Review of ‘Law, Ethics, and the Visual Arts, 2d ed,’ by J. H. Merryman and A. Elsen, and ‘Art Law: Rights and Liabilities of Creators and Collectors,’ by F. Feldman, S. Weil, and S. Duke-Biederman
10 Pages Posted: 18 Feb 2020
Date Written: 1988
Abstract
In Law, Ethics, and the Visual Arts, Albert E. Elsen, a distinguished Rodin scholar and Walter A. Haas Professor of Art History at Stanford University, and John Henry Merryman, Sweitzer Professor of Law, Stanford Law School, examine the ethical, public policy, and legal issues relevant to the visual arts. This work offers a broad survey of the field ranging from legal and ethical issues relating to plunder, destruction, and reparation of art; to the illicit international art trade; and to the artist; the collector; and the museum. Their focus ranges from abstract questions: What is art and why do we care about it, to more mundane concerns such as the toxicity of art materials and artists' living and working space.
Art Law: Rights and Liabilities of Creators and Collectors is not so broad a work. It does not cover the international market of art works, save as it relates to issues of rights of third parties, questions of adverse possession, and statutes of limitation. Nor does it deal with museums or trustees except for the question of bailments (chapter twelve) and loans or immunity of art works on display from seizure (chapter eleven).31 What it lacks in breadth, it surely makes up in depth of coverage. This work is for either the lawyer who is faced with an art law problem for the first time, or the practitioner knowledgeable in the field. The cases are all there, and they are interspersed with relevant law review articles on the subject. The authors' comments on the cases and the issues are always sagacious and helpful, sometimes leading one to wonder whether the case discussed needed to be included.
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