The federal Visual Artists Rights Act of 1990 (VARA) protects visual artists’ “moral rights” by prohibiting the destruction of “visual art,” including paintings, drawings, sculptures or photographs, of “recognized stature.”1
Art of “recognized stature” is art that “art experts, the art community, or society in general views as possessing stature.”2 The creator of qualifying art will have the right to sue to prevent its destruction or, if the damage has already occurred, the creator may be entitled to actual or statutory damages ranging from $750 to more than $30,000, and increasing to $150,000 for willful infringements and decreasing to $200 for innocent infringements.3 VARA rights are non-transferrable, and are exercisable only by the artist.4 As such, it lasts only for the duration of the artist’s life, or if it is a joint work, until the end of the last surviving artist’s life.5
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