What is Art Law?
Welcome to a new series on the blog about Art Law, an often overlooked area of both art and law! As a prospective LLM Art Law student and barrister specialising in Art Law I am fascinated by the theory of art and the practical application of what are often abstract and philosophical arguments about ‘what is art?’ Beginning this series I will open with my own explanation of Art Law, then continue in future posts to discuss particular legal ideas and relevant current examples more in depth. Please follow Norman Rea Gallery on social media to keep in the loop or subscribe to the newsletter to keep an eye out for Part 2 coming soon!
In 2015 I graduated with a Bachelor of Arts with a major in Art History, I then went on to study a Bachelor of Fine Arts. I am now studying a law degree. I have lost count of how many people (both from the art world and legal industries) who have told me it seems like a weird combination - art and law - when in fact the University of York (where the Norman Rea Gallery is located) uniquely offers an LLM (Masters) in Art Law. I often find myself repeating the same examples to try and explain ‘Art Law’.
Sotheby’s European Chairman and auctioneer, Helena Newman fields bids at Sotheby’s Impressionist &Modern Art sale in London, 2019 Photo by Chris J Ratcliffe/Getty Images for Sotheby's.
What is Art Law?
I have two examples of legal art issues that I default to when trying to explain my chosen career path. The first is a fan fave as it features Matt Damon in Monuments Men.
Photo by Claudette Barius - © 2013 Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. and Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. All Rights Reserved
Art lawyers don’t get to form secret task forces and jump onto unexploded grenades while retrieving stolen Nazi art, but the core legal issues are very real. During WWII as part of the Nazi regime mass amounts of books, art works and cultural icons were stolen and destroyed, particularly from Jewish families. If a privately held work from Picasso shows up at an auction house being sold by a granddaughter left the work in a will, and it is then found to have been purchased (perhaps unwittingly) as a stolen item from a Jewish family, to whom does it rightfully belong? Should the piece be sold with profits for the granddaughter? Should the piece be returned to the original pre-WWII owner? If they are deceased then should their relatives receive the coveted work from Pablo?
Goebbels views the Degenerate Art exhibition, 1937 German Federal Archive, Wikipedia
The second example I use to explain art law is actually one I stole myself from Dr Emma Waring, the senior lecturer in charge of the LLM Art Law at University of York. Imagine living in a funky London flat. Surrounded by culture and creativity. The flat is a bit rundown, and the rent is insane, but you get to be at the centre of cutting edge innovation in the art scene. One morning you wake up to find Banksy himself has created one of his trademark graffiti on the side of your flat! The press is drawn and your flatmates decide to have a party the next night but at some point someone ruins the fun and takes a cheap can of spray paint and scrolls a curse word across the art. Should the added explicative be removed? Whose responsibility is it to clean it off? You? Your landlord? The local council? Banksy himself? And what happens if the landlord wants to sell the house? Who technically owns the work? Can he remove the wall and sell it?
A new suspected Bansky vandalised, 15 October 2020. Image: Nottingham Post WS
Beyond these examples Art Law can include copyright matters, issues relating to intellectual property, contracts, tax law and more. Thinking of big auction houses like Sotheby’s the art market as a whole is worth billions and yet there just aren’t the same kind of rules and regulations that one might find in trading stocks or investment banking. While there are organisations like UNESCO and protections in domestic law attempting to legislate around art and cultural property (think listed buildings) the reality is that many items of cultural value slip through the cracks. One can imagine that travelling through airport security with a suitcase full of gold bars would raise suspicions but the Mona Lisa would fit easily into carry-on. This is all even before considering the legal status of ephemeral art.
The Theft of the Mona Lisa (1931)
For anyone wanting to explore Art Law further I would recommend the Art Law Podcast, the presenters are US based so not all statutes apply but they often have great guest speakers. Closer to home Boodle Hatfield, a leading UK law firm in Art Law, have their own blog: Art Law and More, and the email updates are a great quick read to keep up with current events. Also, keep an eye out for Part 2 coming in my series as I delve deeper into what Art Law means and why it matters. Subscribe to the Norman Rea Gallery newsletter or follow us on social media.