Category Archives: Art Market

NGC reneges on plan to sell Chagall

Posted on: April 27, 2018 by Alexander Herman

The National Gallery of Canada, as reported earlier, had plans to sell one of its two major works by Marc Chagall, La Tour Eiffel, at auction at Christies in New York on 15 May, with an estimate of $6 million to $ 9 million. This led to much uproar in the Canadian press and amongst the […]

National Gallery of Canada selling Chagall to buy… David

Posted on: April 18, 2018 by Alexander Herman

As reported earlier this month, the National Gallery of Canada has plans to sell a painting from its collection by artist Marc Chagall at Christie’s in New York on 15 May. The funds will be used to acquire a work by Jacques-Louis David, which was confirmed this week by the Gallery. The Chagall piece on […]

Don’t live in an ivory tower: here’s the latest on the UK ivory ban

Posted on: April 13, 2018 by Julia Rodrigues Casella Hommes

A few months ago we discussed here the restrictions on the ivory trade in the UK and the changes that were brewing following a wide-reaching public consultation issued by the British government. As a result, the ivory trade in the UK is virtually banned, apart from five stringently-regulated exceptions. Following over 70,000 responses, it is […]

Mossgreen Auction House: A Fall from Grace

Posted on: March 12, 2018 by Holly Woodhouse

The Australian Financial Review recently reported the collapse of Mossgreen Auction House, which has left the Australian art market reeling and industry insiders calling for reform.  The auction house is now being wound down after failed attempts to restructure the company. Founded in 2004 by British-born Paul Sumner, Mossgreen Auction House and Gallery quickly grew to […]

The Impact of Brexit on IP in the UK

Posted on: February 9, 2018 by Holly Woodhouse

The current intellectual property framework in the United Kingdom is underpinned by various international agreements, but is fundamentally shaped by EU Directives transposed into UK law.  With the Government yet to outline how transposed EU law will operate within the UK following the repeal of the European Communities Act 1972, the fate of the UK’s […]

Restrictions on Ivory Trade

Posted on: January 24, 2018 by Julia Rodrigues Casella Hommes

An article published last Saturday in The Times has raised some interesting points about the restrictions on the ivory trade and the challenges to proper enforcement of current regulations. This is a topic that has been touched upon previously by several other sources, including The Guardian and The Telegraph. At the core of the restrictions on […]

Banksy’s Paint Pot Angel, legal rights and the art market

Posted on: January 19, 2018 by Alexander Herman

An interesting story has made it out of Bristol, the home city (apparently) of the elusive street artist Banksy. Back in 2009, Banksy had collaborated with the Bristol Museum and Art Gallery on an exhibition called Banksy versus Bristol Museum. In true Banksy style, it featured a burnt-out ice cream van on the Museum’s front […]

Jeff Koons infringes French photographer’s copyright

Posted on: May 4, 2017 by Hélène Deslauriers

In March, Jeff Koons and the Pompidou Centre in Paris were held jointly liable for copyright infringement.  The work at issue was a porcelain sculpture of about 40 inches representing two naked children.  The sculpture was part of Koons’s ‘Banality’ series and was scheduled to be part of a Koons retrospective at the Pompidou Centre […]

One step closer for the Cultural Property (Armed Conflicts) Bill*

Posted on: February 23, 2017 by Emily Gould

*Update: On the day of going to press, we later discovered that, with impressive speed and efficiency, the Bill received Royal Assent, so look out for further posts on the Cultural Property (Armed Conflicts) Act 2017! As of this Monday (20 February) the UK is now one step closer to ratifying the 1954 Hague Convention […]

Successful launch of the Art, Business and Law LLM

Posted on: January 24, 2017 by Alexander Herman

Yesterday marked the launch of the Art, Business and Law LLM programme being offered in partnership between Queen Mary, University of London and the Institute of Art and Law. Classes won’t begin until September 2017, but this was the first public event held in preparation for the new programme. The launch included a seminar on the topic of Brexit, […]