美国艺术鉴定课程essay：

Assignment Essay作业论文

艺术报纸诉讼的真实困境分析

Analysisof Authentic Difficulties Concerning the Lawsuit on The Art Newspaper

2016年10月13日，艺术报纸刊登的这起诉讼告诉我们一个故事，艺术收藏家阿什·埃德尔曼将他收藏的价值6万美元的艺术品委托给了杰弗里迪纳画廊。但这项工作在运往加莱的集装箱运输过程中受到了严重的损害，在此之前，埃德尔曼的保险公司Starnet承保了这项工作，但未包括在Diner的AXA保险中。修复这幅作品的唯一方法是通过这位72岁的艺术家和他位于罗马的Fondazione Calzolari进行修复，但这需要对作品进行认证。

The lawsuit published by The Art Newspaper on October 13, 2016 told us a story that Asher Edelman, the art collector, consigned his collection of arts worth $ 60,000 to the GeoffreyDiner Gallery. But the work suffered severe damage in the during the container transportation to Galley, and before that, the work as covered by Edelman’s insurance company, Starnet, but not covered by Diner’s AXA insurance. The only way to repair the work is to do so through the 72-year-old artist and his Rome-based Fondazione Calzolari, but this would require authenticating the work. 

For Asher Edelman, the art collector, he would face authentication risks. 

此外，对于像Asher Edelman这样的收藏家来说，当他们通过基金会提交艺术品认证时，他们认为这是真实的，可能被证实是赝品或复制品，这是收藏家的另一个认证风险和巨大损失。Firstly, as is stated in The Art Newspaper, it is not certain that Calzolari will deem it repairable, and or will not later disown it—as many artistshave with damaged works, because the Visual Artist Rights Actprotects artists‘right to say what is and isn’t their work in their lifetime,andan artist can prevent or disclaim the attribution of artworks that shebelieves to bedamaged or modified in a way that is prejudicial to his or her reputation. 

Besides, for collectors, like Asher Edelman, when they submitthe work of art for authentication through the foundation, which they believe is genuine, might be authenticated to be a fake or a replica, and this is another authentication risk and a great loss for the collector. 

However, there are ways for minimizing authentication risks, which may include: 

(1) Request for a certificateof authenticity by the seller;

Generally, as a matter of law, there can be no quibbling about whether a description of a work that included a statement that the work is by an artist was part of the “basis of the bargain.” Basically, if the art dealer supplied a writing to an art buyer with such a description, a warranty is created. 

(2) To follow the provenance of the work of art and check the authenticity; 

This is because of the Balthus case, which is set forth in Visual Artists Rights Act of 1990. The artist known as Balthus disclaimed authorship of a lovely painting entitled “Colette de Profil.” Despite Balthus's fervent denial of authorship, the Court held it to be authentic based on its provenance—it was sold by Balthus's former wife to Gertrude Stein--and a suspicion that Balthus might have been acting “from personal animus against his former wife.” 

Specifically, a buyer can include the following wordings into the contract:

(1) Creating an express warranty that the goods shall conform to the affirmation or promise. According to the Uniform Commercial Code (U.C.C), (a) Any affirmation of fact or promise made by the seller to the buyer which relates to the goods and becomes partof the basis of the bargain creates an express warranty that the goods shall conform to the affirmation or promise; (b) Any description of the goods which is made part of the basis of the bargain creates an express warranty that thegoods shall conform to the description; (c) Any sample or model which is made part of the basis of the bargain creates an express warranty that the whole ofthe goods shall conform to the sample or model.

(2) Request for a certificate of authenticity or any similar written instrument and an express warranty for the material facts stated as of the date of such sale or exchang.  In accordance with New York Arts and Cultural Affairs Law § 13.01, Whenever an art merchant, in selling or exchanging a work of fine art, furnishes to a buyer of such work who isnot an art merchant a certificate of authenticity or any similar written instrument it:(a) Shall be presumed to be part of the basis of the bargain; and; (b) Shall create an express warranty for the material facts stated as of the date of such sale or exchange

(3) In the event that the buyer purchases a work of fine art produces as a “multiple”, he or she shall request the seller to includecertain information including, by way of example, the name of the artist; whether the artist signed the work, the size of the edition, the number of the edition; when it was produced, whether it was produced posthumously, and like information. 

Finally, back to the lawsuit, I suppose Asher Edelman can take the following steps to avoid the situation that he finds himself in, before he purchased the painting. 

(1) To include provisions stating the authentication of the work if it should suffer damages and need restorations which he is not liable for, before purchasing this work; By doing so, Edelman will be able to prevent the risk of authenticating the work, after it suffers damages. 

(2) To add provisions regarding that the collector is free of liabilities for anything that may result from the authentication or repair process.