LECTURE

Harvard Business School Club of New York City
Collecting Art – What You Need To Know

Susan Duke Biederman, Esq. 

"Be a smart art collector – don’t make easily avoided errors and put your art investments or yourself at risk. Join us for a tour-de-force presentation by famed art law expert & co-author of the definitive legal text in the field, Susan Duke Biederman.

Speaking exclusively from the vantage point of the interests of the collector, Susan Duke Biederman will explore the players in the marketplaces of fine artworks and rare objects, how they interact in the ownership and trading of art, and what legal, business and financial pitfalls might be avoided.

Susan will discuss and provide guidance on authenticity and title, the advantages of private vs. public sales, the wisdom of foreign vs. domestic sales, and the use and worth of art advisors. She will also discuss the (sometimes startling) role of the artist, atelier, heirs and patron, the crucial role of the catalogue raisonne and experts, and whether dealers, galleries and auction houses can continue to play a relevant role in today’s art economy.

Of particular timely interest will be a discussion concerning the safeguarding of a collection, including security, insurance, warehousing and restoration, as well as the safeguarding of the collector, including international treaties, criminality and security.

The planning and execution of gifts and loans to museums, the issues relating to joint and partial ownership interests, and the key points of prenuptial, trust and testamentary documents, and their enforceability (particularly post-Barnes), will be addressed. And last but certainly not least, the tax man!

Taught largely by (regrettably true) anecdotes, this talk is appropriate for all who collect, be it as individual, corporate or not-for-profit; a question and answer session will follow."




Susan Duke Biederman, Esq.

Attorney at Susan Duke Biederman, Esq.

"Susan Duke Biederman, Esq. is a fine arts attorney and author, having been in private practice in New York for more than 40 years. Trained as a litigator, she has represented all facets of the fine arts industry, on a worldwide basis, on matters involving artists, their heirs and estates, private collectors, their heirs and estates, dealers, galleries and art advisors, auction houses, museums and curators, corporate collections and corporate creators, legislative, law enforcement and governmental agencies and bodies.

Ms. Duke Biederman is the co-author of the award-winning (Scribes Book Award, Best Work of Legal Scholarship, 1987) multi-volume treatise, Art Law: The Rights and Liabilities of Creators and Collectors, published by Little, Brown and Company. She has lectured and taught widely in the field. The founding chairman of the Art Law Committee for the New York State Bar Association, she has also served on the Board of Directors of Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts, as well as the Art Law Committee of the Bar Association of the City of New York.

Ms. Duke Biederman is a 1975 graduate of UCLA, Phi Beta Kappa and magna cum laude, with a joint degree in mathematics and French, and is a 1978 graduate of the Law School of the University of Chicago, where she earned her Doctor of Law degree."