As time passes as well as lawsuits filed and reviewed more and information is being discovered about the operations of Knoedler Gallery and questions of sourcing and provenance.
Bloomberg files an interesting article on why Knoedler did not push on more provenance documentation from one of its main suppliers. The reason reported is the threat of the source cutting off the very lucrative supply of paintings.
Bloomberg reports
Source: BloombergA Long Island, New York, art dealer who sold the Knoedler Gallery undocumented paintings attributed to Mark Rothko and Jackson Pollock threatened to stop if she were questioned about her source, according to a filing in Manhattan federal court.
“Don’t kill the goose that’s laying the golden egg,” Glafira Rosales told Ann Freedman, the former director of the now-closed Knoedler, according to Freedman’s sworn declaration filed in court last week.
Domenico De Sole, chairman of Tom Ford International, and his wife, Eleanore De Sole, sued Freedman, Rosales, the gallery and its chairman, Michael Hammer, earlier this year. The De Soles bought a Rothko for $8.3 million in 2004 that they discovered later was a fake, they said in their complaint.
Hammer, Knoedler and Freedman asked a judge in a Nov. 1 court filing to dismiss the complaint.
Anastasios Sarikas, Rosales’ lawyer, disputed that his client made the “golden egg” comment. “Her English is so limited and cautious,” he said in an interview. “My client is incapable of making such an absurd statement.”
Previous Suit
Sarikas said Hammer made the comment, not Rosales, which Freedman scribbled on a sheet of paper, a copy of which was part of the court filing. As his source, Sarikas cited a July suit by John Howard, chief executive of Irving Place Capital, concerning a Willem de Kooning for which he paid $4 million. The complaint attributed the “golden egg” comment to Hammer. The Freedman note was first introduced in a now-settled December 2011 suit by hedge fund executive Pierre Lagrange.
Sarikas’s assertion contradicts Freedman’s sworn declaration. Sarikas declined to say whether Rosales denied she made the golden egg comment.
“You’re treading into privileged information,” he said.
Chris Orlando, a spokesman for the gallery, said the note isn’t connected to Hammer. “The attempt to include Mr. Hammer in this matter is absolutely unsupportable, irresponsible and simply an effort to sensationalize the case,” he said in an e-mail.
From 1998 to 2008, the gallery sold almost 40 works from Rosales, netting almost $40 million in profit, the De Soles said in a filing.
‘Lavishly’ Rewarded
“Hammer rewarded Freedman lavishly based upon Knoedler’s outsized profits from selling the counterfeit works,” according to the De Soles’ filing.
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