Archive of Henry Lydiate‘s Artlaw column, published in Art Monthly since 1976. Have a legal question about your career? Check our Directory or send us a legal query.
Warholisation
In May 2023, a landmark court decision was published addressing the lawfulness of artists appropriating into their works other artists’ pre existing images. The Supreme Court of the United States decided the case, which was brought by the Andy…
Conservation Questions
Ethical practices of art conservation have become a renewed subject of debate following publication of a pre conservation image of Salvator Mundi, c1500, which was recently attributed to Leonardo da Vinci and subsequently sold for $450m at auction…
Fair Image Use Fees
Just as the industrial revolution radically transformed the world during the 18th and 19th centuries, the digital revolution is affecting most areas of life in the 21st century. Keeping pace with the exponential growth and global…
Orphan Works 2
On 29 October 2014 the Copyright and Rights in Performances (Licensing of Orphan Works) Regulations 2014 came into force to create a new UK scheme for licensing use of orphan works of all creative artists. Orphan artworks…
Appropriation Art and Fair Uses
‘Immature poets imitate; mature poets steal.’ So wrote TS Eliot in The Sacred Wood in 1920. His epigram was probably adapted from Igor Stravinsky’s comment that ‘a good composer does not imitate; he steals’, as…
Making Waives
A gallery which advertises a work for sale is allowed to make reproductions without the copyright owners’ permission. But it is not allowed to generally merchandise; catalogues or posters which are subsequently put on sale to the public…
Questions of Attribution
Richard Hamilton took part in a discussion, ‘The Legacy of Duchamp’, at Tate Britain in early May 2003. This pointed up many interesting reflections on contemporary visual practice, including the tracing of direct links between the works…
Appropriation of Media
In the endless search for new ideas and forms of expression, artists are increasingly embracing the use of contemporary technologies: the internet, computer hardware and software, film, video, digital cameras and sound recordings. Such new ways of…
New UK Legislation Part 1
Significant changes were made to UK copyright law on October 31, 2003, of which copyright owners, licensees, and other would be users of copyright works need to be aware. The Copyright and Related Rights Regulations…
Claim it From DACS
£300,000 is available to meet artists’ claims for unauthorised use of their copyright works by publishers and broadcasters in the UK. The money has been collected by the DACS, the Design and Artists Copyright Society, which…
Knockin’ on Hebborns Door
A new faker king has been crowned. Mama take this badge off of me I can’t use it any more. It’s gettin’ dark, too dark for me to see I feel like I’m knockin’ on heavens…
Is Your Copying Right?
An important and valuable one day seminar entitled ‘Copyright: Is Your Copying Right?’ was recently organised by the Institute of Art and Law, in association with the Art Newspaper and artlaw specialist solicitors Stephens Innocent. The…
Stamp of Approval
The Stamp Art and Postal History of Michael Thompson and Michael Hernandez de Luna was recently published in the US and makes fascinating reading. The authors are mail artists, who teamed up in 1994 to pursue their…
Appropriation
On March 5, 2005, in central London two separate events took place: each focused on artlaw and different ways of appropriating the law into the form and content of artists’ works. The first was jointly organised by the Interdisciplinary…
Advertising and marketing art: Copyright confusion
If a work of art is on display, for sale or simply on public viewing, can the gallery owner or administrator reproduce it, in a catalogue, on a postcard or on a flyer without…
In Defence of the Image
Does copyright law stifle creativity, or does it protect and encourage creativity by enforcing the legal and moral rights of original authors? ‘A good composer does not imitate, he steals.’ Igor Stravinsky T S Eliot…
New UK Legislation Part 2
Amended ‘permitted acts’: criticism, review, and news reporting Fair dealing with copyright works for the purposes of criticism or review have long been ‘permitted acts’, provided a sufficient acknowledgement of the copyright owner accompanied any…
Common Sources
Jack Vettriano’s oil painting, Reach Out and Touch (February/June), 2003, was sold last year for around £35,000. It depicts a rear view of the artist, bespectacled and wearing a white collared shirt and black trousers with forked braces,…