Intellectual Property Law is concerned with providing legal protection to artistic works, inventions, and designs. The goal of this law is to offer an incentive for people to be reimbursed for their creative endeavour and insurance that they can benefit from their ideas and that their work will have legal protection from theft (HG Legal Resource, n.d.). There are four primary ways in which a business can protect its intellectual property assets: copyright, trademarks, patents and design rights (The UK Copyright Service, n.d.). This essay will focus only on one branch of Intellectual Property law, namely, copyright, which will be used to examine the impact copyright regulations have on the mission and activities of art museums in the United …show more content…
Art museums are more than locations that exhibit and house artworks. A museum also both produces and uses copyrighted works to teach the public about the cultural artefacts in their collection. The museum's staff creates gallery guides, catalogues, audio-visual materials, sells reproductions in their gift shops and more, which are all subject to copyright (Leaffer and Berkowitz, 1984). Additionally, the museums are always in the process of preserving and archiving their holdings, which has become easier with the currently available digital technology. Similarly, educating the public about their collection, researching, and disseminating this knowledge has become simpler with digital technology but at times is restricted by …show more content…
Generally, art pre-dating early 18th century is in the public domain because there was either no copyright or it has expired (Smith, 2013). When an artwork enters the public domain, anyone is free to use it in any way they please, whether it is to copy, reproduce or for commercial purposes. Crews argues that similarly to how the goal of copyright laws is to legally protect and encourage the author, the public domain is there to foster innovation by allowing the next generation of people to expand on previous works in ways the author may have disagreed with or did not anticipate (Crews, 2012). As a result, the use of public domain works is varied, it ranges from straight reproduction, such as during educational purposes, or adapted, such as for commercial reasons. However, despite many paintings having no copyright, museums tend to, nonetheless, invoke some legal restrictions, specifically using the reproductions on their website, which a few argue is to some extend unethical towards the audience (Petri, 2014). This notion will be discussed in more detail later in the
Merryman, John Henry. Thinking about the Elgin Marbles: Critical Essays on Cultural Property, Art, and Law. London: Kluwer Law International Ltd, 2000.
Many works of art can be considered artifacts that hold volumes of information regarding the culture of the people that created them and the historical context in which they lived.
...g digital museums already exists, because it would allow more people to discover works of art that are much in demand, without having to queue and be surrounded by people. The progresses in digital imagery are going to get even more faultless, but one should remember that it remains a copy, and that nothing is worth being transported by the emotion and the magic of contemplating the work of art itself.
The Getty was named after J. Paul Getty, who first started the museum in his house in 1954 which is now known as Getty Villa. The second location is the Getty Center that is located in Los Angeles was opened to the public on December 16, 1997. The Getty Villa was then closed for extensive renovations and then reopened to the public on January 28, 2006. The Getty Museum website says “The [permanent] collection of the J. Paul Getty Museum at the Getty center includes pre-20th-century European paintings, drawings, illuminated manuscripts, sculpture and decorative arts; 19th- and 20th-century American, European and Asian photographs; contemporary and modern sculpture; and Robert Irwin’s Central Garden, designed specifically for the Getty Center.
At first glance, Western society appears to have changed significantly since the nineteenth-century. Today, industrialized nations enjoy more efficient transportation, communication, medical care, and manufacturing than they did in the nineteenth-century. But have our core values changed? While the Western world has changed considerably, people's opinions of the core values and morality is well-preserved since the nineteenth-century. This assertion becomes apparent when one compares the standards by which Western society judges what is considered artwork. While today's definition and criteria of censorship in a Western art museum is unchanged since the nineteenth-century, the act of censorship has changed with museums and their role in society.
The River Severn, Alfred H. Vickers, Oil on Canvas, owned by they Amarillo Museum of Art given by Marilyn Seven and Ray Matney. The painting uses a luminism artistic style that is defined by “a 19th-century painting style emphasizing a unique clarity of light. . . . almost always landscapes or seascapes. . .” After reviewing Mr. Vickers’ other work, he is definitely a realist artist with many works that portray accurate size, color, and depictions of landscapes.
“Art Museums and the Ritual of Citizenship.” in Exhibiting Cultures. Eds. Ivan Karp and Steven Lavine. Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1991. Print.
For years on end, countries have been fighting with big museums from other countries for ancient artifacts that belong to the original countries. The argument of whether or not the museums should be able to keep them still remains. It is the right of the country to have their own artifacts. It is imperative for countries to be able showcase their historical artifacts, therefor museums should return them to their rightful owners.
After a recent lecture by Dr. Dyfri Williams, Research Keeper of Greek and Roman antiquities at the British Museum, several members of the audience stood up on behalf of Greece and expressed their outrage at the British Museum’s refusal to return the Parthenon Sculptures, or the Elgin Marbles, to the city of Athens. Dr. Williams answered their scathing interjections with a well-rehearsed summary of the issues key points and complexities of the issue, and it was clear he encountered such protests regularly. By now, even the casual student of history is at least aware of the debate surrounding the ownership of the Parthenon Sculptures. On the one hand, the British Museum appears to have legal ownership over the sculptures according to the various councils and summits that have hammered out the finer points of international art law in the last century. On the other hand, the Greeks maintain that the sculptures were sold out from under them by the occupying Ottoman Empire and should be returned to Greece as symbols of her national heritage. However, while the debate over the sculptures is far from resolution, the issue is indicative of a larger dilemma currently facing the art world; that is, what rights can a museum exercise over works in its possession? And in turn, what rights does a country have over works of art found on its soil?
The metropolitan museum is the largest art museum in the United States, and one of the largest in the world. Upon going to the museum I found myself wondering how I can choose three artifacts out of nearly a million different relics. After spending countless hours roaming the three story museum and looking at the vast amount of artifacts I found myself overwhelmed with inspiration to write this analysis. The only dilemma was how one can narrow down the selection to three relics out of hundreds of thousands. After sometime I picked the three relics that I found interesting, spiritual, and showed a significance in modern and ancient history. The three relicts I will discuss in this essay are the following; Family Tree, Emperor’s Twelve-Symbol Robe, and lastly Mans Shirt, these three artifacts show in my opinion how god, the spirit and the universe all reflect upon the individual wearing the clothing/stories painted upon the person.
... people that protect the artwork that cannot be replaced. “An art thief robbed the Dutch museum of arts so easily he filed to sue the museum for it being so easy to rob.”(Art thief threatens to sue) That should never happen to any museum that the very thief who robbed them sues them.
Throughout time, artists have yearned to make a living off of the work that they create. Artists have been both instigators and creators of many social and political ideas, sharing their thoughts and opinions through their work. Just like America strives to make itself known as a relatively new and independent country, new artists struggle to make themselves stand out among the older and more well-known artists. The delicate environment that maintains their source of ideas and creativity is at risk of being overcome by the business of art. In the controversy brewing over creativity in modern times, artists are going to have to select a side, and the structure of the artistic world as a whole rides on their choice. Some connoisseurs of art believe that artists should not be paid for their work, because it will affect the quality in a negative way. They believe that it will be rushed, and done in vain, to try and pay its creator’s next bill. On the other hand, though, how are artists supposed to support themselves and their work? No artist would willingly work a second job if they could turn a profit from their personal creative outlet. The value of art, as well, should be decided by the quality of the art, and not be chosen on the identity of the artist or the reputation of a middleman. Overall, it would be healthy for society as a whole to be more conscious about defining the separation of art and business.
Youngs, I. (2011). Museums enjoy 10 years of freedom. Available: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-15927593. Last accessed 4th Nov 2013.
The subject of art conservation and restoration has long been debated in the art world. Experts and historians have never agreed that all art must be salvaged at any cost. This paper will examine what art conservation and restoration is, what is involved in these endeavors, and what has been done over the centuries to many of history’s cherished art pieces.
A museum is “a building in which objects of historical, scientific, artistic, or cultural interest are stored and exhibited.” (dictionary.com). This is the literal definition of a museum as well as my view of them coming into my first semester of college. I believed they were boring, outdated places where historical items were displayed. As I moved through the semester, my professor helped me gain a new perspective of these remarkable museums; one of respect and astonishment. Museums are meant to aid in learning and safeguarding of things that should never be forgotten. Of the many great places I visited this semester that adjusted my feelings towards museums, the ones that had the greatest impact were The National Museum of Natural History, The Newseum, The National Gallery of Art, and The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. These places are there to remind the general public about things that should never be forgotten; they preserve the history and beauty of the world.