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.
Public Art and the Law
Architects’ collaboration with artists and craftworkers has been the subject of serious debate and some activity over the past five years. The ‘art and architecture’ movement in the U.K. started with the 1982 ICA Conference,…
Commissioning Contemporary Art
There is a real shortage of published material that authoritatively and comprehensively covers the complex and extensive challenges of commissioning new artworks: conceptual, cultural, ethical, managerial, financial and legal. A new book, Commissioning Contemporary Art: a handbook…
ArtlawTV
A series of short films exploring the main legal issues that artists face. Each film comprises an interview with an artist about their work, with an overview of the legal implications of their practice by Henry Lydiate, art legal…
Private Commissions and the Law, part 1
The thirteenth year of these columns starts with a re examination of one of the first and most fundamental areas of art practice, private commissions, because it has posed perennial problems, for artists…
Commissioning an Artist
Commissioning an artist to create a work is one of the earliest forms of art activity and one of the most obvious legal relationships an artist enters into: a commission agreement is a contract by which the…
Public Art Commissions: Part 1
In response to many readers’ requests for guidance in relation to public art commissions and the legal issues involved and arising, this piece explores key lessons learned from the experiences gained over many years by…
Who Owns Public Art Commissions?
Following publication in March and April of the two pieces exploring public art commissions (AM 234 and 235) readers’ letters raised interesting and challenging queries. A common thread was the question of ownership of commissioned…
Private Commissions and the Law, part 2
The formula for heaven’s very simple, Just follow the rules and you will see. And as life travels on, And things do go wrong, Just follow steps one, two and three. This month…
Commissions and the responsibilities they bring, part 2
The answer to last month's poser (your commissioned art work sited in a public place falls down and injures someone five years after installation; are you responsible?) is: yes. 'Don't bring me…
Dragon’s Dance
This is the tale of Dragon’s Dance. It is a sculpture by Liliane Lijn sited at the landscaped entrance to a new Marks & Spencer shopping centre at Culverhouse Cross, Cardiff in Wales. ‘Senor, Senor, I can see…
Commissions and the responsibilities they bring, part 1
You are an artist. A public body asks you to design an artwork for a public space or place. You are promised payment 'if it all works out'. You are flattered. How…
Art and Architecture
The art and architecture debate continues, with priority being given to the encouragement of collaboration and the desirability of obtaining large scale architectural commissions. The actual execution of this sort of work is less discussed, and could…
Public Art Commissions: Part 2
Last month’s column continues. Phase 2: Fabrication, fees and costs In this phase, the parties will be contemplating their having a successful design/model/maquette which will need to be fabricated; in which case, they will need…
Anticipating Future Uses of Work
A traditional assumption of many commissioners, owners and users of artworks is that artists should consider themselves lucky, even privileged, to have been paid for doing what they enjoy and therefore have few if any…