Category Archives: Artist Insurance

Fire & Water, Devastates Artist’s Studio

Commissioned Princeton University Artist’s studio destroyed by firemen’s overspray. Did her Artist studio policy cover her? No! and this is why.

She never bought one. If she did, all of her artwork in racks, stands, files, and on walls, is covered.  Her materials and tools are covered.  Even the reference library is covered.

I feel for artists that see financial hardship when there is a loss similar to this.

For $1,000 per year, your art is covered up to $100,000, not just in the studio but also in transit, at exhibitions and in storage, everywhere worldwide.

Follow our link at the bottom of this article and purchase an Artist studio policy today.

Art studios give artists the space they need to create as well as a way to store their completed works of art and sell art from the studio. Due to the nature of the work in an art studio, art studio insurance is essential. Risk exposures such as natural disasters and unexpected events like fire, flood, earthquakes, and storms, can cause extreme damage to the building and contents. Protect these risks by obtaining an artist insurance policy offered by Art Insurance Now / Bernard Fleischer & Sons Inc.

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Artist Studios Need Insurance Too

Many artists neglect to insure their practice because they mistakenly believe they’re already covered by a homeowner or rental policy—which are strictly limited in coverage to assets that aren’t considered part of a business. (Sorry, but at least in this case, your art, if it’s for sale, is considered a business.) Sometimes, insurance riders—essentially add-ons to a general policy—can be purchased to cover works of art or business practices, but an insurance brokerage like Bernard Fleischer & Sons Inc. / ArtInsuranceNow.com concentrates in the more complicated policies that art insurance typically requires. Our agency is experienced at navigating provenance and the complicated methods for valuating works of art and a familiarity with insuring studios and art collections.

 

Other artists hesitate with insurance because they’re unsure at what point a work of art is technically finished—at what point it stops being a conglomerate of a couple hundred dollars’ worth of material, and starts becoming a valuable “piece.” Fortunately, in this case, the insurance industry is largely unconcerned with such philosophical questions. Generally speaking, insurance adjustors will use an artist’s past sales to determine valuation. If you sold a similar painting for $1,000 (and can provide legitimate documentation), expect a valuation of about $1,000, unless you’ve started working with precious metals.

 

Certainly, the most tragic losses in the event of a disaster are those of human life. Second to that, for many people in the arts, are cultural artifacts. Therefore, it’s important to insure our cultural legacy. Meanwhile, insurance companies can feel very far removed from the arts—with their talk of “assets”—and scare collectors, gallerists, and, yes, even artists, from maintaining proper insurance coverage.

 

We at Bernard Fleischer & Sons Inc. / ArtInsuranceNow.com speak the language of the arts as well as insurance and can bridge the gap between the art community and the insurance industry to protect the legacies of the collector, gallerist, museum and artist.

Visit us at www.ArtInsuranceNow.com to learn more or call us at 800-921-1008 to speak with someone who can help with your particular needs.

Murals – can they be Insured for Vandalism?

I must receive at least 20 calls a year asking if they can insure a mural painted on walls, inside, outside, on buildings, fences, and anywhere else you can think of. Street-level placement Murals will invite graffiti vandals to leave their mark. As a contracted job to produce the Mural, there is an insurable value from the start to the finish of the work.

Since usually these art installations are designed and planned in advance with the cooperation of the building owner, coverage can be found to cover the installation process; a claim is paid based on the percentage of completion.

There is a possibility Insurance may be obtained when the Mural is completed. This will depend on exactly where it has been placed and the safeguards. Regardless almost all insurers would exclude coverage for:

  • Vandalism and Mysterious Mischief
  • Wear and tear, any quality in the product which causes it to damage or destroy itself, gradual deterioration
  • Insects, vermin, or rodents
  • Changes in or extremes of dampness or dryness of atmosphere or temperature

But theft?…

I develop programs exclusively for the Art World, covering, Museums, Collectors, Curators, Gallerists, Artists, and related Art businesses. My policies include Art owned or loaned, in Storage, in Transit, at Auction Houses or Dealers.

I can help with all Art related insurance requirements. Visit us at ArtInsuranceNow.com to apply or Contact me at 800.921.1008 to discuss your unique situation.

William G. Fleischer CIC

Glass Artist Loses ‘Every Single Piece’ in Napa Valley wildfire; Our Exclusive Artist’s Insurance Policy Pays Off

Napa Valley is typically a peaceful, relaxing place but not for Glass artist Clifford Rainey who lost his home, his studio and most of his work in the Atlas wildfire. The wildfires Fueled by powerful winds have scorched more than 200,000 acres including the beautiful homes of artists and collectors.

 

On Friday morning, Oct. 13, as Rainey surveyed the damage for the first time after his Mount George home and studio burned, said “Every single piece of artwork I own I’ve had since college was lost”.

 

Rainey’s life’s work is far from all lost. His work has exhibited extensively, featured in numerous public collections, including the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, the Corning Museum of Glass in Corning, New York, the M. H. de Young Memorial Museum in San Francisco, and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, as well as in the permanent collections of the Museum of Arts & Design, New York, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin, and the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts.

 

The emotional value cannot be replaced but having an artist’s policy to cover financial losses prevents having to start from zero. Our Artist Insurance Policy is designed for the active Artist. Your Art is covered while in the Studio, in Transit, while at Exhibitions and when in storage along with Your Materials, tools and reference library.  No more worrying about, Theft, Fire, Water Damage or Vandalism. These coverages and more are covered in our Artist Insurance Policies.

 

For more information or to discuss your particular situation contact me, William G. Fleischer CIC | Principal.  T: 212 566-1881 ext.111 or visit us at www.artinsurancenow.com to fill out a quick EZ application for a fast, free quote.

Tate to Exhibit Ultimate David Hockney Retrospective

We at ArtInsuranceNow.com are excited that Tate Britain is staging the most extensive retrospective of David Hockney’s work to date in February 2017. As his 80th birthday approaches, over six decades of Hockney’s work will be shown at the U.K. institution including painting and drawing, as well as prints, photography and videos.
From his first one-man show when he was 26 in 1963 he most recently exhibited at the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne Australia (DAVID HOCKNEY: CURRENT). He is credited as being one of the most influential living artists.
Tate Britain’s director Alex Farquharson has said: “David Hockney is without doubt one of Britain’s greatest living artists. His impact on post-war art, and culture more generally, is inestimable, and this is a fantastic opportunity to see the full trajectory of his career to date.”
Hockney is also quite the armchair philosopher and a search of the internet will find many quips and quotes, A book on art conservation which cites an AXA Art Insurance funded research laboratory quotes him as saying “Love will decide what is kept, and science will decide how it is kept”.
AXA Art Insurance is one of our many affiliate partners in bringing you the most comprehensive Art Insurance coverages available; to learn more visit us at www.ArtInsuranceNow.com, fill out an application to receive a fast free quote or call 1.800.921.1008 to protect your art and collectibles. Don’t miss David Hockney, on show at Tate Britain from February 9 until Monday May 29 2017 followed by showings in Paris and New York City.

Travelers Insurance, AXA Art, Markel ART, Chubb Ar,t XL Art, Philadelphia Art, Great American Art, Ironsure Art, USAA Art

 

Artist’s Nightmare at the Museum

Museum in the dark pictureJust imagine, you are an artist without an Artist Insurance Policy and you finally get an exciting call from a museum to tell you that they have chosen your work for an exhibition for several months.  You work extremely hard on creating the exhibit and receive a contract from the museum that says they will insure your artwork while it is on display. A friend from out of town visits and you take them to see the exhibit and notice your prized sculpture in the exhibit is damaged. Immediately, you contact the museum and call for a plan of action; you ask to see the security footage and request more information about submitting the insurance claim. The museum seems uncooperative, explains to you the security cameras aren’t operating, there isn’t any evidence to support your claim the sculpture was damaged while on display and there is no insurance information they can provide for you at this time. You continue to push for an insurance claim, the museum continues to be evasive and you feel like you are getting nowhere. It looks as though the museum is not going to submit a claim on your behalf and the repairs will cost an enormous amount of money and numerous hours of your time.

This is a real-life insurance horror story from cases that the Philadelphia Volunteer Lawyers for the arts (PVLA) have heard over the years. Unsurprisingly, insurance disputes are a common occurrence with PVLA arts clients. The underinsurance of artwork presents artists with various problems which are much more commonly associated with their profession than others. Another unique problem with the underinsurance of artwork is with its valuation. Artwork is often not treated with the same financial diligence as other assets because it can be difficult to place a value on it and can cover a broad range of items including paintings, sculpture, architecture, printmaking, digital graphics, ceramics, collage, photography, statuary, textiles, art glass and other decorative items.

Insuring fine art presents challenges that are not encountered with other types of real property; an experienced art insurance broker like Bernard Fleischer & Sons (ArtInsuranceNow.com) can address these problems and provide an art insurance policy with coverage fitting the particular situation. Our artist insurance policy values your art at market value less a percentage. The policy covers your art anywhere in the world, while at exhibitions, galleries, storage and in the studio including transit, materials and tools. Art insurance buyers require the services of knowledgeable insurance professionals because “It’s a different type of insurance”. With most insurance you are just buying a financial promise, any insurer knows how to fix a roof or rebuild a building but with art insurance you are buying knowledge as well. Bernard Fleischer & Sons (ArtInsuranceNow.com) are leaders in appropriately insuring artists, art dealers, collectors, conservators, galleries and museums. For more information visit our website, call 1.800.921.1008 or fill out an application here.

As Art Basel Miami 2016 approaches, we look at the necessity of a good art insurance policy

artbasel-miami-beachArt Basel, the international art fair with three shows staged annually in Basel, Miami Beach and Hong Kong. The shows offer parallel programming produced in collaboration with the host city’s local institutions. Art Basel provides a platform for galleries to show and sell their work to collectors, museum directors and curators. The 2015 show in Miami presented 267 leading international galleries from 32 countries. Over five days the show attracted 77,000 visitors including private collectors and directors, curators, trustees and patrons of nearly 200 museum and institution groups. The show hosted first-time collectors from Cambodia, Ethiopia, Nicaragua, Romania, Togo and Zimbabwe. That’s a lot of art moving around and collectors Art policies should cover Art, when purchased, on consignment and in transit, it’s about knowing your coverage situation before it’s too late.

art-basel-miamiThe transportation of art is a tricky thing, and as fine art transportation insurance leaders we can tell you exactly what you require to know so that your insurance program will be effective and  cover you properly.  Insurance coverage during transportation, installation and exhibition of irreplaceable works of art, antiquities, and memorabilia isn’t optional and the best way to obtain the finest coverage is to visit artinsurancenow.com or call us at 800.921.1008 to speak with a knowledgeable fine art broker that can advocate for you in seeking the best possible insurance terms.

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5 Things Every Collector Needs to Know about Art Insurance

anFor many of us, amassing a robust collection of works by the artists we love is more a dream than a reality (though startups like Art Money are working to provide interest-free loans that should make buying art more manageable). But for emerging collectors and seasoned vets alike, the actual purchase of a piece is only the beginning of what it means to actually own art. Though not flashy, art insurance is a crucial part of collecting. It ensures that, should an artwork be damaged, it can be repaired or, in the case of a total loss, some kind of remuneration can be provided. So what do you need to know about art insurance? We sat down with Robert Pittinger, senior vice president and director of underwriting at AXA Art Americas Corporation, to get some helpful tips.

Know the Process

When a collector buys specialty art insurance, they’ll work directly with a broker who can assess the collection and determine what policy the collector might need. That broker, in turn, works directly with the insurance companies to find the right fit. A common misunderstanding of the process, Pittinger says, is that “collectors confuse the broker with the insurance company.” It’s helpful to know that “the role of the broker and the art insurer complement one another; however, the roles themselves vary and they are different. A specialized fine art broker is an advocate for the collector in seeking the best possible insurance terms for their clients.” As an insurer, AXA itself works with a select group of fine art brokers.

Keep Documentation

The first step toward getting insurance is—unsurprisingly—to determine what is going to be insured and for how much. To this end, documentation is key. “One of the biggest things is that the collector needs to have all the documentation for their collection before they go to the broker, because the broker has to have a very thorough understanding of the price of the collection,” Pittinger says. When approaching a broker, collectors should have a list of all the works, descriptions, invoices of sale prices, the purchase dates, and subsequent appraisal prices.“The collector’s management of their collection is critical, whether they have an online management system or a spreadsheet or they have manuals with all the documentation and their appraisals—that is a critical part of purchasing the insurance,” Pittinger says.

Assess Your Needs and Options

All this information is important to provide to the broker so they can determine what insurance is best for you. Though most collectors who need insurance already have it, some collectors think they’re covered by everyday, run-of-the-mill homeowners insurance. And they can be. But, as Pittinger notes, “A homeowner package policy generally is an add-on coverage. It doesn’t go into detail.” Homeowners insurance that covers art might have high deductibles, might not cover a collection across multiple houses, or might not cover the work during transit. That last one is a particularly sticky issue because “any time a collector moves their art, there is increased risk of damage,” Pittinger says. “That is the number one cause of loss for the insurance industry that specializes in art insurance.”

All this is why, for collections larger than just a few items, Pittinger recommends specialty art insurance. Even lower-priced works and emerging collections can receive insurance: For pieces priced as low as $2,500, AXA offers a 12-month policy of $75, with a minimum premium. Generally, however, it is hard to say exactly how much art insurance costs—it depends on too many factors. “Art insurance is very reasonably priced compared to other types of insurance,” Pittinger says. “The price range varies depending on the type of works, the size of the collection, security, where it is kept, if it is in a fine art storage warehouse or in their home or in a museum—all those factors go into pricing a fine art collection.”

Stay Up to Date and Be Careful

Broadly, in the event of damage, an insurance policy pays out in one of two ways: Either the policy will pay a set, agreed-upon amount determined by the insurer and the collector in advance, or the policy will pay out based on the work’s current market value. Pittinger says collectors opting for the predetermined payout structure may do so for a number of reasons, including peace of mind so that they “wouldn’t have to worry about substantiating the value of the works” in the case of damage. Agreed value can also move up and down over the life of a policy if the collector decides to get the work reassessed.

Current market value is exactly what it sounds like: The work is insured for its current value if that figure exceeds an agreed value. “But the important thing to remember is there would be a restriction—the company would by no means pay more than the total limit of the policy,” says Pittinger. In other words, if a collection is insured for $10 million total, and one work that has radically increased in value is damaged in excess of $10 million, the insurance would still not pay more than the total cap.

Be a Smart Buyer

One final note: Do your research. Make sure you get a full condition report prior to purchase. “It’s also critical that the collectors be careful with the provenance of the piece to make sure there’s not a gap in the ownership that could come back to haunt them later,” Pittinger says. If there is an issue and the work is seized for, say, having been looted by Nazis, insurance typically won’t cover that turn of events (there are, however, some specialty insurers that would protect against such loss with what is known as title insurance). So when it comes to art insurance, the old adage “buyer beware” certainly still applies.

—Isaac Kaplan

BY ISAAC KAPLAN

For a quote apply here or call us at 800.921.1008

Iconic Muhammad Ali print stolen from museum.

The Print, which was stolen while the museum was open to the public depicted Ali in a classic boxing pose painted in the brilliantly colored, expressionist style that LeRoy Neiman was known for. Brazen thieves ripped the print from the wall even with security cameras watching, It’s important to understand the value of art insurance and protect yourself by covering your valuable collection.

Although risk extends beyond theft (47 percent of art loss is attributed to damage during transit according to The New York Times) art trafficking is a very real thing and according to statistics ranks third behind drugs and arms.

In a case of  theft, the loss is irreversible. Not only the artwork is irreplaceable itself but also even the reputation of the organization suffers from a mere fact that such situation has occurred. Without having a comprehensive fine art collectors insurance from a trustworthy art insurance broker, the masterpieces are subjected to risk.

Apply for coverage here or call me if you have any questions or to discuss your options.

William G. Fleischer CIC | Principal
T: 212 566-1881 ext.111
E: wfleischer@bfbond.com
W: ArtInsuranceNow.com

 

 

Artist Studio Insurance “The Pitfalls”

Artist’s who work out of their home may think they have coverage with their Homeowner insurance company, but do they?

I get it, most artists have lofts, special rooms or detached structures where they create, show and sell their art.

The Limitation and Exclusion: Business personal property on premises.

Here is the simple 2 question test if the exclusion applies. If you answer yes, an Artist Insurance policy is recommended

  • Continuity of activity
  • Monetary gain (profit motive)

Homeowners Insurance Policies for Owners or Tenants are designed to protect you and your personal property.  These policies contain liability for trip and fall, house parties, lawsuits against you and members of the household for bodily injury or property damage to someone or their stuff.

 

The exclusions/limitations for a business in your home are very limited unless you take some measures to add back coverages.

The Homeowner Insurance Policies are very strict and are looking to avoid anything to do with a business in the home, unless they know about it and add special endorsements.

First, I would like to point out that any art, materials, books or paperwork stored in a detached structure, voids coverage for that structure unless it is added by endorsement to the policy.  If the “Art stuff” is in the home than it will not void the insurance coverage, but the limit for business property is usually $2,500.00 and work you created is not valued at retail price, but just materials.

Secondly, Liability is not covered by the Homeowner’s policy for anything to do with the business, if someone got hurt during a studio visit, the claim would be denied.

To somewhat fix this, add “other structures on the residence’s premises”, if the value exceeds the basic coverage on the current policy.  To protect you from trip and fall claims, add, “Permitted Incidental Occupancies”. Note the situation where you have more than $2,500 of personal property, you should be looking for an Artist carve out policy, like an Artist Studio Policy.

When it comes to the Liability, the homeowners have a few endorsements you could use, “Permitted Incidental Occupancies”, usually costing  $27.00 for $500,000 worth of coverage, but they have limitations, such as premises only, no additional insured’s and no products or completed operation coverage. It’s best to look for a carve-out policy for this too.  I recommend buying a separate Business owner’s policy for just simple fixtures since all the others should be insured in my program.

In conclusion:

Artist’s who create at home are better to have an Artist policy which evaluates the work using retail value, not materials cost.  An artist policy which includes, All works for sale, materials, tools, reference library, transportation, while in storage, at Exhibitions and worldwide; All the coverages loaded into my Artist Policy Program.

For more information visit us at www.artinsurancenow.com to fill out a quick EZ application for a fast, free quote.

To discuss your particular situation contact me,

William G Fleischer  CIC                                                                                             Principal                                                                                                                                  T: 212 566-1881 ext.111                                             wfleischer@bfbond.com