Knoedler Case Enters Endgame

The New York Times’s Patricia Cohen has a story that shows the Knoedler case is entering late phase maneuvering between the legal teams. On the John Howard’s original complaint against Knoedler has been amended with this claim:

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.

Knoedler’s lawyer called the new claims fictional,

Mr. Schmerler, Knoedler’s lawyer, said: “There is a very wide gap between what plaintiffs now have alleged in a last-ditch effort to save their failing claims and what the evidence clearly shows to be the truth.”

Gallery Faces Another Forgery Complaint (NYTimes)