Art consignment agreement

Consignment Agreements for Artists: What to Include and Why It Matters

Most disputes between artists and galleries don't come from bad intentions. They come from an agreement that was too vague to answer the question that eventually came up — what happens if the work is damaged, who covers shipping, what the commission actually is once a discount gets applied.

A consignment agreement is the document that's supposed to prevent exactly this. Too often it's a one-page handshake formalised after the fact, if it exists at all. Here's what a real one should cover, and where artists most often get caught out.

What consignment actually means

When you consign work to a gallery, you're not selling it to them — you retain ownership until it sells. The gallery holds and shows the work on your behalf, in exchange for a commission when a sale happens. That distinction matters legally and practically: consigned work generally isn't part of the gallery's assets if something goes wrong on their end, which is exactly why the agreement needs to say so explicitly.

The clauses that actually matter

1. Commission structure. Not just the percentage — what it applies to. Is the split calculated on the full asking price, or on the price after any discount the gallery offers a client? Who approves a discount, and is there a floor below which the gallery can't sell without checking with you first?
2. Duration and renewal. How long is the work consigned for, and what happens at the end — automatic renewal, or default return to the artist? Open-ended consignments with no review date are how works quietly sit in storage for years.
3. Payment terms. How long after a sale does the gallery have to pay out? Thirty days is standard; anything vaguer is a risk. Specify what happens if a sale is made on instalments or a payment plan.
4. Insurance and liability. Who insures the work while in the gallery's care, for what value, and what happens if it's damaged, lost, or stolen? "The gallery will take reasonable care" is not an insurance clause — get a specific value and a specific responsible party.
5. Exclusivity. Is this gallery the only one allowed to show or sell this work, or this body of work, in a given region? Vague exclusivity clauses are one of the most common sources of conflict for artists with more than one gallery.
6. Marketing and reproduction rights. Can the gallery photograph the work for their marketing, catalogue, or website? Standard, but write it down rather than assume it.
7. Return conditions. What state should the work be returned in if unsold, who pays return shipping, and how much notice is required before the gallery can send it back?

Where artists most often get caught out

The two clauses that cause the most disputes, based on how often they're missing entirely: payment timing (no deadline specified, so payment simply doesn't happen for months) and discount authority (the gallery discounts a piece 20% to close a sale, and the artist finds out their share dropped without ever agreeing to it). Both are avoidable with two sentences in the original agreement. Neither is avoidable after the fact.

A simple pre-signing checklist

Before signing anything, confirm the agreement states, in writing:

• The exact commission percentage and what it's calculated against
• Who has authority to discount, and by how much, without additional approval
• The payment deadline after a sale closes
• The insured value of the work while consigned
• The consignment period and what happens at the end of it
• Return shipping responsibility and notice period

If any of these is missing, it's worth asking for it before signing — not after a sale has already happened.

Once a piece is actually out on consignment, the agreement is only the starting point — someone still has to track the expiry date, the payment status, and the return conditions as they come due. That's the part a proper workspace handles after the paperwork is done.

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