Art Market Monitor

Global Coverage ~ Unique Analysis

New Orleans Dealer Finds Angel

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Our friend Howard Rehs writes about the travails and unexpected saviors of art galleries:

New Orleans Auction Gallery Well, on April 1 this well known establishment filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.  At the filing they claimed to have $500,000 in assets and liabilities of $4 million! Creditors number close to 200 and among the largest is Susan D. Krohn of Texas who is owed $2 million. The auction room will continue operations after receiving an infusion of cash from an investor. I always find it interesting that there are people still willing to back companies like this.

Here is how the New Orleans City Business blog describes the aftermath:

Stewart Peck, attorney for the company, said the estate auction house plans to restructure and maintain business as usual. According to court documents, Aschaffenburg Assets has committed to putting up $300,000 to keep operations going, and a planned auction set for this weekend is expected to fetch seven figures, Peck said.

Parties with the largest outstanding invoices are $2 million to Susan Krohn, an antiques dealer in Houston; $143,445 to Rare Art Inc. in New York; and $85,862 to First Bank and Trust Visa in New Orleans, according to court documents. The gallery also owes more than $61,000 to MPress, a New Orleans printing company.

N.O. Auction Gallery Declares Bankruptcy, Stays Open (NO City Business)

 

Kokoschka Portrait Stays in New Orleans

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In New Orleans, an Oskar Kokoschka painting has been the subject of a restitution lawsuit. The portrait of a sick boy found its way two New Orleans through a Massachusetts family that had bought the work from a dealer named Otto Kallir. Sarah Dunbar was the woman who inherited the Kokoschka. The Reichel family had commissioned the work:

Dunbar’s lawyers, Thaddeus Stauber and Jennifer Borum Bechet, argued that although the Reichel family had long ago sought reparations for property that was stolen by the Nazis, they never sought the return of the Hans portrait, or questioned their dealings with Kallir, who was also Jewish.  The painting, Dunbar’s lawyers said, has appeared in public exhibits and books for decades, so there was no effort to keep it under wraps.Continue Reading

Leaving Cameron

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The New York Times publishes a short piece expanding upon a New Orleans Times-Picayune story on the postponement of Prospect 2, the New Orleans biennial. Both items focus on Dan Cameron’s management of the event:

The Times-Picayune reported that several directors who joined the biennial’s board in 2009 to help shore up the finances and raise money for Prospect.2, stepped down in February because of differences with Mr. Cameron over how the project should be managed. Two people with knowledge of the board resignations, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation, confirmed the basic account of the problems to The New York Times. The Times-Picayune reported that the biennial’s executive director, Barbara Motley, a theater owner who was hired last year to oversee the administrative side of the event so that Mr. Cameron could focus on selecting artists and helping them to realize their works, had also resigned. Continue Reading

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