Sketching in galleries and museums?! The nerve!

[ShadowHM]

You spoke (typed) too soon, DeeBye. :blush:

Below is what I sent (italics) and what I received (in quotes) in an exchange of emails:

Hello

I have been a member of the ROM for about a year now but it has only today been brought to my attention that under some circumstances sketching of the exhibits is prohibited. Could you please outline exactly what the policies of the ROM are in this area? I would appreciate any background information you can provide about why such policies are chosen as well.

Sketching limitations have been a contract condition for several special
exhibitions, like those from the Victoria and Albert, and have to do with
copyright.
Freehand sketching with pen or pencil is fine in the permanent galleries as
long as traffic flow is not impeded.

I am confused. How does copyright apply? Does a museum that holds
artifacts that they purchased or were bequeathed have a copyright to them?
How? This runs counter to the notion I had about what museums do. Would
you please clarify.

There is even copyright on buildings and landscapes. If museums didn't
have copyright on artifacts and specimens, then their holdings could be
exploited inappropriately and/or might be undisplayable.
If we have a couturier dress on display, for example, we have many
restrictions even for marketing and publicity because the designer
continues to hold moral rights. Think of living artists - a museum has
to negotiate rights when works are acquired. If you look at our web site
of past exhibitions, you will find many where the images are blank. Our
contract specified the length of time and the purposes for which we were
entitled their use. In the same way, we license images for publishers
and private use.

This is a quick response to a deeply complicated question. What I hope
I made clear is that your children should enjoy themselves. You might
keep a lookout for the folding stools that school groups use when they
are being taught in the galleries.

I do the back page of "Rotunda" and in the issue for Spring 2004, there
is a photo of a child sketching. Another issue shows boys sketching in
the Currelly Gallery. So it's a long tradition.

So, as suggested in the original link that Hammerskjold provided, it seems that it is not the ROM that sets restrictions. It is the lending institution. And I find it hard to fault the ROM on this. They have to make a choice between not providing an interesting exhibit loaned from another institution or not fullfilling their mandate to make objects accessible to all.

I can understand completely with the restrictions when there are living artists involved. I have major problems when it involves something like the Ancient Egypt exhibition that was at the ROM last year.

Perhaps some follow-up emails to the institutions that have mandated such restrictions will bear some fruit.

Edit: I was given this link by the ROM librarian for a statement of the ROM's policy.