Last year, this blog covered a federal court’s decision involving New York-based ACA Galleries, Inc.’s purchase of a painting purportedly created by artist Milton Avery.  In a recent decision affirming that opinion, the Second Circuit reiterated the warning to galleries and collectors about the importance of completing comprehensive due diligence before purchasing any work of art.

This firm’s attorneys were involved in the very first suit arising out of the infamous forgery scandal against the now-defunct Knoedler Gallery. Since then, this blog has covered ongoing developments in the strange story of a once-venerable art gallery’s involvement in the sale of dozens of paintings masquerading as works by twentieth-century masters like Pollock, Rothko, and de Kooning.  The works were in fact created by a little-known artist working in Queens, and marketed by Long Island art dealer Glafira Rosales, who has since pleaded guilty to multiple federal charges arising out of the scheme.

From 1954 until his death in 1976, famed sculptor Alexander Calder was represented by Manhattan dealer Klaus Perls.  Over the course of more than two decades, the pair forged a close friendship as well.  Their contributions to the art world are formidable; Calder’s groundbreaking mobile works sell for millions of dollars, while Perls was a highly respected dealer and collector who donated more than $60 million worth of masterworks to the Metropolitan Museum of Art prior to his death in 2008.  Now, both men are gone, and their families are in court amid allegations that Perls defrauded Calder’s estate and sold dozens of fake Calder works.

Our attorneys were involved in the very first suit arising out of the infamous forgery scandal against the now-shuttered Knoedler Gallery. And this blog has covered multiple chapters since, detailing along the way the remarkable twists and turns in the dramatic tale of Knoedler’s involvement in the sales of dozens of works purportedly created by some of the top artists of the twentieth century—including Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, Robert Motherwell, and Willem de Kooning—that have since been revealed as fakes.

The art world remains riveted by the still-unfolding scandal involving the once-renowned Knoedler Gallery.  To recap, over the course of more than a decade, Knoedler solddozens of works of art purportedly created by some of the most sought-after artists of the twentieth century—works that have since been widely discredited as fakes.  A Long Island art dealer named Glafira Rosales—who has now pleaded guilty, among other things, to charges of wire fraud, filing false tax returns and money laundering—allegedly told the Knoedler Gallery at the time that she represented an anonymous collector who was gradually liquidating his late father’s remarkable art collection.

The once-renowned Salander-O’Reilly Galleries imploded around 2007 after a number of customers and business partners sued owner and art dealer Lawrence B. Salander for allegedly defrauding them.  By the end of 2007, Salander had filed for bankruptcy; by 2010, he was serving a prison term for grand larceny.  The legal fallout from his story, however, continues today—as illustrated by a recent court decision. This case reminds those who buy and sell art that diligence is paramount—no matter how trusted the seller, and no matter how savvy the buyer.

James Meyer worked as an assistant to famed contemporary artist Jasper Johns for a quarter of a century.  Meyer, himself an artist, observed Johns at work, learned about his techniques, and witnessed the trajectory of a remarkable artistic career as Johns became one of the most well-known and sought-after artists of our time.  Johns, now 83, was awarded the Medal of Honor by President Obama in 2011, and his works have commanded stratospheric prices (one work, Flag, sold at Christie’s in 2010 for $28.6 million).

A recent appellate decision upheld Sotheby’s right to withdraw a work from auction based on contemporary artist Cady Noland’s disclaimer of authorship of a work under the Visual Artists Rights Act of 1990 (17 U.S.C. § 106A) (“VARA”). While the court resolved questions of Sotheby’s rights to withdraw the work under its standard-form consignment agreement, the court did not have the occasion to examine the contours of the artist’s disclaimer rights under VARA. In the meantime, though, VARA continues to be an effective weapon to be used by artists to protect their moral rights.

On April 25, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit issued an important decision about the “fair use” defense in copyright infringement cases.  The court’s ruling will have implications for artists and galleries, especially those who create or deal in artwork that incorporates or builds off the work of others.

Charleston-born, New York-based artist Merton D. Simpson passed away recently at the age of 84.  As a recent New York Times article reports, he left behind a formidable collection of art, a legacy of mastery as a painter—and a tangle of legal issues.