RECENT DEVELOPMENTS
- Lawsuit Against Gallery and Café Over Sale Proceeds Cites New York's Legal Protections For Artists
Last week, an artist sued a Manhattan café and gallery in connection with a dispute over the treatment of and sales of her artworks. The lawsuit highlights some specific aspects of New York law that may provide artists with legal protections tailored to the unique, and sometimes difficult, relationship between artists and the galleries who sell their work. - Knoedler’s Holding Company and Its Sole Shareholder Face Potential Liability In Connection With Forgeries Following Recent Ruling; Trials Set For This Summer
This blog has for years followed the Knoedler scandal, in which a venerable New York gallery closed in disgrace in 2011 following revelations that it had sold dozens of artworks—about $60 million worth of paintings purported to be by Rothko, Pollock, Motherwell, and other major Abstract Expressionists—that turned out to be forgeries. - Trust Sues Wildenstein & Co. Over 1985 Sale of Inauthentic Bonnard Work
A trust entity affiliated with prominent art collector Neil Wallace has sued a prominent art gallery over a 1985 sale of a work that was only recently discovered to be fake. The case will likely explore issues related to timeliness in art disputes, as well as questions related to the diligence required by buyers and sellers of artworks. - Old Master Forgery Story Update: New Developments In Two Sotheby’s Lawsuits to Recover Proceeds From Sales of Alleged Fakes
We have written on several occasions about the tangle of disputes that have arisen from the discovery of multiple suspected forgeries of Old Master artworks. Now, one such dispute has reached a settlement, and another has resulted in a judgment for Sotheby's; but other questions about these works, and the Old Master market generally, remain.