Art, Cultural Heritage, and the Law: Cases and Materials

Book Synopsis: Art, Cultural Heritage, and the Law is one of the first and most comprehensive legal casebooks to address the rapidly emerging fields of art and cultural heritage law. It is also distinctive in its extensive use of an interdisciplinary approach, with accompanying images to illustrate the artworks discussed in the legal materials. The fourth edition continues the tradition of the earlier editions in focusing on the meaning of the art works and cultural objects that are at the heart of an increasing number of legal disputes.

This book addresses artists' rights (freedom of expression, copyright, and moral rights), the functioning of the art market (dealers and auction houses, warranties of quality and authenticity, transfer of title and recovery of stolen art works, and the role of museums), and cultural heritage (including the fate of art works and cultural objects in time of war; the international trade in art works and cultural objects; the historic, archaeological, and underwater heritage of the United States; and indigenous cultures, focusing on restitution of Native American cultural objects and human remains and the appropriation of indigenous culture). The inclusion of images of many of the art works and cultural objects at issue helps students to understand why these disputes occur and why the litigants feel so strongly about the outcomes.

The fourth edition retains the basic structure of the earlier editions while updating all relevant case law, legislation, and policies. It includes cutting-edge legal developments, such as Cariou v. Prince, the Berkshire Museum deaccessioning decision, Trustees of the Corcoran Gallery v. District of Columbia, the Knoedler Gallery cases, Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act cases (Williams v. National Gallery of Art, Philipp v. Federal Republic of Germany, Rubin v. Iran, and DeCsepel v. Hungary), Konowaloff v. Metropolitan Museum of Art, Okinawa Dugong v. Mattis, Navajo Nation v. Dep't of Interior, and Navajo Nation v. Urban Outfitters. Treatment of new legislation includes the Holocaust Era Art Recovery Act, the Foreign Cultural Exchange Jurisdictional Immunity Clarification Act, and the Protect and Preserve International Cultural Property Act. A new section examines the intersection of human rights and cultural heritage, while expanded sections address the use of civil forfeiture in art recovery cases, museum policies on acquisition of antiquities and the use of proceeds realized from the sale of art works from museum collections, and comparative analysis of market country implementation of the 1970 UNESCO Convention.