Prologue: The "Law", the Guardian Warrior Who Protects "Art"

[Court 1] The History of Fundamental Rights in Pictures

How Work Divides the World: The History of Labor Exploitation, Class, and Slavery That Have Parasitized Within Us
Memento Mori: Why Law Must Remember Death
Paintings that Judge War: Summoning the Laws of War and Conscientious Objection
ㆍThe principle of saying what needs to be said even if your mouth is crooked: When the protection of honor and freedom of expression collide
ㆍHow are your feathers?: A nude painting depicting tax resistance.
"Overcoming" means overcoming the gaze: Misunderstandings and prejudices about "disability" and "discrimination."
ㆍImplications of the Republic: Is Democracy Always Right?
ㆍJudge Paris's Love is Guilty: Dismissal, Avoidance, and Judicial Fairness

[Second Courtroom] Paintings that expose human hypocrisy

Alchemists Who Turn Art into Money: A Look at the Legal Issues Surrounding Art Auctions
ㆍThe Atelier of Hypocrisy: The Law of Fraud and Mistake in Forgery
How Punishment Became Violence: In Search of the Roots of the Principle of Legality
I Know What They Did in the Paintings: A History of Sexual Violence and Revenge in Art by Masters
Paintings Gone with the War: Ownership Disputes Surrounding Holocaust Art
The Cruel History of Art Values: Masterpieces That Became a Bleach for Bribery and Money Laundering
ㆍThe Birth of a Mother: Looking at the Controversy over Surrogacy and Anonymous Birth
Punish the excuse of alcohol: Reduced sentences for drunk driving, the legal contradictions surrounding alcohol
Portrait of a Lawyer: The Shadow of Hypocrisy Hidden by the Lawyer's Robe

[Third Court] How to Save Art, or How to Kill It

Wrong Then, Right Now?: The Line Between Art and Obscenity
Monopolizing Color: The Conflict Surrounding the Artist's Color and Industrial Property Rights
Between Monstrosity and Art: The Conflict Between the Public Interest of Public Art and Copyright
ㆍWhich writer gets the credit for the talent?: The past, present, and future of the right to pursue.
The British Museum Belongs to the World?: The Debate Surrounding the Return of Cultural Assets
Is the Louvre a Museum or an Art Gallery?: The Inside Story of the Legal Distinction Between Art Galleries and Museums
People who simulated art: Artists' freedom of association and modern and contemporary art movements
ㆍUnsettling Paintings, Peaceful Paintings: Different Perspectives of Masters on Scholarship

ㆍFind works / ㆍFind people / ㆍReferences

“Art is a lie that makes us realize the truth.” _Pablo Picasso
25 Fierce Controversies Intertwined with Art and Law that Uncover the Truth!

This book is largely divided into three chapters.
The first chapter, [Court 1], explores various stories related to the fundamental rights and principles guaranteed by the Constitution, such as human dignity and value, the right to pursue happiness, the right to life, the right to labor, freedom of expression, and judicial fairness, through the art works of masters.
In the second [Second Court], civil and criminal legal relationships were also linked to works of art.
Based on the legal mindset, the conflicts and absurdities caused by human hypocrisy were analyzed, including the collusion between Sotheby's and Christie's, the legal principles of fraud and error in forgery, the reduced sentence for drunk driving and the "free act in the cause" in criminal law, and the true face of famous paintings that glorify sexual violence.
The final chapter, [Third Court], delves into key topics in the field of art law, including moral rights, the right of resale, the boundary between art and obscenity, art trends born from the freedom of association of artists, and the return of cultural properties.


Summoning the history of fundamental rights in pictures

The book begins with "The Floor-Cutters" by French Impressionist painter Caillebotte.
In this picture, the author, a legal scholar, invokes the constitutional right to work, or labor rights.
Next, he explained the three labor rights of the right to organize, the right to collective action, and the right to collective bargaining in Italian painter Felizza's "The Fourth Estate," and then explained how the mass production system after the Industrial Revolution led to slavery through labor exploitation through Turner's painting.
In 'Memento Mori (Why Law Must Remember Death)', the legal interpretation and legislative alternatives for euthanasia were presented through Klimt's 'Life and Death'.
In the abstract painting “Nocturne in Black and Gold – Falling Rockets” by American artist Whistler, the conflict of legal interests between “protection of reputation” and “freedom of expression” is examined along with the rulings of British courts in the late 19th century.
In addition, we looked back at the implications of constitutional fundamental rights contained in the painting “Tragic Regrets” by Spanish painter Sorolla, by examining how “discrimination” against marginalized groups, including the disabled, has been perpetrated historically.


Paintings that expose human hypocrisy

As deception, unfairness, illegality, and violence become more sophisticated, the legal interpretations and research of legal scholars also evolve.
It cannot be helped that law and human affairs are an uncomfortable companion.
But if you look into the history of art, you will see that painters did not only paint beautiful things.
Gentileschi vividly depicted the scene of Judith beheading Holofernes, and the jurist who observed it coldly diagnosed the history of sexual violence and revenge.
The Trial of Cambyses, painted by the 15th-century Flemish painter David, vividly depicts the brutal execution of judge Sisamnes, who was tempted by bribery.
This leads directly to the legal interpretation of bribery by legal scholars.
Of course, the message David was trying to convey through his paintings is still valid today.
In addition, the collusion between Sotheby's and Christie's, the absurdity of the art world entangled in forgeries, the story of how astronomically priced masterpieces became a pretext for money laundering, and the dispute over ownership of Holocaust art that disappeared during World War II, all reveal the true face of hypocrisy and greed rampant in the art market, reinterpreted through the sharp eyes of a legal scholar.


A cultured encounter between law and art

In 1884, the painter Sargent was banished from the Paris art world after he painted Madame Gautreau's dress with one shoulder strap hanging down in his painting "Madame X", which was harshly criticized as vulgar and obscene.
In 1815, the Spanish national painter Goya was even tried by the Inquisition for his painting “The Naked Maja.”
However, “Maya Naked” also faced controversy over obscenity in a South Korean court in 1969.
A match manufacturer in Busan put a card with a copy of “Naked Maya” in matchboxes as a marketing tool, and as this became popular among men, matches sold like hotcakes.
Accordingly, the prosecution applied the “crime of manufacturing and selling pornography” under the Criminal Act and indicted, and the Supreme Court stated in its ruling that “Naked Maya” was an pornography.
The reason Manet's masterpiece, "Luncheon on the Grass," was rejected at the 1883 Salon was because of the nude woman in the painting, Victorine-Louise Meurant.
Coincidentally, the work that won first place at the Salon was Cabanel's The Birth of Venus.
The nude bodies of goddesses in mythology were considered art, but the naked bodies of ordinary women were considered obscene at the time.


Yet the debate about art and pornography continues into the 21st century.
An elementary school teacher in Florida, USA, has resigned after showing a photo of Michelangelo's nude David to sixth graders during an art history class.
Parents denounced the David statue as pornographic.
What is interesting is that this statue is erected in the Piazza della Signoria in front of the city hall of Florence, Italy.
This book contains 25 hotly contested issues related to art and law, ranging from the long-running "Naeronambul" scandal in the art world, to the fairness of exclusive color use, to the right of resale and moral rights of authors, to the return of cultural properties, along with over 100 illustrations of famous paintings.


Legal scholars may seem like archaic beings, confined to their labs and wrestling with thick legal texts, but in reality, they must delve deeper into every aspect of the human world than anyone else.
Just as painters capture the invisible side of the world on their canvases, legal scholars must study legal principles while taking into account the subtle reasoning and emotions that flow within human beings.
In that sense, the perspectives of painters and legal scholars on the world are similar.

- From the prologue