Art & Cultural Property Group

UK Cracks Down on Auction Rings

Dealers and collectors may also form auction rings to try to inflate prices for an artist or a group of works by pushing bids up. “If dealers with a dominant position in a given market were found to manipulate prices, by agreement among them or otherwise, they could be held in breach of competition law,” says Pierre Valentin, an art law specialist at the firm Constantine Cannon. Read More

Burning Fake Chagall, Market Integrity Versus Ownership Rights - A Zero Sum Game

According to a London-based art lawyer, Pierre Valentin, however, Lang’s contract was rather opaque on this point, “[s]ome contracts are more explicit. I haven’t seen this contract, but the paragraph was read to me and it’s not at all explicit… It should be absolutely clear.” (The Destruction Of Fakes, Pierre Valentin). What is clear is that France is a staunch enforcer of artists’ rights and its courts have upheld decisions to destroy works deemed fakes in the past. Read More

British Art Collector Sends Painting to France to Determine Authenticity: French Committee Decides to Burn It

“Some contracts are more explicit. I haven’t seen this contract, but the paragraph was read to me and it’s not at all explicit,” said Valentin, a London-based lawyer at the firm Constantine Cannon. “That’s really naughty. It should be absolutely clear.” Read More

Fake or Fortune - or Going up in Flames?

Such destruction is becoming so common that lawyers now advise collectors against sending art to the Continent to be checked. “It is a long-established practice in France,” says Pierre Valentin, an art specialist at the law firm Constantine Cannon. “It is to protect the market for an artist and to prevent others from selling the painting as an original. But there is clearly a tension between that and the property rights of the person who has acquired a canvas, sometimes Read More

UK Buyer's 'Chagall' Nude May Be Burned As Fake

“Some contracts are more explicit. I haven’t seen this contract, but the paragraph was read to me and it’s not at all explicit,” said Valentin, a London-based lawyer at the firm Constantine Cannon. Read More

British Owner of 'Fake' Chagall Told it will be Destroyed

Two granddaughters of the Russian-French artist Marc Chagall are threatening to destroy a watercolour attributed to him after deciding it is a fake. Read More

The Man Whose 'Real Chagall' Could Now Be Burnt As a Fake

Pierre Valentin, a specialist art lawyer, told the programme’s makers that two works purportedly by Joan Miró had been similarly destroyed as fakes. Their owners lost a legal fight and he does not believe that Lang can save the painting, even though he and his family have become attached to the forgery. Read More

UK Law Change to Jeopardise Online Art Market

The UK’s online art market could be threatened by a change in legislation, The Art Newspaper reported today, 9 January. The new rules will allow bidders in web auctions to return items within 14 days of purchase. Read More

LA NOUVELLE REGULATION DU COMMERCE EN LIGNE INQUIÈTE LE MARCHÉ DE L’ART BRITANNIQUE

Pierre Valentin, avocat spécialisé dans le marché de l’art, associé du cabinet d’avocats Constantine Cannon LPP, souligne dans The Art Newspaper que cette disposition est incompatible avec le marché de l’art, ainsi que celui des antiquités. En effet, ’un des arguments défavorables à ce type d’initiative, jusqu’à présent, était qu’une telle possibilité pourrait encourager des achats irresponsables et, donc, déséquilibrer le marché. Read More

New Rules Threaten Online Art Market in The UK

“The right to cancel is compatible with the auction of art and antiques,” says the art lawyer Pierre Valentin, a partner at Constantine Cannon LLP. “The new regulations might work for the sale of trinkets on eBay, but not for high-end works of art.” Read More