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BTLG Table of Contents > Sales and Use Tax Annotations > W > 610.0000 Works of Art and Museum Pieces for Public Display > Annotation 610.0663

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610.0000 Works of Art and Museum Pieces for Public Display—Regulation 1586

Annotation 610.0663

(a) In General

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610.0663 Screenplay with Sketches. A museum purchased a 35 page handwritten screenplay that was written by a person known as an artist and not as a playwright. The author made rough sketches in the margins on five pages to illustrate how scenery should be placed on the stage.

Under the statute, the classifications of a work of art depends on whether the object was "intended to provide aesthetic pleasure to the beholder and/or to express the emotions of the artist." Historical significance may well determine whether an object is "important." and worthy of purchase and display by a museum, but it does not determine whether an object is a work of art. In this situation, the author added sketches to the manuscript only to provide directions for placing scenery and not "to provide aesthetic pleasure to the beholder and/or to express the emotions of the artist." Therefore, the manuscript is not a work of art for tax purposes and it does not qualify for the exemption. 5/1/96.