Paintings Confiscated at Art Basel Miami Beach
A dozen U.S. Marshals and police officers were on hand at Art Basel Miami Beach to secure paintings following an insurance dispute between two dealers
Art dealer Asher Edelman pictured here with Andy Warhol's famous James Dean-themed 'Rebel Without a Cause' |
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IMAGE GALLERY
Famed Wall Street corporate raider turned art dealer, Asher Edelman, used the occasion of Art Basel Miami Beach this week to execute a nifty take-over of the artistic kind.
A dozen U.S. Marshals and police officers, acting on Edelman’s behalf, swooped in on a rival dealer at the fair Wednesday, and seized $6 million worth of paintings by Joan Miro, Edgar Degas and Yves Klein as settlement of a law suit.
The paintings were confiscated from the booth of Zurich-based Galerie Gmurzynska, hanging alongside works by Pablo Picasso, Fernando Botero and actor Sylvester Stallone.
The seizure stemmed from a New York lawsuit by Edelman Arts Inc. and an insurance firm seeking compensation for damage to a painting by minimalist Robert Ryman that was in the care of Galerie Gmurzynska.
The lawsuit alleged that in 2007 Edelman consigned Ryman’s 1985 “Courier I” to Gmurzynska for sale at Art Basel Miami Beach. The work, which was insured for $750,000, was returned with a “deep indentation,” or “gouge,” according to the lawsuit.
Edelman sought an extra $250,000 in damages for alleged, “wanton dishonesty” on the part of Galerie Gmurzynska.
“They essentially broke the work and then conspired to deny it,” Edelman said in an interview with PODER at his booth at Art Miami, featuring works by Andy Warhol and Chilean Roberto Matta.
The court ruled in Edelman’s favor in October, and the Marshals were called in.
By law the Marshals are instructed to seize 10 times the value of the damaged item, for auction within 30 days. The proceeds of the auction will be used to settle the damages, with the balance returned to Galerie Gmurzynska.
Edelman says he is not especially proud of his career on Wall Street and is much happier in the art business. “On balance I think corporate raiding did more harm than good,” he said.
Edelman was reputedly the model for the central character in Oliver Stone’s movie, Wall Street (played by Michael Douglas), though Edelman prefers to think it was based more on billionaire hedge fund owner Carl Icahn.
“I once threw Oliver Stone out of my office and Michael (Douglas) is a good friend,” Edelman said. “But that was about it.”
2010-07-27 20:27:11
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