Knoedler in the News Again

First I would like to thank everyone for their kind words and encouragement as my term on the International Society of Appraisers board of directors and the ISA presidency concludes. I greatly appreciate your support.

Back to the news, the NY Times is reporting that some of art forger Ken Perenyi's works, through an associate by the name of Anthony Massaccio (AKA Tony Cha Cha) who sold forged works to the Knoedler. It is noted in the article the Knoedeler was warned the paintings being supplied by Massaccio may have had authenticity issues, and they proceed in spite of the warnings.  This has been an issue noted within various lawsuits with accusations the Knoedler knew, and/or ignored warnings over authenticity concerns.

The NY Times reports

The new papers challenge declarations by Knoedler, now shuttered, that it did everything possible to authenticate fake artworks by pointing to how it once did business with Mr. Masaccio, despite warnings from gallery staff and a modern art expert.

The complaint makes references to Mr. Perenyi’s memoir and says that in 1994 the gallery bought at least one painting attributed to Willem de Kooning from Mr. Masaccio, even though Knoedler’s associate director at the time, Frank Del Deo, said that Mr. Masaccio “didn’t appear to be all that trustworthy,” and that the painting had no exhibition history or publication record.

“A more verifiable provenance” would be preferred, Mr. Del Deo warned, “before we engaged in selling” any paintings he provided.

Stephen Polcari, an art expert hired by Knoedler, told the gallery’s president, Ann Freedman, that he had “doubts” whether Masaccio’s painting was genuine, according to the amended complaint. Knoedler bought the work anyway, paying cash.

Mr. Masaccio’s whereabouts could not be determined now.

In interviews, lawyers for Knoedler and Ms. Freedman dismissed the amended claim. Nicholas A. Gravante Jr., who represents Ms. Freedman, said that Mr. Masaccio “was one of de Kooning’s studio assistants,” and that “several prominent dealers have likewise acquired works from Masaccio.” Knoedler’s lawyer, Charles D. Schmerler, in an email, called the new allegations “fictional.”

The adequacy of Knoedler’s efforts to verify the authenticity of works is at the heart of several lawsuits brought against the gallery by clients who bought works provided to Knoedler by Glafira Rosales, a Long Island dealer who was the source of at least 40 counterfeits that the gallery started selling in 1994.

The new information on Knoedler’s practices comes in an amended complaint from John Howard, a Wall Street executive who bought a fake de Kooning from the gallery for $4 million.

Ms. Freedman has maintained that she had no clue that any of the works from Ms. Rosales were counterfeits. Although no documentation accompanied the works, Ms. Freedman has said she did everything possible to verify the art’s authenticity.

But Mr. Howard and others contend that Ms. Freedman and the gallery tried to suppress negative information and deceive potential customers. In court papers, Mr. Howard argues that Ms. Freedman misrepresented the opinions of experts and even helped provide — wittingly or not — a convincing but fabricated story about the works’ history.

For example, Ms. Rosales had initially said the paintings had been inherited by the son of an anonymous collector, who she and others referred to as Mr. X. But it was Ms. Freedman who suggested the works’ provenance to Ms. Rosales, court papers say, first naming the artist Alfonso Ossorio as the possible liaison between Mr. X and the other artists. Court papers filed by Ms. Freedman say that she “surmised” that Ossorio might have played a role.

When a panel of experts later concluded it was “inconceivable” that Ossorio played such a role, the complaint says Ms. Freedman suggested to Ms. Rosales that the possible source was, instead, David Herbert, a New York dealer who died in 1995. Mr. Gravante insisted that Ms. Rosales was the one to name Mr. Herbert.

Source: The NY Times