The Art Newspaper

Works seized from Gmurzynska stand returned

Dealer says insurance dispute is resolved

By Jane Morris. From Art Basel Miami Beach daily edition
Published online: 05 December 2009

Four works dramatically seized by US marshals from the Gmurzynska stand (B20) on 2 December, only 90 minutes before the first VIP guests entered Art Basel Miami Beach, were returned to the dealer yesterday.

The four works, with an estimated value of more than $6m, include a Degas Jockeys, a Miró abstract from the 1920s, a Léger and an Yves Klein. They were seized in connection with a lawsuit filed in New York Federal Court by Edelman Arts Inc “as assignee for XL Specialty Insurance Company” against Gmurzynska gallery. The suit alleged that Edelman Arts, which is run by art dealer and Wall Street investment banker Asher Edelman, was owed recompense for alleged damage to a Robert Ryman painting that Edelman had consigned to

the gallery.

The suit resulted in a default judgement for the plaintiff for $767,400. Peter R. Stern, the lawyer for Gmurzynska gallery, told us on Tuesday: “The default judgement…[stemmed from the fact that]…the gallery inadvertently failed to answer the complaint and is not made on the merits of the case.”

Yesterday evening the gallery issued the following statement: “[Gmurzynska gallery] has resolved the insurance dispute with regard to a damaged Robert Ryman painting. All four works that were held by Edelman Arts have been returned to the gallery and are now back on the walls of the gallery’s exhibition space at Art Basel Miami Beach.”

Mathias Rastorfer, co-owner of the Zurich gallery, said: “We categorically deny that the gallery has any fault or liability in what has been a dispute ­between two insurance ­companies.”