Greetings!

Today, Wednesday, November 1st, BCLB is hosting its first Art Talk as part of the BCLB Leadership Lunch Series! In collaboration with the Art Law Society we'll host Berkeley Law alum Andy Gass '08, Partner at Latham & Watkins in conversation with Professor Pamela Samuelson on hot topics in the art law world. Registration is highly recommended for those who wish to join us.

The Art, Law, and Finance Project was featured in the Fall 2023 edition of the Berkeley Law Transcript. Recent graduate Samantha Cox-Parra is shown discussing Warhol v. Goldsmith with Professor Peter Menell during the 2023 Symposium. We are busy getting ready for the 2024 Art, Law, and Finance Symposium and will announce the date in the next issue of Canvas. In the meantime, I encourage you to watch the video recordings of the 2023 Symposium and our promo teaser.

This month we highlight news on current market trends, money laundering in the art market, international cooperation to safeguard cultural heritage, risks to museums' reputations, freedom of expression, and more.

Delia Violante

Berkeley Center for Law and Business

Pep Ventosa - Mona Lisa, Louvre - 18 x 24 inches, 2016, limited edition archival pigment print.

Academic Corner

In her forthcoming article, Art After Warhol, UCLA Professor Xiyin Tang presents data from twenty extensive interviews with working contemporary artists, museum curators, and art critics. She challenges the common view that stricter copyright enforcement will have dire consequences in a world where appropriation of one kind or another is commonplace, and frequently the essence of “postmodern” art that relies on pastiche, repetition, and remix. She argues that the artistic community is not attuned to legal formulations intended to encourage artistic expression, but rather is developing its own framework based on moral and ethical concerns to determine when appropriation requires compensation. UCLA Law Review

In Artificial Authenticity, NYU Art Law Professor Amy Adler explores the concept of authenticity -- what is an original work and what is a copy -- explains why the concept itself is artificial. At the same time, authenticity has become central to determining value in the art market, reaching it’s apotheosis in the NFT, a device for creating “artificial scarcity in a medium where the very concept of an authentic original ‘makes no sense’”. NYU Law Review

Berkeley Law Students Corner

First year Berkeley Law student Eleanor Iris Gartstein argues there is mounting evidence that Russian forces have been systematically stealing art and cultural artifacts from Ukraine on a scale reminiscent of the looting during World War II. Read more>

Marcus Aurelius at the Center of a Lawsuit

The Cleveland Museum of Art is attempting to retain control of a headless statue allegedly looted from Turkey by revising their own prior research determining that it depicts Marcus Aurelius. The Art Newspaper

African Mask at the Center of a Legal Battle

A French legal case will determine whether a couple who sold an African mask to a dealer for a pittance are entitled to additional compensation after it was auctioned for more than $4 million. Artnet

Recovery of Lost Treasures

Mexico’s restitution campaign -- dubbed “My Heritage Is Not for Sale” -- has achieved some significant victories in recovering looted artifacts through careful investigation and aggressive legal tactics. The New York Times

International Cooperation to Safeguard Cultural Heritage

On August 30, the Antiquities Coalition and others convened an international roundtable of key government players to discuss ways to disrupt the illicit trade in looted antiquities. This culminated in a bilateral agreement between the US and Yemen on cultural property. Antiquities Coalition

Take the Money and Run

Jens Haaning has lost a lengthy battle with a Danish museum after submitting two blank canvases and taking off with the loaned cash that was meant to be displayed inside the artworks. Fortune

Report Alert: Current Market Trends for Fall 2023



As auction sales level off in 2023 from highs reached a year or so ago, the art market recalibrates with more conservative pricing, risk management and an unquenching demand for A+ works. Bank of America

Report Alert: Art and Economic Prosperity



Americans for the Arts has released its Arts and Economic Prosperity 6 Study, a comprehensive look at the economic and social impact of the nonprofit arts and culture industry in the United States. Americans for the Arts

Hezbollah Sanctions Case Highlights Frailties in the Art Market



The U.S. prosecution of a Lebanese art collector demonstrates how easily the US art market can be used to evade sanctions and launder money. The New York Times

Repatriation and Ethical Awakening

The American Museum of Natural History has acknowledged its ethical responsibility to repatriate it’s extensive collection of human remains, including those of 2,200 indigenous American individuals. Native News Online

The Sun is Setting on the British Museum

The large-scale theft of cultural objects from the British Museum by one of its employees has undermined its argument that it can better protect artifacts such as the Parthenon Marbles than their countries of origin. Hyperallergic

Middle East Conflict and Freedom of Speech at Artforum

The top editor of Artforum was dismissed after publishing an open letter in support of “Palestinian liberation” signed by about 8,000 members of the art community, including the editor himself, unleashing a barrage of complaints. The dismissal in turn generated an outpouring of support from magazine staff and the arts community. The New York Times

Law School is a Den of Snakes

An earthquake last year revealed a surprise beneath a law school in modern-day Mexico City: a giant, colorful snakehead from the Aztec Empire. Oh the irony! Live Science

AI-Generated Art Cannot Be Copyrighted

The award-winning artwork Théâtre D’opéra Spatial, created, in part, using the AI program Midjourney, is not eligible for copyright protection. The US Copyright Office refused artist Matthew Allen’s request because he refused to disclaim authorship for the AI-generated portion of the work. US Copyright Office

Digital Art After the Crypto Crash

With the irrational exuberance of the NFT market now past, serious digital artists continue to explore blockchain-based platforms, such as Feral File 2.0, as a way to display and distribute their works. ArtReview

Climate Activism and the Arts

A climate activist attempted to deface a work in the National Gallery of Canada, continuing a trend in which such protestors make a bid for attention by attacking works of art. The Art Newspaper

What OpenAI Really Wants

The young company sent shock waves around the world when it released ChatGPT. But that was just the start. The ultimate goal: Change everything. Yes. Everything. Wired

Meet the Artist: Pep Ventosa

Pep Ventosa works in the space between photography and painting, using photographs as raw material to create new visual experiences. “Mona Lisa, Louvre” is from his “Art’s Magnetic Field” series, inspired by our fascination with iconic artworks. His work is currently exhibiting at the de Young Museum (San Francisco), and is in the collections at the Crocker Art Museum (Sacramento) and the Museum of Photographic Arts (San Diego). Ventosa was chosen as one of the top 50 photographers in the prestigious Critical Mass competition, juried by 200 museum curators, gallerists and photography professionals from around the world. Born in Barcelona, he now lives in the Bay Area. Learn more>

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