June 2008

Artists seek royalties for 70 years from grave

Frances Gibb, Legal Editor

For the family of the British abstract expressionist artist William Scott, the right to royalties could raise as much as £50,000 a year — a crucial boost to the Alzheimer’s work they support.

Robert Scott, the artist’s son, has set up the William Scott Foundation in London, which needs funds to house his late father’s archive, produce a catalogue raisonné of Scott’s works and mount a retrospective exhibition.

“We also spend a great deal of time authenticating paintings for auction houses and art galleries, art market professionals and individuals — and detecting fakes.” Crucially the foundation also sponsors two stem-cell research projects with the Alzheimer’s Society (Scott died of the disease) and donates all fees and reproduction rights to the society.

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