AR343-5-SP-CO:
Art, the Law and the Market
2023/24
Philosophical, Historical and Interdisciplinary Studies (School of)
Colchester Campus
Spring
Undergraduate: Level 5
Current
Monday 15 January 2024
Friday 22 March 2024
15
06 October 2023
Requisites for this module
(none)
(none)
(none)
(none)
(none)
This module explores art`s relationship with the law and the market, focusing on how issues such as property rights, valuation, market transparency, and digitisation have shaped and continue to reshape the field of art across different media.
The aims of this module are:
- To introduce key issues that have shaped art's relationship to law and the market.
- To nuance student understanding of the social and political forces that have led to changes in art law and the art market.
- To introduce students to specialised debates in past and recent literature around art's intersection with law and the market.
- To heighten student awareness of different methods for analysing major legal and market-related issues that drive the production, circulation and reception of art.
- To stimulate students to develop skills in written communication through written and oral communication.
By the end of this module, students will be expected to be able to:
- A greater appreciation of how market forces and legal issues have shaped the production, circulation and reception of art.
- A heightened awareness of how technological change, national contexts and ideology have shaped art law and the art market.
- Insight into the different ways social and political forces have impacted art law and the art market.
- The capacity to synthesise, historicise, and critically analyse recent legal and market-related developments in the art world.
- The ability to demonstrate all of these competences through verbal expression.
The module has three overarching objectives. First, it seeks to provide a broad historical overview of art`s intersection with the law and the market, since only through such a historical understanding can students critically evaluate contemporary phenomena. Second, we will address the aesthetic and ethical implications of art's intersection with the law and the market: for example, through artists` intentional appropriation of copyrighted imagery, or through cases of restitution involving plundered artefacts or artworks. Third, the module examines legal and market-related issues that have dramatically transformed different art forms since the 1970s, such as the rise of the Internet and the globalization of financial markets.
Topics will include
- The Emergence of the Modern Art Market.
- Art Crime and Law Enforcement.
- The Elgin Marbles and Issues of Cultural Property.
- The Illicit Traffic of Antiquities.
- From Pop to Appropriation Art.
- Pricing and Transparency in the Art Market Today.
- Artistic Critiques of the Market.
- Emerging Markets.
This module will be delivered via:
- One 2-hour combined lecture and seminar per week.
- An exam in the summer term.
There will also be a reading week, exact details to be confirmed.
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Marchi, N.D. and Miegroet, H.J.V. (1994) ‘Art, Value, and Market Practices in the Netherlands in the Seventeenth Century’,
The Art Bulletin, 76(3). Available at:
https://search-ebscohost-com.uniessexlib.idm.oclc.org/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aft&AN=505696891&site=ehost-live&authtype=sso&custid=s9814295.
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Miegroet, H.J.V., Cronheim, H. and Miyamoto, B. (2019) ‘International Dealer Networks and Triangular Art Trade between Paris, Amsterdam and London’, in S. Avery-Quash and C. Huemer (eds) London and the emergence of a European art market, 1780-1820. Los Angeles: The Getty Research Institute, pp. 51–63.
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McCauley, A. (2008) ‘“Merely mechanical”: on the origins of photographic copyright in France and Great Britain’,
Art History, 31(1), pp. 57–78. Available at:
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/action/ssostart?idp=https://idp0.essex.ac.uk/shibboleth&redirectUri=https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8365.2008.00583.x.
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Stokes, S. (2012b) ‘The Copyright System: Justification and History’, in
Art and copyright. 2nd ed. Oxford: Hart, pp. 11–30. Available at:
https://portal.igpublish.com/iglibrary/search/HARTB0000718.html.
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Cuno, J. (2008) ‘Introduction: The Crux of the Matter’, in
Who owns antiquity?: museums and the battle over our ancient heritage. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, pp. 1–20. Available at:
https://search-ebscohost-com.uniessexlib.idm.oclc.org/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=375305&site=ehost-live&authtype=sso&custid=s9814295&ebv=EB&ppid=pp_1.
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Merryman, J. (2009) Thinking about the Elgin Marbles: Critical Essays on Cultural Property, Art, and Law. 2nd ed. Alphen aan den Rijn: Kluwer Law International.
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Sandholtz, W. (2007) ‘Nazi Plunder: Strengthening the Rules’, in
Prohibiting plunder: how norms change. New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 127–166. Available at:
https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195337235.001.0001.
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Klasfeld, A. (2012)
Collector Says Gallery Lost Key to Minimal Art. Available at:
https://www.courthousenews.com/collector-says-gallery-lost-key-to-minimal-art/.
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Richardson, B. (2000) ‘Unexpected Directions: Sol LeWitt’s Wall Drawings’, in Sol LeWitt: a retrospective. San Francisco: San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, pp. 37–46.
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Lee, J. (2019) ‘Double Embodiments: Felix Gonzales Torres’s Certificates’, in Models of Integrity: Art and Law in Post-Sixties America. Oakland, pp. 191–226.
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Foster, H. and Krauss, R.E. (2011) ‘“1977” and “1980”’, in Art since 1900: Modernism, Antimodernism, Postmodernism. 2nd ed. London: Thames & Hudson.
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‘Instagram, an artist and the $100,000 selfies: appropriation in the digital age’ (18AD)
The Guardian [Preprint]. Available at:
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/jul/18/instagram-artist-richard-prince-selfies.
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Orley Ashenfelter (no date) ‘Anatomy of the Rise and Fall of A Price-fixing Conspiracy: Auctions at Sotheby’s and Christie's’,
Journal of Competition Law and Economics, 1(1), pp. 3–20. Available at:
https://heinonline.org/HOL/P?h=hein.journals/jrcolaec1&i=11.
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Secrets of the (High-End) Art Market | The Huffington Post (no date). Available at:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/daniel-grant/secrets-of-the-highend-ar_b_796356.html.
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Shapreau, C. (2002) ‘Art, Internet, and U.S. Copyright Law’, in Dear images: art, copyright and culture. London: Ridinghouse, pp. 142–159.
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Stokes, S. (2012a)
Art and copyright. 2nd ed. Oxford: Hart. Available at:
https://portal.igpublish.com/iglibrary/search/HARTB0000718.html?0.
The above list is indicative of the essential reading for the course.
The library makes provision for all reading list items, with digital provision where possible, and these resources are shared between students.
Further reading can be obtained from this module's
reading list.
Assessment items, weightings and deadlines
| Coursework / exam |
Description |
Deadline |
Coursework weighting |
| Coursework |
Quizzes TOTAL |
|
43% |
| Coursework |
Essay – 2000 words |
|
57% |
| Exam |
Main exam: In-Person, Open Book, 120 minutes during Summer (Main Period)
|
| Exam |
Reassessment Main exam: Remote, Open Book, 24hr during September (Reassessment Period)
|
Exam format definitions
- Remote, open book: Your exam will take place remotely via an online learning platform. You may refer to any physical or electronic materials during the exam.
- In-person, open book: Your exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may refer to any physical materials such as paper study notes or a textbook during the exam. Electronic devices may not be used in the exam.
- In-person, open book (restricted): The exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may refer only to specific physical materials such as a named textbook during the exam. Permitted materials will be specified by your department. Electronic devices may not be used in the exam.
- In-person, closed book: The exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may not refer to any physical materials or electronic devices during the exam. There may be times when a paper dictionary,
for example, may be permitted in an otherwise closed book exam. Any exceptions will be specified by your department.
Your department will provide further guidance before your exams.
Overall assessment
Reassessment
Module supervisor and teaching staff
Dr Michael Tymkiw, email: mtymkiw@essex.ac.uk.
Dr Michael Tymkiw
PHAIS General Office - 6.130; arugadmin@essex.ac.uk.
Yes
Yes
Yes
Dr Dominic Paterson
University of Glasgow
Senior Lecturer in History of Art / Curator of Contemporary Art
Available via Moodle
Of 18 hours, 18 (100%) hours available to students:
0 hours not recorded due to service coverage or fault;
0 hours not recorded due to opt-out by lecturer(s), module, or event type.
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