Inside the Increasingly Litigious World of High-Value Art Sales |
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Inside the Increasingly Litigious World of High-Value Art Sales
As the art market has grown more financially complex, collectors and dealers increasingly formalize transactions with lengthy legal agreements covering everything from warranties and provenance to shipping, titling and reselling.
Judd Grossman is a major player in the fine art world, someone many art dealers, auction houses and even museums have to contend with. But he isn’t a collector, museum director or an art advisor. Rather, he is a Manhattan lawyer, and many of his clients are high-end art collectors who turn to him when contemplating the purchase, sale or loan of a high-value artwork. Whatever these clients want to do with their art, they rely on Grossman or lawyers like him to legitimize the transaction, often with lengthy contracts.
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These sales contracts cover every conceivable contingency, clause after clause. Does the seller own the artwork free and clear, with the right to convey title? Who pays the sales tax? What happens if there is a change of attribution years after the sale? Does the buyer have the right to reproduce the image? Who is responsible for legal costs if there is a challenge to the artwork’s title? What is the price, and how will the artwork be paid for… in cash, in Bitcoin or over a period of time? When does the title pass to the buyer? Does the buyer, with a conservator, have the right to inspect the artwork before taking possession? Who pays for crating, shipping and insuring the work? Will the dealer guarantee not to disclose the name of the buyer and the price paid? What happens if that information goes public? Who pays the commission to the art advisor? There........