Art Law & Transactions

Art Law & Transactions presents art law along a transactional timeline of acquisition, ownership, and disposition. Issues are framed within an art market orientation to immediately challenge students to think like lawyers. The transactional focus reveals the uneven development of art law as works of art alternate between ordinary commercial status and exceptional status.

The chapters on Acquisition explore the three major acquisition venues (from an artist, a dealer, or at auction) and the core legal issues of authenticity and title. The chapters on Ownership begin with crossing borders, followed by moral rights, and art loans. Disposition concludes the transactional timeline with sales and exchanges (echoing acquisition), gratuitous dispositions (to family, friends, and charities), and valuation. Historic and contemporary vignettes from the domestic and international art world are sprinkled throughout the book to engage the reader and to underscore art law's roots and global impact.

In addition to traditional and current art law cases, the transactional format uniquely incorporates student drafting exercises. For example, the first Chapter, "Acquisition from an Artist," includes two commission agreements—one by an artist, the other by a lawyer. Students can readily see what each party values and use that to fashion an agreement for Mr. Smith, the hypothetical client. Mr. Smith appears regularly throughout the book: buying through a dealer, importing from abroad, lending to a museum, acting as an estate fiduciary, and bequeathing art in his will. The exercises are optional and could be used as team projects or negotiation exercises. Statutory materials, international treaties, and conventions are provided on a CD.