The Bottom Line
If you're hoping to get a gallery to sell your paintings and intend to know what you're getting yourself in to, what your rights and responsibilities are, and to have a contract you understand, this book may well prove to be a good career investment.
Pros
- A detailed explanation of what selling your art by consignment through a USA gallery involves.
- Detailed analysis of a standard contract will help you know what to expect and what it all means.
- Gives state-by-state information on consignment laws, from Alaska to Wisconsin.
Cons
- Be sure to get the most recent edition (2008 not the 1981 or 1998 edition).
- This is a book aimed specifically at USA law, so don't expect info relevant to other countries.
Description
- Paperback book. ISBN 978-1-58115-645-4. Published by Allworth Press.
- Written by attorney Tad Crawford and Susan Mellon who was a director of the Artist/Craftsmen's Info Service of Washington DC
- The first two chapters explain what the consignment artist/gallery relationship involves, and the laws governing this.
- Chapter three is a standard art consignment agreement, analyzing and explaining each of the 18 sections.
- Chapter four looks at what legal recourse you have in the event of a dispute with a gallery (or them with you).
- Chapter five looks at state consignment acts, what these mean overall, and outlines specific laws in individual states.
- Chapter 6 is a state-by-state look at specific state art consignment laws.
- The appendix includes a sample standard agreement, inventory receipt sheet, and consignment sign.
Guide Review - The Artist Gallery Partnership, A Practical Guide to Consigning Art
The daydream of finding a gallery that wants to sell your paintings rarely wanders off into the practicalities and legalities of what this will entail. What can you expect, what should a contract say (should there even be a contract?), who's responsible for insuring your paintings, how do you get any money ... that's the type of question this book answers, and in a whole lot of detail.
Consignment selling is when you hand over your paintings to gallery which then tries to sell them, taking a commission. (Rather than you selling a painting outright to a gallery, which then sells it on again at a profit.) It's a business relationship that can get mixed up with relationship and creativity issues as friendships develop between gallery owners and painters.
Don't settle for a handshake deal, no matter how desperate you are for representation. Insist (nicely) on a contract if you're not offered one, and then spend some time ensuring you know what it means and that it's relevant to the state you're living in. Which is where this book will come in handy, at a price far less than the hourly rate of a contract lawyer. Even if you're not yet at a gallery relationship stage in your art career, the introduction and contract analysis are worth reading to educate yourself.
Be sure you buy the updated third edition, published in 2008, not an earlier edition. It'll likely be an issue only if you're buying from a second-hand book dealer, but check the copyright line on the imprint page or ISBN if you're not sure.
The detailed explanation of a standard consignment contract would be useful to artists outside the USA too when it comes to understanding possible contracts, or drafting your own contract, but the book's too expensive to buy new just for the first 50-odd pages.
