Artists Rights Society Launches Partnership with Samsung to License Artworks on Digital Displays

The New York–based Artists Rights Society (ARS), which represents more than 120,000 artists for licensing images of their works in the United States, has announced a partnership with Samsung Art Store to display the work of ARS-represented artists on Samsung TVs.

The collaboration launches with the work of LeRoy Neiman, who is known for his expressionist depictions of sports, leisure, and other facets of Americana. A collection of 33 of Neiman’s work is now available to license via the Samsung Art Store, with more artists on deck to join his work in the coming months.

“LeRoy Neiman’s work has always had a remarkable ability to connect with audiences through its energy, color, and celebration of life,” Neiman Foundation executive director Tara Zabor told ARTnews in an email. “We’re thrilled to partner with Samsung and ARS to bring his art into homes around the world, introducing new audiences to his distinctive artistic vision while extending the reach of his enduring legacy.”

In a statement, Samsung director of business development Kyle Menges said, “We’re honored to partner with ARS to celebrate the legacy of artists like LeRoy Neiman, while ensuring that the estates entrusted with their legacies are fairly recognized and compensated.”

In the art world, ARS handles the licensing for any publication of their artists’ in any form, ranging from both editorial and commercial uses. On the editorial side, this includes the licenses for reproductions in books like exhibition catalogs, scholarly tomes, and even the covers of novels, as well as publications, for news coverage and criticism for exhibitions as well as general use. ARS rates can vary based on the type of use and the distribution for a specific project but can be around $130 for web use or around $250 for print reproductions in the interiors, with covers costing more.

The Samsung partnership then represents a new revenue stream for ARS artists, particularly at a time when art publications have reduced their print schedules or folded completely. A paid subscription for the Samsung Art Store currently costs $4.99 per month (plus taxes and fees). “For nearly 40 years, our job at ARS has been to help artists encounter new audiences through licensing agreements that reflect the times and respect their practices,” Katarina Feder, ARS’s vice president and director of business development, said in a statement.

The Neiman works, along with digital reproductions of ARS-represented artists for the future, join some 5,000 artworks by 800 that Samsung Art Store subscribers already have access too, many of which of are done via partnerships with institutions like the Musée d’Orsay in Paris, the Museum of Modern Art, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. The majority of these works have now entered the public domain and primarily date to before the 20th century, though some have been licensed via ARS through special agreements.

“Samsung Art Store’s paid subscribers are able to enjoy artwork from ARS, museums and artists from around the world on Samsung’s Art TVs,” Andrea Fisher-Scherer, ARS’s managing director for merchandise licensing, told ARTnews by email. “In all cases, rightsholders are compensated for the use of their intellectual property on the Art Store.”