Art Law

Among the publicly-disclosed matters we have litigated are these:

• Sompo Holdings v. Descendants of Paul von Mendelssohn-Bartholody, Case No. 22 CV 7013 (N.D. Ill., 2024), in which the Firm successfully represented Sompo Holdings, the owner of one of Vincent van Gogh's iconic Sunflowers paintings, and its affiliates in winning dismissal of an action to reclaim the painting (valued at $250 million) plus $1.7 billion in damages.

• Sotheby’s v. Maria Crippa, Index No. 651350/2023 (Sup. Ct. N.Y. Cty. Mar. 15, 2023), in which the Firm successfully represented Sotheby's in a case brought by Maria Iride Crippa, an Italian citizen living in Switzerland, on claims arising from Sotheby's 2021 sale of Pablo Picasso's painting “Le Peintre."

• Angiolillo v Christie's, Inc., Index No. 650871/15 (Sup. Ct. N.Y. Cty. Jul. 9, 2020), in which the Firm successfully represented Christie’s in its defense against claims for its alleged wrongful auction of the 34.65-carat pink gemstone known as the “Princie Diamond."

• Arthur Taubman Trust v. Knoedler Gallery, LLC, 13 Civ. 3011 (S.D.N.Y. 2013), in which the Firm successfully represented the purchaser of a forged painting purportedly by Clyfford Still, in the largest art fraud in New York history 

• Chowaiki v. Steinhardt, Index No. 600250/04 (Sup. Ct. N.Y. Cty. Mar. 30, 2005), in which the Firm successfully defended against a claim for tortious interference brought by art dealers alleging that they had been wrongfully excluded from the private sale of a Chagall painting; our client was awarded attorney’s fees because of plaintiffs’ frivolous motion for sanctions

• Clarke & Shannon v. Nielsen & Bainbridge LLC, 01 Civ. 2336 (S.D.N.Y. 2001), in which the Firm successfully represented two New York artists in a copyright infringement action arising from defendant’s unauthorized commercial use of our clients’ work of abstract expressionist art

• Galerie Gmurzynska v. Ingrid Hutton, 257 F. Supp. 2d 621 (S.D.N.Y. 2003), aff’d, 355 F.3d 206 (2d Cir. 2004), in which the Firm won dismissal of a Lanham Act claim brought by a prominent dealer of Russian avant-garde art against a former curator of New York’s Museum of Modern Art

• Grauer v. Deutsch, 01 Civ. 8672 (S.D.N.Y. 2002), in which the Firm successfully represented the co-creator of a series of original photographs in an action for authorship credit and damages under copyright law, the Lanham Act and the Visual Artists Rights Act

• Hessel v. Christie’s Inc., 399 F. Supp. 2d 506 (S.D.N.Y. 2005), in which the Firm defeated a defaulting buyer’s effort to block a sale of paintings by Koons and Basquiat

• Jones v. Phillips de Pury & Co., Index No. 60210/11 (Civ. Ct. N.Y. Cty. Aug. 9, 2012), in which the Firm obtained summary judgment dismissing claims that Phillips misappropriated the plaintiff’s artwork and designs

• Killala Fine Art Ltd. v. Julian Weissman (S.D.N.Y. 2011), in which the Firm successfully obtained reimbursement of the purchase price paid by its client for a forged painting purportedly by Robert Motherwell

• Krahmer v. Christie’s, 911 A.2d 399 (Del. Ch. 2006), aff’d, 2007 Del. LEXIS 177 (Del. Apr. 25, 2007), in which the Firm defeated a buyer’s fraud claim challenging the authenticity of a painting attributed to Edward Benton Weston

• Prince Adam-Karol Czartoryski-Borbon v. Donald Turcotte, Index No. 107958/97 (Sup. Ct. N.Y. Cty. 1997), in which the Firm successfully represented a Polish nobleman in an action to recover a painting stolen from Poland by the Nazis in 1942

• Ravenna v. Christie’s, 289 A.D.2d 15 (1st Dep’t 2001), in which the Firm succeeded in dismissing a complaint for negligent misrepresentation concerning the attribution of a painting by Ludovico Carracci, sold to the Metropolitan Museum of Art

• Reno v. American Civil Liberties Union, 521 U.S. 844 (1997), in which the Firm filed a brief amicus curiae on behalf of a group of 20 artists, including Jenny Holzer and Cindy Sherman, in the United States Supreme Court successfully challenging the constitutionality of the Communications Decency Act of 1996 under the First Amendment

• Romania v. Christie’s, 01 Civ. 5616 (S.D.N.Y. 2001), in which the Firm gained dismissal of claims related to a Romanian criminal investigation into the alleged illegal export of a multimillion-dollar sculpture by Brancusi

• Sands & Co. v. Christie’s, Index No. 600268/04 (Sup. Ct. N.Y. Cty. Feb. 28, 2005), in which the court dismissed an art dealer’s claim against our client for breach of contract for the private treaty sale of a Warhol Mickey Mouse arising from an exchange of emails on the ground that the dealer’s reserved right to inspect the painting showed that the dealer had not unconditionally accepted the alleged offer.

While many of the transactional matters on which we provide advice and counsel are not public, among the publicly-disclosed matters we have worked on are these:

• Represent the Brooklyn Museum, the Miami Art Museum, the Museum of Chinese in America, the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, the Queens Museum of Art and other arts and cultural institutions in transactional matters, including exhibition agreements, loan agreements, licenses, gifts, acquisitions, dispositions, auction contracts, commercial contracts, new media agreements and joint ventures, and provide counsel on a wide variety of contractual, intellectual property, labor and employment, not-for-profit governance and tax-related matters

• Counsel private collectors and galleries on acquisitions, dispositions and investments related to works by, among others, Bernini, Bronzino, Giuseppe Cesari, Chagall, Jacques-Louis David, Jan van Eyck, Houdon, Monet, Moroni, Pollock, Rembrandt, Ribera, Rubens and Titian

• Represent various community-based galleries and performance arts organizations in obtaining tax-exempt status and provide other tax-related advice and general counsel

• Represent museums in ownership claims concerning Nazi-looted art

• Counsel auction house clients on various issues relating to contracts, consignments and the conduct of auctions

Recent examples of transactional matters include:

• Represented the Aso O. Tavitian Foundation on its gift to the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute of 331 works of art and more than $45 million to build a new wing for the collection, and to fund a new curator’s position.

• Represented AXA Equitable Life Insurance Company in donating the Thomas Hart Benton ten-panel mural, America Today, to the Metropolitan Museum of Art

• Represented the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation and Museum in a major global initiative with the BMW Group titled the BMW Guggenheim Lab, an innovative mobile program that brought together leaders in architecture, art, science, design, technology and education

• Represented Brooklyn Museum in transferring the Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection and related intellectual property rights to the Metropolitan Museum of Art

• Represented the Stichting Van Baaren Museum in its acquisition of a 16th century Dutch triptych recovered in 1945 after having been looted by the Nazi authorities

• Provided counsel to the Museum of Fine Arts Boston in drafting intellectual property agreements and licenses, setting policies related to intellectual property and executing a social media marketing campaign

• Negotiated an option agreement with an artist relating to an installation of work on behalf of the Miami Art Museum

• Negotiated co-venture agreement between a non-profit community-based arts organization and a for-profit entity