Hi Michael,
One should always pay to use art. Until it hurts a little. I have a few books out, and have made it a policy to actually acquire the work (or some of it) from the artist. I am not swimming in money--I just think artists should be paid something if we are going to use their work to make our books beautiful. Of course, if you go for the big names, you pay for the rights. Usually (as I learned on one occasion) this involves payments to an estate, a museum, and maybe a chauffeur.
Rick
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