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.
How much deposit would I expect to pay?
The landlord will usually ask for a rent deposit. This is a lump sum held by the landlord as security against your not paying future rent, or damage caused during your stay…
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…
Working as an artist: part I
On the evening of October 4 1979, in London, Eduardo Paolozzi (EP), his assistant Marlee Robinson (MR), John Hoyland (JH) and Brian Clarke (BC) met and recorded a discussion with lawyer Henry Lydiate (HL)…
First Year Report
On February 14, 2007, the UK Artists’ Resale Right (ARR) will have been operating for a full year, and this piece considers how well it has been implemented, principally in the UK. In September 2006 we reported…
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…
Mortality/Immortality
The Getty Conservation Institute recently organised a unique conference in Los Angeles, California, under the title ‘Mortality/Immortality: The Legacy of 20th Century Art’ to debate whether and, if so, how many contemporary works should be conserved. It was addressed…
What material (film, music, photography, literature etc) do I not need permission to use?
Copyright lasts for the whole life of the creator of the work plus 70 years, passing on their death to their estate or heirs, so a…
Three Short and Unrelated Matters
Three short and unrelated matters are tackled this month: Contractual Relationships, Public Lending Right and Solicitors’ Advertising. Paper Promises How many contracts have you made today? Bet you travelled on a bus, tube, train, bought…
VAT revisited
Since the Chancellor of the Exchequer doubled the VAT rate to fifteen percent, many artists, administrators and gallery proprietors have raised queries about the tax. Most problems have arisen through a lack of knowledge or from a misunderstanding…
Follow up follow up follow up, ’till the fields ring again and again…
Droit de suite, or the legal right for artists to have a share in the profits made from the resale of their work, exists in the majority…
Stealing Ideas
Random House UK, publisher of The Da Vinci Code, is being sued, at the time of writing, in London’s High Court by two of three authors of a book (also published by Random House UK) from 1982, The Holy Blood and…
Exhibition Agreements
Most public galleries and many private ones put on exhibitions solely for the purpose of making the work of an artist or group of artists available for public view – selling is only incidental; these are usually ‘one…
Conservation Renovation & Restoration
The three cases detailed in this article all raise the same question, one which has serious legal as well as professional practice implications for commissioners, owners, curators and conservators – as well as for living artists:…
Agency Deals
The lack of gallery premises or adequate showing space has not prevented many actual or would be dealers approaching artists offering agency deals, with a view to promoting and selling the artists' work and their reputations. In recent…
The Creative Act 2007
In April 1957 at the American Federation of Arts in Houston, Texas, Marcel Duchamp gave his now celebrated and all too brief talk ‘The Creative Act’: ‘Let us consider two important factors, the two poles of…
Galleries and exhibitions
For a good overview of the gallery / artist relationship and what each party should expect, watch our ArtlawTV film, an interview with Rene Gimpel of Gimpel Fils. How do I get my gallery / dealer to…
‘God help the Minister who meddles with Art’
Thus spoke the Liberal Prime Minister, Lord Melbourne. I wonder if he’s turning in his grave? Now we have a Minister for the Arts with a voice in the Cabinet, perhaps the…
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…