The Deaccession of Art Works from Museum Collections:

Program Description

This program will consider the legal issues raised by the recent moves of museums and other institutions to raise funds through the sale of art works in their collections. Recent controversies have included sales or contemplated sales by the Albright-Knox Museum in Buffalo, New York: Fisk University, Randolph College, and Thomas Jefferson University Medical College.

Each incident raises different legal and ethical issues including: whether the proceeds of sales can be used for endowment or operating funds; whether donor restrictions will be violated; when a court should permit a sale that may violate a donor’s restrictions; and what the legal and ethical governing principles are for museums that are embedded within a larger institution, such as a university.

Program Faculty

Ildiko Pogany DeAngelis has served as director of the Graduate Program in Museum Studies at George Washington University in Washington, DC since 1998. She teaches courses on the legal and ethical issues involved in the management of museum collections.  Professor DeAngelis practiced law with Steptoe & Johnson LLP from 1980-1985 and then served as attorney/advisor to the Smithsonian Institution until 1998. She specialized primarily on legal and ethical issues arising from the acquisition, use, deaccession, and disposal of museum collections. She has also served as faculty and steering committee member of the annual ALI-ABA Legal Issues of Museum Administration conference. Her recent publications include: “How Much Provenance is Enough? Post-Schultz Guidelines for Art Museum Acquisitions of Archaeological Materials” and “Ancient Art,” appearing in Art and Cultural Heritage: Law, Policy and Practice, edited by Barbara Hoffman, Cambridge University Press 2006.

Sharon M. Erwin has practiced in the areas of arts law, litigation, employment law, information technology, and alternative dispute resolution since 1981.  Her arts-related practice includes the representation of cultural nonprofits, including museums, foundations, theater and film organizations, as well as individual artists, film makers, musicians, and gallery owners.  She has been a course planner, author, and lecturer for the Pennsylvania Bar Institute and the Philadelphia Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts (PVLA) on a number of arts, trial-related, and employment law subjects.  Most recently, Ms. Erwin served as course planner for PVLA’s Cultural Heritage, Museum Ethics and the Law seminar and on the faculty of ALI-ABA’s Legal Issues for Museum Administrators.

Patty Gerstenblith is a professor of law at DePaul University and director of its program in Cultural Heritage Law. She is founding president of the Lawyers’ Committee for Cultural Heritage Preservation and served as a public representative on the President’s Cultural Property Advisory Committee in the U.S. Department of State, co-chair of the ABA’s International Cultural Property Committee, and editor-in-chief of the International Journal of Cultural Property. Her most recent articles include “Controlling the International Market in Antiquities: Reducing the Harm, Preserving the Past”, published in the Chicago Journal of International Law; “Collecting Antiquities in the International Market: Philosophy, Law and Heritage”, published in the 2007 Cultural Property Yearbook; and “From Bamiyan to Baghdad: Warfare and the Preservation of Cultural Heritage at the Beginning of the 21st Century”, published in the Georgetown Journal of International Law. She is the author of the books, Art, Cultural Heritage and the Law, and co-author of Iraq Beyond the Headlines: History, Archaeology and War.

C. Michael Norton is a member of Bone McAllester Norton in Nashville, Tennessee. He practices in the areas of corporate law, state and local taxation, securities, banks and banking, bond finance, and municipal law. He represents Fisk University in its attempt at deaccessioning several works of art that were donated to the University by Georgia O’Keefe.

CLE Credit*

1.5 hours of CLE credit in 60-minute states/1.8 hours of CLE credit in 50-minute states have been requested in states accrediting ABA teleconferences and live audio webcasts.*

NY-licensed attorneys: This non-transitional CLE program has been approved for experienced NY-licensed attorneys in accordance with the requirements of the New York State CLE Board for 1.5 total NY CLE credits.

The following states accept ABA teleconferences for mandatory CLE credit:
AL, AR, AZ, CA, CO, FL, GA, IA, ID, IL, KY, LA, ME, MN, MO, MS, MT, NC, ND, NH, NM, NV, NY, OK, OR, RI, SC, TN, TX, UT, VA, VT, WA, WI, WV, WY.

*States currently not accrediting ABA Teleconferences: DE, IN, PA, KS, OH