715B.1 Definitions.

As used in this chapter:

1. “Artist” means the creator of a work of fine art or, in the case of multiples, the person who conceived or created the image which is contained in or which constitutes the master from which the individual print was made.

2. “Art merchant” means a person who is in the business of dealing, exclusively or nonexclusively, in works of fine art or multiples, or a person who by the person’s occupation claims or impliedly claims to have knowledge or skill peculiar to such works, or to whom such knowledge or skill may be attributed by the person’s employment of an agent or other intermediary who by occupation claims or impliedly claims to have such knowledge or skill. The term “art merchant” includes an auctioneer who sells such works at public auction, and except for multiples, includes persons not otherwise defined or treated as art merchants in this chapter who are consignors or principals of auctioneers.

3. “Author” or “authorship” refers to the creator of a work of fine art or multiple or to the period, culture, source, or origin, as the case may be, with which the creation of the work is identified in the description of the work.

4. “Counterfeit” means a work of fine art or multiple made, altered, or copied, with or without intent to deceive, in such a manner that it appears or is claimed to have an authorship which it does not in fact possess.

5. “Certificate of authenticity” means a written statement by an art merchant confirming, approving, or attesting to the authorship of a work of fine art or multiple, which is capable of being used to the advantage or disadvantage of some person.

6. “Fine art” means a painting, sculpture, drawing, work of graphic art, or print, but not multiples.

7. “Limited edition” means works of art produced from a master, all of which are the same image and bear numbers or other markings to denote a limited production to a stated maximum number of multiples, or which are otherwise held out as limited to a maximum number of multiples.

8. “Master” includes a printing plate, stone, block, screen, photographic negative, or other like material which contains an image used to produce visual art objects in multiples.

9. “Print” means a multiple produced by, but not limited to, such processes as engraving, etching, woodcutting, lithography, and serigraphy, a multiple produced or developed from a photographic negative, or a multiple produced or developed by any combination of such processes.

10. “Proof” means a multiple which is the same as, and which is produced from the same master as the multiples in a limited edition, but which, whether so designated or not, is set aside from and is in addition to the limited edition to which it relates.

11. “Signed” means autographed by the artist’s own hand, and not by mechanical means of reproduction, and if a multiple, after the multiple was produced, whether or not the master was signed.

12. “Visual art multiple” or “multiple” means a print, photograph, positive or negative, or similar art object produced in more than one copy and sold, offered for sale, or consigned in, into, or from this state for an amount in excess of one hundred dollars exclusive of any frame. The term includes a page or sheet taken from a book or magazine and offered for sale or sold as a visual art object, but excludes a book or magazine.

13. “Written instrument” means a written or printed agreement, bill of sale, invoice, certificate of authenticity, catalogue, or any other written or printed note, memorandum, or label describing the work of fine art or multiple which is to be sold, exchanged, or consigned by an art merchant.

87 Acts, ch 49, §1