Train in art market law?

Appraising an artwork covers many aspects: authentication, assigning a value, but also legal appraisal of works. Like any trade, the art market also demands particular attention to the security of works and transactions, the main source of disputes for professionals.

Carrying out security appraisal work on works and transactions means, for the art market professional, constantly asking questions about the legal status of works, their conservation and insurance, the risks incurred in logistics related to handling or transport, the regularity of transactions and contracts with regard to general regulations and those specific to the art market, tax obligations, and of course the intellectual property rights of artists or their successors.

During their art market law training, IESA arts&culture students will first learn to understand the legal, regulatory, and tax system in force in France. On this basis, they will be able to add specific knowledge of art market, heritage, and creation law:

  • What is the status of an artwork (original, classified, listed, inalienable, etc.) and what are the consequences if it is put up for sale?
  • What are the obligations during a transaction, depending on the value of the work, for the seller, the buyer, and the intermediaries from a tax and regulatory standpoint?
  • What are the procedures if the work must leave the country or if it is imported, depending on the countries of origin or export?
  • What are artists' rights, how are they paid, and what types of contracts can be set up between a gallery owner and an artist?
  • What rules and obligations allow art market players to protect themselves against problems of forgeries, trafficking and receiving of stolen goods, and money laundering?
  • Or more generally, since in the art market the businesses are most often very small companies or independent professionals, what are the tax, social, contractual, and regulatory obligations for an art market professional?

Provenance, authentication, condition reports, guarantees on the movement of works, financing of transactions, prevention of trafficking and forgeries, money laundering, VAT calculations, artistic property law… all of these legal areas are the subject of courses and workshops that allow students to absorb the fundamentals of art market law and turn them into real competence, knowing how to ask the right questions and find the right answers from specialized lawyers when necessary.

Here are some of the professionals who come each year to teach students art market law:

  • Jacques Charpillon, former inspector general of the Ministry of Culture and Communication
  • Sara Byström, lawyer specializing in heritage and intellectual property law
  • Pascal Murgier, head of the department of artists and professions at the general directorate for artistic creation of the Ministry of Culture and Communication
  • Odile Broccardi de Ferrière, legal expert
  • Francine Notton, in charge of the 1% artistic scheme at OPPIC
  • Corine Chartrelle, deputy police commander to the head of the Central Office for the Fight against Trafficking in Cultural Property (OCBC)
  • Fabien Bouglé, wealth management consultant