On Sat, 2 Mar 1996 14:34:20 -0500  Vinnie Nykiel wrote:
>Could anyone offer suggestions.  I have a friend taking graduate courses
 in
>Museum Administration and she is now selecting a topic for her third
course.
> She is interested in Legal Issues of Museum Administration  especially
in how
>they might apply to large international exhibits,  false claims and
liability.
> She doesn't have a computer so I have  volunteered to hel her out.
Also,
>does anyone have any information or  where I might look for information
on
>"Attribution", museums acquiring  works?  Thanks in advance.
_____________________________________

Try this one:

The problem concerns a (contemporary) painting, featured in a current
exhibition, in which the  artist incorporated (copied) a photograph of a
soldier.  The artist doesn't remember where he  found the photograph
(probably a newspaper clipping).  His painting, needless to say, has a
political slant.  The soldier's family objected to the artist's use of
the likeness of  their son, and requested that he remove the painting
from the exhibition; the artist then  brought the request to the
attention of the museum.

I've been approached (informally) by a lawyer familiar with the problem,
and asked what I  thought policy might be in a case like this. She asked
if, for example, removing the painting  would conflict with contractual
agreements between the artist and the museum to exhibit the  painting for
a certain amount of time.  Or, if the museum would view this as an
attempt to force  it to remove controversial material (we generally hold
out very strongly against this).

There are several interesting issues involved here:
1) copyright (violation of the photographer's  copyright),
2) privacy rights (the unauthorized use of the likeness of the soldier),
3) the museum's  response to demands for avoidance of or removal of
"controversial" material (for example,  demands by religious groups to
remove hyperrealistic nude sculpture), and
4) the devaluation of the  painting as an asset to the collection (if it
can't be exhibited).

Our decision (and that of the artist) was simple and immediate.  But I
would be interested in  hearing from anyone else who has had to deal with
a situation like this.
-------------------------------------
Name: amalyah keshet
visual resources / the israel museum, jerusalem
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
Date: 02/26/96
Time: 15:30:05

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Name: amalyah keshet
visual resources / the israel museum, jerusalem
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
Date: 03/07/96
Time: 15:55:38

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