After trying in vain to obtain the seizure of Matisse's masterpiece titled «The Dance» after the closing on June 11th 2000 of an exhibition of works from the St Petersburg Hermitage museum in Rome, the heirs of Shtshukin, a famous Russian collector, have decided to sue those of Matisse in order to stake a claim on copyrights for works bought by their ancestor before 1910. It was on April 9th 1910 that a new law was adopted in France granting painters and their heirs the privilege of copyrights on their works. Before that date copyrights belonged to collectors for any work they were acquiring.
Copyrights in France last during 70 years after the death of an artist and the heirs of Shtshukin now hope they will get a share of the copyright cake as many paintings from his collection are being reproduced in art books and for other purposes.
Such copyright asset would even appear more advantageous regarding bronzes since the heir of an owner of a bronze acquired before 1910 might have the right to produce new casts that could be sold at advantageous prices. Recently, the descendant of a collector who had bought Camille Claudel's «The Wave» bronze sculpture before 1910 tried to sue the heirs of the artist in an attempt to reproduce that piece but lost his court case.
Several famous works by Matisse were sold before 1910 to Shtshukin, whose collection was seized by Soviet authorities in 1918. Still, such confiscation is still being regarded as illegal according to international laws. When the Russian exhibition of modern paintings, including part of the Shtshukin collection, took place in Rome his heirs tried to obtain the seizure of «The Dance» but Russian museum officials promptly repatriated the works to Russia. The heirs of Shtshukin have also claimed copyrights for all the reproductions of that famous painting.
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