Kansas City Art Law Attorneys

Art law encompasses all of the legal matters that may be involved in the purchase, ownership and sale of fine art of all types. Attorney Steven J. Braun advises and assists clients, primarily private collectors but also dealers and artists, on a wide variety of matters and issues. These include:

• Negotiating the purchase and sale of works of art;
• Serving as an escrow agent for sale proceeds;
• Drafting and reviewing contracts, bills of sale, and other legal documents;
• Interpreting and evaluating the terms of auction house contracts and dealer contracts and warranties; and,
• Negotiating and litigating disputes over breaches of warranties, title, authenticity, and provenance.

Seeking a lawyer's advice can facilitate the exchange of information, improve the potential for closing deals, and minimize the risks associated with buying and selling fine art. For example, parties may be willing to allow attorneys to exchange and confirm information that they would not otherwise be willing to divulge prior to the actual conclusion of a sale (or even after the sale). Such information could include the identity of an owner, the authority of a broker to act on behalf of an owner and deliver the work, the location of a work of art, or financial ability of a potential buyer to complete the sale. A lawyer with experience in art transactions will be sensitive to facts indicating that a party claiming to own a work or wishing to buy a piece may actually be a broker for a third party.

A lawyer can also advise a client concerning the risks that a work may not be authentic or may be stolen or looted and at risk of being claimed by a third party or foreign country. For example, authenticity may not be an issue when buying a well known work by a living artist, but can be an issue that should be covered by express warranties when buying an older work by an artist who did not always sign their pieces or who were imitated by other artists while they were alive. With some 20^th century European art, provenance can be a significant issue. Surprisingly, works of art continue to surface which were looted by the Nazis or obtained by the Nazis through forced sales from Jewish owners and dealers. In collecting Pre-Columbian art in Mexico and South America it is important to know when a work was discovered, and whether the country of origin has statutes establishing their ownership of all Pre-Columbian pieces excavated after a certain date. Certain North American Indian artifacts may never be sold or owned by individuals, some may be owned by only Native Americans.

We are one of the few law firms in the Kansas City area with a focus on art law. We have handled the sale of important works of art in all price ranges both locally and nationally.

Your art law attorney at Krigel & Krigel, P.C.

Attorney Steven J. Braun was admitted to the practice of law in 1987 and has more than nine years of experience in the specific area of art law. Mr. Braun speaks to private collectors and other groups about art law.

For more information, CONTACT the lawyers at Krigel & Krigel, P.C., in Kansas City, Missouri.

Braun, Steven J.