{"id":560,"date":"2005-05-01T15:12:49","date_gmt":"2005-05-01T20:12:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.danziger.com\/articlesnews\/?p=22"},"modified":"2005-05-01T15:12:49","modified_gmt":"2005-05-01T20:12:49","slug":"dangerous-liaisons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/danziger.com\/?p=560","title":{"rendered":"Dangerous Liaisons"},"content":{"rendered":"

When it comes to politically sanctioned countries, the art trade walks a complicated line.<\/strong><\/p>\n

When a Miami dealer recently phoned to ask us about \u201ctrading with the enemy,\u201d we initially thought he meant buying art from a competing gallery.
\nIt turned out he was speaking literally. He was considering an exhibition of \u201cdissident art\u201d from \u201cembargoed countries\u201d (nations against which the U.S. has imposed sanctions) and wanted to avoid any legal snags. \u201cI\u2019m thinking of focusing on Cuba,\u201d the dealer explained, \u201cand I\u2019d like to commission paintings from artists currently living in Havana. What\u2019s my risk?\u201d
\n\u201cOnly a $1 million fine and ten years in prison,\u201d we replied cheerfully. That\u2019s the penalty for willfully violating the Trading with the Enemy Act and similar U.S. laws, which prohibit Americans from providing goods or services to persons in embargoed countries, such as Cuba, Iran and Sudan. These laws are intended to deprive \u201cdangerous regimes\u201d of U.S. dollars, thereby isolating them economically. For example, American galleries that mount shows of artists from embargoed nations are normally restricted from paying fees to artists for the creation of new work.
\n\u201cIf I can\u2019t commission the art, may I at least buy it directly from Cuba and ship it home?\u201d our client asked.
\nThe answer, surprisingly, was yes. Goods or services originating in Cuba may not be imported into the U.S., but art is specifically exempted from the embargo\u2014as long as the work is already in existence. This exemption stems from the First Amendment, as interpreted by Cernuda v. Heavy, a 1989 federal case in which the Cuban Museum in Miami and its director, Ramon Cernuda, successfully challenged the embargo. The case involved a proposed benefit auction that was to take place in April 1988 and included works by artists who either lived in Cuba or had not renounced allegiance to Fidel Castro. Following public protests, the works were withdrawn to avoid possible legal violations, but Cernuda and other museum directors continued to receive death threats.
\nThen, in December 1988, Cernuda sought permission from the U.S. government to show the work of a Cuban dissident, but received no response. Five months later, U.S. Customs agents obtained warrants to search Cernuda\u2019s home and office and seized approximately 200 paintings believed to be of Cuban origin. He petitioned the court for their return.
\nIn backing Cernuda, the court noted that \u201cinformational materials\u201d were exempt from export restrictions. \u201cArt conveys information through its unique form of expression, often political expression,\u201d the court reasoned. \u201cFor example, Eug\u00e8ne Delacroix celebrated liberty, equality and fraternity in Liberty Leading the People. Pablo Picasso decried the brutality of fascism in Guernica.\u201d It concluded, \u201cAs the Supreme Court has noted, \u2018if there is a bedrock principle underlying the First Amendment, it is that the Government may not prohibit the expression of an idea because society finds the idea itself offensive or disagreeable.\u2019\u201d
\nOur client wondered, \u201cIf depriving Cuba of economic benefit is the rationale behind the embargo, isn\u2019t it inconsistent that I can buy works from Cuba but can\u2019t commission them?\u201d
\n\u201cWhoever said U.S. policy was consistent?\u201d we responded.
\n\u201cShould I expect visits from men in trench coats if I sell works by Cubans?\u201d he asked facetiously.
\n\u201cDon\u2019t laugh,\u201d we replied. Other clients have reported rumors of federal agents making \u201cspot visits\u201d to U.S. galleries that show Cuban artists to check for illegal payments to artists.
\nUndaunted, the dealer proposed publishing an exhibition catalogue. \u201cI was hoping to translate, edit and illustrate art historical essays by Cubans,\u201d he said.
\nOur client was in luck, since the law in this area recently changed in his favor. Late in 2004, several groups, as well as the Iranian human-rights activist and Nobel laureate Shirin Ebadi, filed suit claiming that the U.S. government\u2019s regulation of publishers from certain embargoed nations violated the First Amendment. In response, the Treasury Department abruptly issued a new \u201cgeneral license\u201d permitting Americans to engage freely in most ordinary publishing activities
\n\u201cMay I invite artists from Cuba to my show?\u201d our client asked hopefully. Here again, the answer was yes\u2014assuming they can get a visa. In 1997 the U.S. denied an entry visa to one of Cuba\u2019s most internationally acclaimed artists, known as Kcho. Then came the events of September 11, 2001, and various pieces of legislation intended to exert pressure on \u201cstate sponsors of terror.\u201d Under the Enhanced Border Security and Visa Reform Act of 2002, for instance, the U.S. enacted especially restrictive processing requirements for people seeking visas from Cuba, North Korea, Syria, Sudan, Iran and Libya\u2014even if they are artists.
\nThe results have been predictable for American cultural organizations. The U.S. denied the Cuban artist Carlos Garaicoa a visa to attend the opening of his solo exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles in March on the grounds that his entry \u201cwould be detrimental to the interests of the United States.\u201d Similarly, the Frederick R. Weisman Art Museum at the University of Minnesota canceled an exhibition of Cuban conceptual art planned for this past January because the organizers didn\u2019t believe they could obtain visas for any of the nine artists in the show.
\nOur client then asked about the possibility of bringing American collectors to artists\u2019 studios in Cuba. Unfortunately, the Bush administration has also clamped down within the past year on cultural travel to Cuba and on the \u201cpeople-to-people\u201d exchanges promulgated during the Clinton administration.
\n\u201cDoesn\u2019t the recent Louise Bourgeois show in Havana signal a thaw in the chill of U.S.-Cuban relations?\u201d our client persisted, referring to the first major exhibition in Cuba by an artist living in the U .S.
\nThe Treasury Department had surprised the show\u2019s U.S.-based organizer by issuing a license to mount the show at the Centro de Arte Contemporaneo Wifredo Lam this past February. Although Bourgeois\u2019s works had to be shipped to Cuba via Canada, Cuba\u2019s cultural minister praised the organizers for \u201cbreaking the blockade.\u201d In our view, the U.S. may have been lenient in the Bourgeois case because the 93-year-old artist is famous and did not travel to Cuba.
\nIn Castro\u2019s Cuba, works have been expropriated by the state, leading to legal\u2014and moral\u2014questions of ownership. This issue recently came into the limelight when the Fanjuls, a prominent family in the sugar business, asked the U.S. State Department to intervene with Sotheby\u2019s in an effort to recover a painting they had owned before fleeing Cuba for Florida. A View of Malaga, by Joaquin Sorolla y Bastida, had been seized by Castro and the Fanjuls are now trying to locate it. According to news accounts, they allege that Sotheby\u2019s may have handled the work, thereby violating trade sanctions against Cuba. Sotheby\u2019s denies any wrongdoing.
\nFrustrated by the restrictiveness of U.S. law regarding Cuba, our client had another idea: \u201cPerhaps I\u2019ll focus on dissident art from another country. How about Iran?\u201d
\nWe reminded him that Iran is not only on the embargo list, but when the Asia Society in New York mounted a major show of Iranian art two years ago, all the works had to come from collections outside Iran. The chances of getting permission seemed close to zero.
\nOur client left our offices exasperated. His parting question: \u201cIs there any country from which I can easily show dissident art?\u201d We resisted the temptation to suggest Switzerland.<\/p>\n

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When it comes to politically sanctioned countries, the art trade walks a complicated line. When a Miami dealer recently phoned to ask us about \u201ctrading with the enemy,\u201d we initially thought he meant buying art from a competing gallery. It turned out he was speaking literally. He was considering an exhibition of \u201cdissident art\u201d from … <\/p>\n

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