What are (if any) the laws surrounding selling original artwork?

Let me explain:
I am going to assist in selling thousands of paintings (none well-known) all done by local artists. They were inherited by this man through his deceased friends estate. The friends had bought them over the years, hoping they would be worth something someday. There are roughly 10,000 paintings. I am going to help this man sell them via craigslist, yard sales, etc. I want to know if there are any laws I might be oblivious of, i.e. profit rights to the artists...or if they lost rights when the piece was sold originally. I mean, people sell paintings on craglist all the time...but since I am selling such a huge quantity, I want to make sure theres nothing legal I might be overlooking.
I hope I explained that well enough. I appreciate your input!

I am an estate broker and an antique dealer. The only thing you need to make sure is that none of those paintings are supposed to go to legal heirs. If that is all clear, you should have no other problems.

Artists rights only apply to reproduction of the painting. The artist made his profit when it was sold, so you don't have to worry about that.

Have you thought of holding a local auction? I personally have found that local art (unless the painter was very well known) go for much more in the area they are painted than say on Craigslist or eBay.


edit: I forgot to add that you can find out about the heirs by requesting a copy of the deceased's will which would have been filed in the local government office in which the previous owner died.

As long as you've got proof of ownership you have nothing to worry about. The painter has rights to what they painted, but this means you couldn't make a duplicate of the painting. Think of it like a photo - you go and have your pictures taken, the photographer legally owns the rights to the picture, but will sell you a copy for a price. You may then sell that photo to anyone you want, BUT you could NOT make a copy of it.

Since your just selling the copy onward there's no problems, absent someone claiming it was stolen from them. However if they're all low-end, no-name paintings then I wouldn't worry about that since most aren't going to be concerned looking for them.

There aren't any rights for that. He sold his art without an agreement contract saying something like "I get 20% of the profit of so and so painting". They belong to the owner and he can do whatever he likes with them...But 10,000 paintings is a lot! They can't all be from one person, can they? If the artist is still alive, it would be courtesy to ask if you could sell his art, but not a law.

Best of Luck!

as long as you have ownership then there is no problem here.

You probably have some paintings that are worth more than you realize. But, once the artist sells painting, he no longer has any legal claim to them.