One of the biggest scandals in the art industry has finally come to an end. On Sunday, Ann Freedman (former president of Knoedler & Company) settled their lawsuit filed against them since 2012.
The case was filed by a couple of art collectors, Domenico and Eleanore De Sole, who sought $25 million from Freedman and the art gallery where she worked in until its untimely closure in 2011. When the gallery closed, it was just a few months before they were shocked with lawsuits bearing the same case as the one that the De Sole's filed against it: that they were selling fakes.
Over the course of 18 years, the gallery sold more than 30 works of art that were believed to be done by Abstract Expressionist masters. The problem, however, was that they were actually painted by an unknown Chinese artist named Pei-Shen Qian who did them from his home in Queens. The paintings were supplied by Glafira Rosales, an art dealer from Long Island who had already pleaded guilty to the criminal charges filed against her with connections to the case. The Chinese immigrant said that Rosales paid him only several thousand dollars for every painting he produced.
For her part, Freedman says that she did not know that the Mark Rothko paintings sold to her by the art dealer were fakes and that they too were duped by Rosales.
Taking a look at the financial reports from 1994 and 2011, the gallery was able to sell $69.7 million worth of artworks supplied by Rosales. This included the $8.3 million that the De Soles paid to the art gallery. Without the $32.7 million net income obtained by the works supplied by Rosales, the gallery would not have been able to be a profitable business. Throughout the period, the cumulative deficit of the gallery would have amounted to $3 million.
The terms of the settlement was not disclosed to the public but lawyers of Freedman have confirmed that an agreement was made. While Rosales has already pleaded guilty to the criminal chargers, she has not yet been sentenced from her $26 million scheme.
Before its closure in 2011, Knoedler & Company had been the oldest art gallery in New York with a lifespan of 165 years. Both Freedman and Knoedler are currently facing four out of five pending lawsuits filed by collectors.
