“Accepting an artistic estate is a big responsibility”

There’s no easy answer to that because circumstances can be very different. The first thing you’d have to clarify is what exactly comprises the “artistic estate”. In our fictitious case, I’d venture that the following would be included in the artistic estate: the property and the (joint) copyrights to works and writings as well as miscellaneous archived documents, such as photos of the works and possibly a database. Then we’d have to ask the following questions: Does an inventory exist in which all the works are listed? Where are the works now which the testator had in their possession? Are they located, e.g. in a studio or a museum or in other collections? Are the provenances of the individual pieces clarified? What type of written documents belong to the artistic estate?

In the next step, I’d determine whether there are other persons who have rights to the whole estate or to individual works and items. That brings up an array of new questions like: Am I the sole legatee or are there other legatees who also have a say? Are there so-called “entitled beneficiaries” who are legally entitled to payment of their portion of the estate? What contractual agreements to the rights to the works and writings remain in effect after the artist’s death? These could include, for example, (permanent) loan agreements, licensing agreements etc. And then there’s the question of who owns the rights to the written documents, the remaining archived documents, the database etc. On top of that, I’d naturally have to submit an inheritance tax declaration.

Generally speaking, the same regulations apply to museums as to private persons. However, there are a number of specific matters which have to be considered. For example, museums are often non-profit organisations and/or public institutions. They operate in accordance with ICOM standards because they are legally obliged to maintain and expand their collections on behalf of the public. Museums must also take special care to clarify provenances. German museums with public archives are subject to archive-related regulations set by their respective federal states. If the museum did not inherit the corresponding copyrights, libraries, archives and commemorative institutions can exploit specific copyright restrictions so that they can continue using those works.

Museums should carefully consider whether it is more prudent to accept an inheritance or to turn it down. Accepting an artistic estate is a big responsibility and no one benefits from an estate “wasting away” unopened in a warehouse just because the museum has no capacity to process it. If the legal circumstances are unresolved, it can be difficult to work with it. Sometimes it’s better to cooperate with a private testamentary executor than to accept the entire estate. The best scenario is when a museum concludes an agreement with all the stakeholders – the artist, future legatees and the institution – which stipulates which part of the estate should be bequeathed to the museum following the artist’s death.

It would be best to have me there even before the inheritance is accepted, for example, at the handover or at the initial inspection. That way I could assess whether the institution can even assume ownership of the estate. Of course, the Bauhaus-Archiv has already accepted the inheritance. So now my job would be about clarifying the rights to the holdings. For an institution like the Bauhaus-Archiv, I think it make sense to accept estates like that of Jak R. Maier’s in their entirety. In so doing, the Bauhaus-Archiv has assumed responsibility for all the written assets, the photos and archival documents. We can probably learn a lot about Maier’s surroundings, other artists and works based on these archived documents. The exhibition Unpacking Jak R. Maier as a way of processing the acquired estate demonstrates productive engagement with the holdings which gets down to the nitty-gritty.

I have always been cut out to work at the interface of art, cultural assets and law because, in addition to studying law, I also earned a degree in art history and classical archaeology. I started at UNESCO in Paris in the international department, dealing with matters of cultural heritage, the preservation of cultural assets, education, science and research.

When I began working as an attorney in 2013, I was commissioned to draw up an artistic legacy, which involved preparing artistic business arrangements years in advance prior to the artist’s passing. That was a starting point for me. A case like that at such an early stage in one’s professional career always has a big impact. The issue of artistic estates is very multifaceted. It covers a broad spectrum of legal fields – estate and foundation law, non-profit law, art and copyright laws, commercial and corporate law, laws protecting cultural heritage, restitution law. As different as these cases may be, there are certain questions that always crop up in the art and cultural field, as well as the areas of education, research and science.

Yes, the two-semester degree programme takes place every year. It’s our fourth time teaching it, and the final examinations are coming up. In this programme, we talk about “works” management by artists and collectors while they’re still alive, or by the collecting institutions. But we also discuss the management of estates after the artists or collectors have passed away, or planning arrangements for the estate while they are alive. We consider the works or the estate as comprising artistic pieces, writings and other sources.

Regardless of whether these are managed during one’s lifetime or posthumously, we encounter similar questions. There are similar areas in which decisions have to be made, for example, on positioning and contextualising works, involving stakeholders and cooperation partners, conducting inventories and creating databases, producing a collection catalogue, a catalogue raisonné or collection overview, the choice of legal form, dealing with the art market and much more. I enjoy sharing my many years of experience in legal counselling in this field through this degree programme.

Does the Bauhaus-Archiv know who the photographer was? This piece reminds me of works by the French artist Henri Matisse, of his silhouettes, arranged here as a three-dimensional object.