Visual Arts and the Law: A Handbook for Professionals

Description

This essential handbook offers art professionals and collectors an accessible legal analysis of important principles in art law, as well as a practical guide to legal rights when creating, buying, selling and collecting art in a global market. Although the book is international in scope, there is a particular focus on the US as a major art centre and the site of countless key international court cases. The book embraces the interdependence between legal, ethical, as well as art-historical considerations. It addresses fundamental topics such as: the role of due diligence in buying and selling art; the issues which can arise when relationships or transactions are not formalized by a written contract; critical differences in individual nations' copyright regimes, such as moral rights and artist resale rights; how courts analyse copyright infringement cases in visual art; specific laws relating to auctions and the relationships among the auction house, consignor and buyer; the balance between freedom of expression and an individual's rights of privacy and publicity; the liabilities of expert opinions on authenticity and on the valuation of works of art; and how the statutes of limitation apply to works that have been stolen or whose legal title is otherwise challenged. This authoritative but accessible and wide-ranging volume is essential reading for arts advisors, collectors, dealers, auction houses, museums, investors, artists, attorneys, and students of art and law.

Judith B. Prowda is Senior Lecturer at Sotheby's Institute of Art-New York and an internationally acclaimed attorney-at-law in New York City focussed on intellectual property, art law, as well as mediation and arbitration. She has contributed articles and chapters to many legal publications.