Valentine Settles Royalty Dispute for Over $150k
According to this article, art collector Dean Valentine has settled with and will pay artist Mark Grotjahn 5% of his proceeds for selling his artwork ($150,000 on the total sales of $3 million), plus some attorneys fees, in accordance with the California “resale royalty” law.
In 1976, California became the only state in the United States to offer artists royalties on work sold for over $1,000, so long as the artist resides or the transaction happens in California.
Few artists actually acted upon the law in the past three decades, but that is now changing with artists including Chuck Close, Laddie John Dill and the estate of the sculptor Robert Graham suing auction houses for the unpaid amounts.
[This article was drafted with the assistance of Nicole Dornbusch].
