A New York gallery has agreed to settle a lawsuit introduced towards it by collector Andrey Isaev over its alleged failure to ship two Stanley Whitney work collectively value $5 million.
Per a submitting in New York Supreme Courtroom on March 29, Isaev bought from Manhattan’s Gary Tatintsian Gallery in February 2022 two Whitney oil work respectively value $2.45 million and $2.8 million (for a complete of $5.25 million paid). However the courtroom filings say that the gallery by no means delivered both portray to Isaev. The collector finally accepted a “decrease valued” Whitney portray in April 2022 for $1.85 million, with the specific understanding that the gallery would refund Isaev the $3.4 million steadiness of the unique purchases.
However as of December 7 of that 12 months, Isaev had acquired solely $1.49 million (excluding curiosity), leaving virtually $2 million nonetheless owed to him by the gallery. That August, Isaev filed a criticism in america District Courtroom for the Southern District of New York for costs together with “civil theft” and “fraud within the inducement,” referring to when one social gathering is duped in a written settlement by inaccurate fraudulent statements.
Gary Tatintsian, a Russian artwork seller and proprietor of his eponymous gallery, acknowledged that the enterprise can pay Isaev $2 million, plus statutory curiosity.
Along with his New York house, Tatintsian additionally runs a showroom in Dubai’s gallery district, Alserkal Avenue; a Moscow department is listed on Google Maps as being “quickly closed.” On its web site, the gallery says it has in its stock works by Frank Stella, Peter Halley, Christopher Wool, and Carroll Dunham, in addition to worldwide heavy-hitters similar to Damien Hirst.
Tatinsian’s gallery and a authorized consultant for Isaev didn’t reply to requests for remark.
The Isaev lawsuit is considered one of a number of to have included Tatintsian previously decade and a half. In 2012, Tatintsian accused Lew Nussberg, a Russian-born artist, artwork historian, and seller, of promoting him forgeries—which Tatintsian later offered to Russian businessmen for hundreds of thousands of {dollars}. In his lawsuit towards Nussberg, Tatintsian accused him of mendacity in regards to the possession historical past, or provenance, of the works.
A collection of advanced authorized battles adopted through which an array of highly effective figures grew to become concerned. A Moscow-based agency decided that the works have been fakes, and Tatintsian refunded $3 million to dozens of purchasers who returned the disputed works. Nussberg maintained that he didn’t promote Tatintsian forgeries.
The lawsuit involving the 2 Whitney works was filed by Isaev in 2023, a few 12 months after Whitney joined Gagosian, one of many world’s largest galleries. The preliminary lawsuit centered round transactions that allegedly befell in February 2022, across the time that Whitney’s market started to develop. In November 2021, Whitney’s public sale document was set by the sale of a portray at Sotheby’s for $2.32 million. His work is at present the topic of a retrospective on the Buffalo AKG Artwork Museum in New York.
The net stock for Gary Tatintsian Gallery at present lists 4 out there work by Whitney, every a vibrantly coloured, irregular grid: Ahead To Black (1996), Lush Life (2014), Keep Track #24 (2018), and Monk & Munch 15 (2021).