term and the Public Domain in the United States chart. Among the changes, Hirtle added the list of countries that have joined Berne or WTO after Jan. 1, 1996. This wonderful gem will not only make a great gift, it is also licensed to users  under Creative Commons’ Attribution 3.0 license. We’ve also added the Chart to our Links section on the lower right-hand side of our blog just in case you lose your print-out or link. Incidentally, this is probably another reason why Cornell Law is currently the Lady Gaga of law schools.

 

Real Murder in National Portrait Gallery Made Public


The first detailed account of a real murder in the gallery, over an apparent artistic disagreement which happened in full view of staff and visitors, has been published by the UK’s National Portrait Gallery in their Archive Catalogue. A letter written by then-director James Milner two days after the 1909 tragedy tells how staff had to wash bloodstains from the floor after a “well-dressed elderly man” shot his wife and then himself in the head. The couple, from America, were said to have “gesticulated excitedly” while looking at one of the pictures before the man reportedly drew his revolver and, “placing the muzzle close to the woman’s head, fired”, before turning the weapon on himself. Via The Independent.

 

Art Crime Losses May Total $8 billion Per Year


Since the inception of the FBI’s Art Crime Unit in 2004, more than 2,400 objects of cultural property valued at more than $142 million have been recovered. According to the FBI, a number of art criminals have been sent to jail, and many of the recovered items have been returned or repatriated.

Even so, said Bonnie Magness-Gardiner, who manages our Art Theft Program, “We are seeing an increase in these types of crimes,” with losses in art and cultural property crimes  estimated at $8 billion per year.

 

Family Art Cons Fool Major Museums


A very talented forger who created fake masterpieces in his home and then sold them to museums and art collectors, including the British Museum, the Tate Modern, and Christie’s, with the help of his elderly parents, was sentenced to four years and eight months last night. His mother, Olive Greenhalgh, 83, was given a 12-month suspended sentence and his wheelchair-bound father, George, 84 – is still to be sentenced for his involvement. Via The Manchester Evening News.

 
 
Legal

Clancco, Clancco: The Source for Art & Law, Clancco.com, and Art & Law are trademarks owned by Sergio Muñoz Sarmiento. The views expressed on this site are those of Sergio Muñoz Sarmiento and of the artists and writers who submit to Clancco.com. They are not the views of any other organization, legal or otherwise. All content contained on or made available through Clancco.com is not intended to and does not constitute legal advice and no attorney-client relationship is formed, nor is anything submitted to Clancco.com treated as confidential.

Website Terms of Use, Privacy, and Applicable Law.
 

Switch to our mobile site