The article reports an out-of-court settlement between a New York collector and the Knoedler Gallery over a forged Willem de Kooning painting purchased in 2007 for $4 million. The case, involving former gallery president Ann Freedman and Knoedler owner 3-81 Holdings, had sought damages over $4.5 million under federal RICO, potentially up to $12 million, before the settlement was reached. The article notes Freedman’s continued assertion of innocence and mentions Glafira Rosales, who pleaded guilty to fraud in 2013.
The ICA/Boston announces major gifts of art to The Barbara Lee Collection of Art by Women, adding 20 works by women artists to the collection. The Barbara Lee Collection, established at the ICA in 2014, brings together painting, sculpture, photography, and videography by Louise Bourgeois, Eva Hesse, Sherrie Levine, Ellen Gallagher, and Kara Walker, among others.
The BBC reports that a Joseph Wright painting titled A grotto in the Gulf of Salerno, with the figure of Julia, Banished from Rome sold for £665,000 at Sotheby's, to benefit Syrian refugees. The work was donated by Godfrey Meynell to Christian charity Us, with the painting originally priced at £150,000. Proceeds are to fund shelter, food, and healthcare for refugees in Greece.
Norman Lewis, painting Untitled (circa 1958), sold for $965,000 (hammer price $800,000) at Swann Auction Galleries on December 15, 2015. The sale set an artist record and contributed to a Swann African-American Fine Art department total of $3,117,132.
The article discusses Glafira Rosales’s forged works being sold at a US Marshals sale in Texas through Gaston & Sheehan auction house, with lots seized by the US Marshals. It notes artworks by Louise Lawler, Sean Scully, Jules Olitski, Ad Reinhardt, Kenneth Noland, and Andy Warhol were auctioned, with top sellers including Richard Pousette-Dart’s Le Bijou and a Reinhardt abstract from 1947; no Pollock, Rothko, or Motherwell pieces were included in the sale. The forgeries were created by Pei Shen Qian, who is linked to the Knoedler forgeries case. The proceeds were reported as $4.8 million to those who lost money due to the fraud.
The Art Newspaper reports that a US foundation seeks to recover paintings by Picasso, Degas, Goya, Van Gogh and Hans Memling from Havana, believed seized during Castro’s rise in 1959 from Olga Lengyel, an Auschwitz survivor. The inventory mentions Degas’ Dancing Figure and Bending Dancer, Van Dyck’s Portrait of the Marchesa, Goya’s Three Noblemen, Memling’s Angel in Paysage, and Picasso’s Fruits in a Bowl.
The page discusses signs that the art market slowed in 2015, noting record sales such as Picasso’s Women of Algiers (Version O) at $179m and Liu Yiqian’s $170.4m Modigliani sale, with overall market slowdown across various segments including Russian art and Old Master auctions.