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.
Dire Straits – outside the gallery
No lies he wouldn’t compromise No junk no bits of string And all the lies we subsidise That just don’t mean a thing I’ve got to say he passed away in obscurity And now…
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…
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…
Estates
Three apparently unlinked events were reported in the media during the past month. On closer examination they reveal an interesting common thread: the death on March 4, 2003, of Francis Bacon’s sole beneficiary; recent reports from Romania of further…
Public Exhibition Payments
Recently there has been increasing interest in the question of payments to artists whose work is exhibited in public. Any scheme devised would necessarily have legal implications; for this reason, and as a contribution to a wider…
Life After Art School
Art school education was first publicly funded in the UK during the reign of King Charles 1 in the 17th century, and developed in the 18th century through the establishment of academies of art supported by…
Censorship
Time, place, social values and mores are the themes of these pieces, as they explore specific incidents where artworks have been the subject of threatened or actual 'censorship' These works, and/or their authors or curators were subjected to legal…
New Labour Arts Policies
This issue will be the last before the forthcoming General Election and so, as we have done over the past 20 years, we will try to explore the likely policies of the party that looks most…
Constitutions
A constitution is simply a document laying out and explaining the governing rules and aims of an organisation. It also explains the form of the organisation and the limts of its power. This is a list of the most…
Between Thought and an Expression
Two different copyright queries have been received, the responses to which should prove interesting and informative. “I was recently commissioned to produce a set of line drawings for a company who wanted to reproduce and…
Dealing in Fakes
Since the criminal prosecution of the late and celebrated Tom Keating in the 80s, the UK has not experienced serious allegations of sales of forged or counterfeit artworks although there was in recent years an allegation made…
What issues should I be aware of if I wish to use photographs in collage / painting?
Where photographic images are used merely as a starting point, and you do not intend that the final image closely resemble the essential…
The Boyle Family
Mark Boyle interviewed by Henry Lydiate Henry Lydiate’s Artlaw Column appeared in the first issue of Art Monthly when he first met Mark Boyle and his family. To celebrate the 10th anniversary of Artlaw and the opening…
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…
How do I get my gallery / dealer to return unsold works?
You will be in a more difficult situation if the relationship between you and your dealer / gallery has broken down, and if you do not have a…
Copying by Universities
The new year ushered in several important judicial decisions dealing with artlaw matters, including the Bacon Estate; the Sotheby’s and Christie’s so called ‘price fixing’ case; payments to artists of royalty fees by UK Universities; and Gilbert…