Advocaten B.V. He assists domestic and foreign businesses in the Netherlands with corporate and commercial matters including litigation. In addition to art law, he deals with business formation and reorganization, corporate governance, insolvency law, employment issues, real estate issues and all aspects of liability and contract law. Russell Advocaten has worked for many years with international art law issues, representing collectors, art dealers, museums and artists from all over the world. Reimersbeek 2 1082 AG Amsterdam The Netherlands +31 20 301 55 55 Phone +31 20 301 56 78 Fax reinier.russell@russell.nl www.russell.nl and private individuals have bought works of art or even built art collections in recent years. The most important aspect is undoubtedly the aesthetic pleasure: you can sit back and admire a painting, a photograph or a sculpture whenever you want. The fact that the art market has been less affected by the eco- nomic crisis than other sectors is surely a pleasant bonus. However, art collectors may be confronted with legal issues that can have an impact on the value of their investments. of doing business. Purchase and sale often take place at auctions and by consignment. Auction houses usually act as intermediaries between sellers and buyers. The same applies to art dealers selling art on consignment. A purchase agreement, however, is entered into between buyer and seller. So who is the seller? Is it the auctioneer or the art dealer the artwork was consigned there is no intermediary. That may not be completely insignificant as it can make a big difference for the buyer if he can turn to the auctioneer or art dealer he is familiar with, or if he has to contact an unknown seller in case any problems arise. A smart buyer should know who the actual seller is before making a purchase, and if he has actually empowered the intermediary he is dealing with to conclude the purchase. Major auction houses usually do not disclose the names of the seller to the purchaser. This might lead to problems if a purchaser has a claim against a seller. If an intermediary does not wish to disclose the seller's name, the intermedi- ary is presumed to be acting on his or her own behalf. In this case, a claim against the intermediary can be initiated. How- ever, the custom of not disclosing the name of the seller can lead to unpleasant surprises if a work of fine art later turns out to be stolen. Usually, the general terms and conditions of auction houses exclude any liability for this. However, applicable to professional art buyers and usually not to private individuals. Russell Advocaten has been active over the last decades in numerous cases defending the interests of both interna- tional auction houses as well as (private or professional) buyers and sellers from many countries. to conduct research concerning the provenance of the artwork and to gather information with regard to its market value. The lack of provenance or gaps in a work of art's provenance can be an indication for a forged or stolen work of art. The price can also indicate problems when works of art are offered for sale at a price below the market value, but well above the price for an imitation. Another shady situation is when an art dealer sells works of art that were consigned to him but does not forward the proceeds to the commissioner. A striking example of this is New York art dealer Lawrence Salander who embezzled tens of millions of dollars from his commissioners. Depending on the country in which the transaction takes place, the bona fide purchaser will be protected against claims by the original, duped owner. At the moment, we are defending such a bona fide purchaser of a work of art that may originally have been sold at an auction by Salander. |