Monkdogz Artblog

Back in March 2009, we reported on the trial of Lawrence B Salander who was charged with 100 counts including grand larceny, forgery, perjury and securities fraud over 13 years valued at around $88 million, to which he pleaded not guilty.  Today he finally pleaded guilty to 29 counts of grand larceny and scheming to defraud investors to the tune of $120 million.  

In 2007, with several lawsuits pending including one brought by Robert De Niro, a judge ordered the Salander-O’Reilly gallery to cease trading and Salander declared bankruptcy.  De Niro sued Salander for selling several of his late father’s works without telling him of the sales (De Niro is the executor of his father’s estate) and pocketing the total proceeds.

The judge is expected to sentence Salander to imprisonment for 6-18 years depending on how much money is repaid to his clients.  However before then, Salander has been ordered to come before the judge on May 20^th with regards questions raised about his alcohol abuse according to the New York Times.

In the meantime, Robert De Niro has struck a deal with the trustee overseeing the bankruptcy of Salander O’Reilley Galleries according to the New York Post,  to reclaim half of the 12 paintings held by the gallery for $14,000 so that they don’t go up for auction with the rest of the gallery holdings.  

Another victim of Salander was tennis star John McEnroe who had believed that he was buying a 50 percent interest in two paintings by Arshile Gorky, the Abstract Expressionist, for $2.03 million. However it transpired that John McEnroe, Salander and a third investor all owned a 50% share in the paintings.   Salander explained that “the financial side is not my strong suit.”  Furthermore John McEnroe later heard that one of the paintings was hanging in another dealer’s home.   Since then he has settled for full ownership of one of the paintings.  John McEnroe was one of Salander’s longtime friend and godfather to one of his seven children.  If he did this to his friends, what did he do to people he didn’t like?

The Victoria and Albert Museum in London has a very unusual exhibition planned for later this month. It is an exhibition from a very different sort of collector, London’s Metropolitan Police Force. To be exact it is the Art & Antiques Department’s collection of forged art work.

The exhibition 23 January – 7 February 2010 will showcase some of the investigative methods involved in detecting and preventing the increasingly sophisticated crime of art forgery. Using historical and contemporary criminal cases, the broader financial and cultural impacts of art forgery on modern society are considered and explained.

Some of the works of John Myatt considered to be perpetrator of one of the “biggest art fraud(s) of the 20th century”, Shaun Greenhalgh who with his parents and brother was named as “possibly the most diverse forgery team in the world, ever.”

It is an interesting concept for a museum show, especially as it exposes some art world experts and establishment as being fallible. Good Gracious! What a thought!

Whenever I hear of stories of forgeries added to mistaken or erroneous authentications with fake provenances often provided by still living family members, I find myself secretly snickering. These so called “experts” getting their comeuppance – serves them right!

In this instance, it is the work of French artist César Baldaccini that was forged. Baldaccini (1921 – 1998) who was at the forefront of Nouveau Réalisme was best known for his “compressions”; sculptures made by squashing cars or fridges or other consumer goods into dense metallic squares or oblongs and his “expansions”; sculptures made from polyurethane foam.

Ten people are on trial including the two Piedoie brothers who are accused of masterminding and making 130 César sculptures and selling them to art galleries and dealers for around $11,500. Two well known art dealers are also amongst those accused, of selling them for approximately $67,500 each. The dealers are protesting their innocence saying that they were duped by fake César signatures applied to the works by the Piedoie brothers and by certificates of authenticity supplied by art experts and by César Baldiccini’s last girlfriend, Stéphanie Busuttil.

In true French fashion, while much of this was going on, César’s wife and daughter were contesting his will and the inheritance to his mistress, which should have alerted the experts as unknown works were being blocked from appearing on the market until the matter was resolved.

The French police came across this deception purely by accident while investigating the theft of other art which led to 8 years of investigations.

According to the Independent among the experts who signed certificates of authenticity, in good faith according to the prosecution, was Denyse Durand-Ruel, the woman who edited the definitive catalogue of César’s work.

In conclusion the Independent asks: “Both César’s own mistress and the art critic who catalogued his work could not tell authentic “compression” sculptures from fake ones knocked off in a garage. Awkward questions therefore arise. Were César’s “compression sculptures” really art? Are the Piedoie brothers con-artists or true, accidental artists themselves?

The trial in Grasse, in the south of France starts today and continues until Friday. If you want a juicy read that’s better than fiction this is it!

In the last few weeks, five friends have told me of situations where they’ve been let down by galleries, museums and art dealers. Several of them are desperately trying to get their work returned to them after exhibitions that occurred months ago. Others are trying to deal with un-kept promises and commitments.

In this environment when each sale is so hard and when it happens well earned, the last thing any of us needs is the added aggravation of people trying to take advantage or at worst stealing from us.

The sad thing is that in today’s environment you have to look after yourself and your art. The phrase “artist beware” is an unfortunate truism. There are several things that you can and should do, despite the extra effort that it will take.

Make sure you keep all correspondence and any telephone calls should be logged and annotated. If you’re really good, telephone conversations should be backed up by a letter or email.

Ensure that whoever takes responsibility for your artwork gives you a loan form or similar to cover their responsibilities and commitment as well as laying out your responsibilities. What is the insurance coverage? Who pays for delivery and shipping? Which pieces exactly will they be responsible for? What marketing and exhibition commitments are being offered? What happens when the work is sold? Who owns the copyright? What commission is deducted? How will the money be transferred? If they don’t give you one, write one yourself and ask them to sign and return it. If necessary enclose a stamped self-addressed enveloped so that they can’t find an excuse to return it.

Make sure that you do your research on the dealer, museum or gallery. Talk to as many people who have been involved with them before as possible. Contact an organization such as the Better Business Bureau to see if there are any complaints logged about them.

Much of this seems like common sense, but it’s amazing how many of us don’t do it. We hope that we can trust everyone to act on their integrity, but sometimes we can’t, so take care and protect yourselves.

And if there’s that occasion when you do come a cropper and find yourself caught up in a difficult position, ask for help. Friends are always out there to support you.

Prosecutors claimed that he defrauded his victims by stealing or promising them fraudulent investment opportunities.  They said he sued the money to support an “extravagant lifestyle, which included travel by private jet within the United States and to Europe, lavish parties and for the purchase and maintenance of his Manhattan townhouse and a 66-acre estate.

No we are not talking of Bernard L. Madoff or of Robert Allen Stanford but of art dealer Lawrence B. Salander of Salander-O’Reilly Galleries LLC., of the largest galleries in New York.  So the New York art world has its own Ponzi schemer.   

In the grand scheme of things, he’s small fry; he only defrauded 26 victims of $88million, although some estimates suggest that this will increase to $100million.  He has been charged with 100 counts including grand larceny, forgery, perjury and securities fraud over 13 years which ended in 2007after a judge ordered Salander to cease trading after several lawsuits were filed against him.  He is accused of selling shares to investors in art which he didn’t even own or selling the same share in an artwork several times over.

One of the litigants is the Bank of America who lost $2million with a personal loan which was secured on several pieces of work that he did not own.  

Defense attorney Charles Ross said he expected Salander to make bail and be released by tomorrow. He said his client “pleaded not guilty to every charge and we’re going to vigorously defend against every allegation in court.”  He is being held on $1million bail.  If convicted of first-degree grand larceny, Salander could face up to 25 years in prison.

In an industry where perception is everything and business is done on trust, integrity is an essential attribute.   Individuals who damage this trust not only hurt themselves and their victims, but the industry as a whole including those who legitimately work hard for their artists and clients.  Those remaining have an uphill battle to reverse the negative impact of cases like this.  However that extra effort to provide improved transparency and openness, which I’ve often mentioned, is probably not a bad thing.