How To Kill The Art Market: A Cultural Inquest Regarding Export Control Law
Marat is dying.
His eyelids droop. His head weighs heavily on his shoulder. His right arm slides to the ground. His body, as painted by Jacques-Louis David, is that of a healthy man, still young, His face is marked by suffering, but is also gentle and suffused by a growing peacefulness as the pangs of death loosen their grip. The scene inevitably calls to mind the unavoidable martyrdom during the nationalist movements in France in the XVIII century. Recent cultural heritage restriction laws in countries such as Germany, Italy, and México seem to be leading the art market into a massacre. Some dramatic changes within the art business have already been exposed and numerous institutions have manifested their disapproval. The purpose of this article is to determine whether the export control laws will strive into the artistic production’s conservancy or lead to its abatement.