WELCOME
We are pleased to welcome you to the first edition of The
Legal Canvas, a publication of the Art and Museum Law Group at
Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP.
The purpose of The Legal Canvas is to report
developments in the field of art law in a way that is user-friendly
and practical — whether you are a collector, an artist, a
museum trustee or employee, a gallerist, or an art adviser.
In this first newsletter, for example, we address two issues
that are facing museums and their trustees in the current economic
downturn. First, we suggest ways to deal with the legal constraints
on spending money when an institution's endowment funds are
"underwater." We also consider the ethical constraints on
selling art to raise operating funds and how those guidelines are
being tested in the current economy. Also of interest to museums
and other exempt organizations is a report on a change in New York
State's sales tax rules that eliminates certain advantages
these
