23 April 2025
How to navigate the issues and reap rewards of art loans to museums
2 minutes
Loaning art to a museum or arts institution is hugely rewarding, but it also requires professional support. Howden Private Clients Director Julie Webb advises that each loan request should be considered individually.
My philanthropic clients always tell me how satisfying it is to loan artwork, sharing the pleasure of the piece they own with perhaps tens of thousands of museum visitors – but in the same breath they tell me how time-consuming the exercise can be.
While I am concerned with the insurance side of the art loan, I often confer with private curator and advisor Sarah Schuster who comes from a museum background and understands the process from both sides. She has helped me put together this guide to help potential lenders navigate the decision-making and the all-important Loan Form.
Dealing with the first approach
A museum might approach a collector directly to request a loan if there is an existing relationship or information about the collection is publicly available. An approach might also come through a gallery, auction house or another museum if the work has been previously shown and the curator is trying to track down its owner.
The initial request will include an outline of the curatorial concept of the exhibition, the venue and proposed loan period – inclusive of the exhibition dates with time on either side for shipping and installation – and the details of the artwork the museum wishes to borrow.
If a lender is willing to loan the requested artwork, they work with the museum’s registrar to agree on the details and conditions of the loan, which is documented on a Loan Form signed by the museum and the owner of the work or their authorised representative if the owner prefers to remain anonymous.
Consider the museum’s perspective
Museums begin planning exhibitions years in advance, as they are complicated endeavours involving multiple private and institutional lenders, insurers, logistics providers and other considerations. In financial terms, museum budgets are almost always tight.
Any individual loan is just one part of the delicate balancing act of an exhibition and sometimes the conditions of a loan may mean that the museum cannot proceed with it. For example, if a museum approaches a collector about a work it wants to borrow thinking the work is in Europe, but it’s actually in Australia, they may withdraw the request as the transport costs would be too expensive. The collector shouldn’t take a change of mind personally!
Do not be afraid to say no but consider the benefits
Loaning art benefits collectors as well as museums, as the provenance and value of an artwork can be enhanced by its inclusion in good exhibitions. However, if a collector is not comfortable with a loan for any reason, they should not feel obliged to sign off on it.
A museum might be able to satisfy a collector’s requirements and cover costs, but the collector may not find the curatorial concept of the exhibition to be particularly strong.
Conversely, a collector may wish to relax some of their usual requirements or cover some of the costs themselves to facilitate the loan – for example, in support of a small museum that is not well funded but produces an outstanding curatorial programme, or an academic institution that is the only source of cultural education in a remote area.
Essentially, each loan request should be considered individually.
To talk to Howden about your art insurance, or for more information on loaning art, call 020 8256 4901 or email privateclients@howdeninsurance.co.uk
Sarah Schuster can be contacted through culturalcapitalconsultancy.com
Loan form inclusions
Insurance
The insured value of the work should always be listed on the Loan Form and the work will be insured for that value throughout the exhibition process; this is from the moment it comes off the lender’s wall until it returns to the wall (See link to Howden Nail-to-Nail feature on this subject).
The terms of insurance need to be agreed. Public museums in some countries have government indemnity schemes while other museums use their own commercial insurance.
Howden clients are advised to keep the work insured under their own policy throughout, in which case the museum would usually reimburse the pro-rata cost of insurance for the period the work is out on loan.
If using government indemnity or a museum’s insurance and something catastrophic happens, such as a fire or flood, the lender could find themselves in the queue for a long list of claims.
Condition
A museum will always check the physical condition of a work as soon as it arrives and again just before it departs the museum. It may also arrange for a conservator to prepare a condition report prior to the work leaving the lender’s premises as well as after the return shipping.
A lender may require the museum to reimburse costs of pre and post-shipping condition reports if the museum does not arrange them. This can be a negotiated condition of the loan.
The conditions under which the work must be kept in the museum will also be specified. Generally, the museum guarantees certain temperature and humidity conditions, but particular works may also require conditions beyond the standard. This may also apply to display cases or cordons keeping museum visitors a certain distance from the work.
If a work requires framing, glazing or cleaning before it goes to exhibition this should be negotiated between the lender and the museum.
Museums will often send a full site report to the lender. This will list details of climate and pest control systems, earthquake and fire measures, security arrangements and even rules about food and drink within the premises.
Packing
A museum will ask if a work is crated. If it is not, it is standard for the museum to pay the cost of crating. A lender might specify that the work is crated by their own art handler or shipper rather than who the museum’s transport company has appointed to oversee in regard to packing and transport for the exhibition.
Crates are a whole subject in themselves; they might be perfectly good to transport a work by truck but inadequate if the work is to travel by air (See link to Howden Nail- to-Nail feature on this subject).
Shipping
Usually, a museum will appoint a general art shipper, who might then work with multiple sub-contractors to transport works to the exhibition from around the world. Lenders can require a particular shipper to transport their work or request a courier travels with the work (See link to Howden Nail-to-Nail feature on this subject).
Images/Credits/Permissions
The lender should decide on how they want to be credited on the museum’s wall labels and in the exhibition catalogue. It can be their name or anonymously as ‘Private Collector’.
If the lender can provide a good quality, high-resolution image of the artwork to the museum it is all the better. However, consider the copyright of that photograph in terms of the credit line and if the museum needs to seek permission from the photographer or pay a usage fee.
It is generally the museum’s responsibility to obtain permissions but the lender should be aware of conditions for any images they might provide. If the lender cannot provide a publication quality image, the work might need to be photographed so access and costs also need to be agreed.
Another possible option is the museum can acquire an image from a library such as Bridgeman Images (bridgemanimages.com/en/).
Do remember the copyright of the photograph and the copyright of the artwork are two different things. The lender will also be asked to specify how an image of their artwork can be used. A lender might be relaxed about having their artwork reproduced for the exhibition catalogue, advertising the exhibition, press reviews and educational purposes but can specify if they are not happy with the museum putting it on merchandise.
It is also important to consider whether it is acceptable for the work to be shown on television – but, perhaps, not on social media. The level of detail in terms of what a lender is asked varies so it is best to specify wishes.
The days of museum visitors being banned from taking photos are all but gone; now museums do their best to ensure nobody uses a harmful flash and the curatorial team might also put a ‘no photography’ sign next to a specific work if requested by the lender.