Tuesday, March 19, 2024
 


Case Claiming MoMA Paintings Nazi Loot Dismissed


A judge in New York has dismissed a “Nazi loot” case by the heirs of George Grosz, who claimed that three paintings by Grosz now in the MoMA collection were taken and traded during the 1930s.

 

Büchel Wins Appeal, Major Victory for Artists


On Wednesday, January 27, 2010, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit handed Christoph Büchel and visual artists a major victory. The First Circuit found sufficient evidence to allow a jury to find that Mass MoCA violated Büchel’s right of artistic integrity by modifying his installation without his consent, thereby causing prejudice to Büchel’s honor or reputation. In making this finding, the First Circuit concluded that the Visual Artists Rights Act of 1990 applies to unfinished works of art.

But that’s not all. The First Circuit found that Büchel has a viable claim under the Copyright Act, finding significant evidence suggesting that Büchel’s art work was repeatedly and deliberately exhibited to numerous individuals without Büchel’s consent. The First Circuit also rejected Mass MoCA’s contention that the unfinished installation might constitute a joint work of Büchel and the Museum.

The New York TimesRandy Kennedy.

 

Court’s Function Is Not to Tell Scholars What to Authenticate


Ray Dowd, of the Copyright Litigation Blog, comments on a recent lawsuit against the Calder Foundation. In that case, “[t]he plaintiff owned a work it believed was created by the late Alexander Calder…. The plaintiff sued because the Calder Foundation refused to include the work in the artist’s catalogue raisonne.” The plaintiff lost, primarily because “the court found that it did not have the power to declare the purported Calder work authentic nor to order the Calder Foundation to include it in the catalogue raisonne.” Adds Dowd,

Foundations vary greatly in practices, market power, and credibility.  There is no disputing that for certain artists, the foundations act in dictatorial and inappropriate ways, leveraging the artist’s power far beyond what copyright law contemplates.

Read Dowd’s analysis here.

 

Shepard Fairey to Face Criminal Investigation in AP Case


We mentioned something like this could happen to Shepard Fairey, and well, it seems like it has. Federal district judge Alvin K. Hellerstein revealed today that artist Shepard Fairey is facing a criminal investigation in connection with his admitted unlawful conduct of “submitt[ing] false images and delet[ing] other images” in the ongoing litigation against the Associated Press.

The judge reportedly made the revelation today as part of a hearing where lawyers for Fairey and the AP were present. A spokesman for the AP said in a statement issued this evening that the news organization has received a grand jury subpoena related to Fairey’s fabrication and destruction of evidence during the case.

A spokesman for the Associated Press told Clancco that they are very pleased that Judge Hellerstein has denied Shepard Fairey’s motion for a protective order to stay Mr. Fairey’s deposition, or alternatively to limit the scope of Mr. Fairey’s deposition, pending the outcome of a criminal investigation regarding his admitted wrongdoing in this case. The Court also ruled that Mr. Fairey’s credibility is a key issue in this case.

To what extent will this affect the merits of the “fair use” argument is unknown.

See also the LA Times.

 

Art After Law: Legal Issues and Artistic Projects


I’m giving a talk on Thursday, February 18th, at the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council. Talk starts at 6:30 and is open to the public. In general I’ll be covering how my early installations led me to attend law school as an art project, and how Clancco serves as a model of art and law discourse. Here’s what I’ll cover:

How does law affect the making of art, and can art change the making of law? In this workshop, artist and lawyer Sergio Muñoz Sarmiento will talk about the interrelation between art and law. By focusing on his own art project which explores art and law, Clancco.com, Sarmiento will speak about the most common legal issues that arise in the implementation of art projects, including the most recent and controversial legal cases affecting the art world. Copyright and trademarks, right of privacy, contractual agreements and legal issues related to artist websites will be covered.

For more information on location and registration, go to LMCC’s website here. Hope to see you there.

 

Motherwell Foundation Dispute Stalls Raisonné


The lawsuit between Robert Motherwell’s Dedalus Foundation and a longtime employee who had worked closely with the late Abstract Expressionist painter continues, “throwing a kink in efforts to complete the artist’s comprehensive catalogue raisonné.” Since the pair of lawsuits were filed last March in New York State court delays have caused little progress to be made in resolving the antagonists’ heated claims, which include accusations of theft, self dealing, and scholarly incompetence. Via Artinfo and The Art Newspaper.

 

Tracey Emin Forgery Ring


The artist Tracey Emin, whose work sells for thousands of pounds a piece, has been inadvertently caught in the centre of a forgery ring specialising in reproducing her art,Scotland Yard revealed today. An inquiry is under way following concerns raised about several paintings, supposedly by her, that were offered for sale last year. Two men aged 21 and 23 were arrested in Manchester in November on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud and of money laundering.Via The Independent.

 
 
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