Cady Noland Said a Collector Restored Her Log Cabin Sculpture Beyond Recognition. A Judge Has Thrown Out Her Lawsuit—for the Third Time

The third time does not appear to be the charm for Cady Noland.
The elusive and sought-after artist has proven unsuccessful in a
lawsuit—her third such attempt—arguing that a German dealer, a
conservator, and an art advisor created an unauthorized copy of her
work.

The long-running case raised questions about what makes a work
of art unique, what a collector is or isn’t allowed to do with art
he owns, and at what point conservation becomes tantamount to
creating an entirely new object. The latest ruling, filed in
federal court in the Southern District of New York on June 1,
failed to address some of these thorny questions, but did determine
that the refurbishment of Noland’s work Log Cabin did
not violate her rights as an artist or infringe on her
copyright.

Noland’s lawyer, Andrew Epstein, told Artnet News that the
court erred in its decision and that his client is pondering yet
another appeal.

The dispute over the work stretches back to 1995,
when Log Cabin‘s owner, collector
Wilhelm Schürmann, loaned the work to a museum in Aachen,
Germany. After several years on display outdoors, the wood began to
rot. Conservators replaced the original components with new logs
sourced from the same Montana manufacturer that Noland used for the
original.

Schürmann later worked with several galleries and private
dealers to sell the work to Ohio art collector Scott Mueller
for $1.4 million. The sales contract, however, included 12-month
buy-back option should Noland, known for her controlling
nature, disavow the work—which was exactly what
happened after she learned of the work’s conservation.

A lawsuit brought by Mueller over the refund was dismissed by a judge in
December 2016. But Noland filed her own
suit in July 2017. Subsequent legal battles devolved into
a dispute over where the artist had the right to sue (the US or
Germany), and therefore which laws and rights apply to her.

Judge Oetken ruled that Noland’s rights were not violated under
the Visual Artists Rights Act or the US copyright act because the
restoration took place in Germany, not America. The judge was not
convinced by Noland’s argument that the fact that the wooden
replacement components were purchased from a Montana manufacturer
should mean that US law applies because the purchase of the wood
“is not independently an act of infringement.”

Oetken also noted that the failure of Noland’s argument was
compromised not only by location, but also by timing. The creation
of the original Log Cabin façade predates 1990, when VARA
went into effect, so the original work does not qualify for the
statute’s protection, he wrote.

In a statement, Noland’s lawyer contended that the court failed
to consider the fact that photographs of the altered work were
distributed and used to facilitate its sale in the United States.
“While the United States cannot enforce violations of German laws
in the U.S., the distribution of photographs of the unauthorized
copy of Log Cabin Façade (which was illegally fabricated
in Germany) violates the United States Copyright Act,” Epstein
said.

“The opinion is as interesting for what
it doesn’t say as what it does say,”
attorney Megan Noh, who represented most of the defendants, told
Artnet News. “The notion that conservation can be
‘prejudicial,’ as asserted by Noland, to a living artist’s honor
simply by virtue of having been undertaken without his/her
permission is important and provocative in the
context of the current art market. Many conservators do, as part of
their practice, consult with living artists about planned
conservation, but I am unaware of any case precedent establishing
that failure to do so is, alone, ‘grossly negligent’…or otherwise
actionable.”

In other words, it remains unproven if you can successfully sue
a collector or conservator for conserving your work without your
permission. And in Noland’s case, her bid to make the case appears
to, at least for now, have come to an end.

The post Cady Noland Said a Collector Restored Her Log Cabin
Sculpture Beyond Recognition. A Judge Has Thrown Out Her
Lawsuit—for the Third Time appeared first on artnet
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