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No Break For The Broke

Figure Painting

by Callen Bair and Felix Salmon
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Aug 28 2007 12:00am EDT

No Break for the Broke

After we posted yesterday about a proposed federal law that would allow artists to make tax deductions on the fair-market value of works they donate to museums, we spoke to Ralph Lerner, a partner in the New York office of Sidley Austin LLP and an authority on art law. He literally wrote the book, Art Law: The Guide for Collectors, Investors, Dealers, and Artists, with Judith Bresler.

Lerner called the bill "pie in the sky," noting that its advocates have been pushing for the write-offs since they were repealed in 1969.

Lerner also pointed out that even if artists wanted to make more donations, museums wouldn't necessarily accept them. Typically, a museum's acquisitions committee reviews all proposed gifts, and if they don't fit into the collection for one reason or another, they're turned down. Which means that even if the bill passed, it would favor established — and presumably more flush — artists. The ones still trying to make it would, most likely, be cut out of the bounty.

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