Grossman LLP | Art Law
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Art Law

Our lawyers are engaged in high-profile work in the art-law field.   The Firm’s managing partner, Judd Grossman, is recognized year after year by Chambers as one of the country’s leading litigators in the field of art law.  We have represented buyers, sellers, galleries, artists, artist foundations, and museums in disputes concerning issues ranging from authenticity and title disputes to copyright claims.  

The following are examples of matters in which our attorneys have been involved:
 
  • Securing total win—unanimously affirmed on appeal—after three-day bench trial in the Southern District of New York on behalf of a major corporate art collection seeking the return of a stolen American modernist painting.  See Abbott Laboratories v. Feinberg, et al., 18-cv-8468, 506 F.Supp.3d 185 (S.D.N.Y. 2020), aff’d, No. 21-45, 2023 WL 19076 (2d Cir. Jan. 3, 2023).
  • Obtaining total win—including a unanimous affirmance in New York’s First Department Appellate Division—for a collector seeking to reclaim a Marc Chagall painting stolen by a Manhattan gallery in a massive art-fraud scheme.  See Silver v. Alon Zakaim Fine Art Ltd., No. 160435/2018, 180 A.D.3d 467, 115 N.Y.S.3d 669 (1st Dep’t 2020).
  • Achieving total victory in the trial court for the legendary artist Peter Beard in an action to recover three of the artist’s original works, and successfully defending that result on appeal before the First Department.  See Beard v. Chase, 63 N.Y.S.3d 304 (Sup. Ct. N.Y. Co. June 19, 2017), aff’d, 2018 N.Y. Slip Op. 04636 (1st Dep’t 2018).
  • Securing total victory for a Manhattan art dealer in an authenticity dispute brought by Universal Studios executive Ronald Meyer.  See Meyer v. Seidel, et al., No. 20-CV-3536 (VSB), 2021 WL 3621695, at *1 (S.D.N.Y. Aug. 16, 2021).
  • Winning complete dismissal, on behalf of one of the country’s leading art galleries, of a lawsuit brought by a billionaire art collector arising out of the $12 million sale of a Gilbert Stuart full-length George Washington portrait.  See Steinhardt v. Hirschl & Adler Galleries et al., No. 159990/2020 (Sup. Ct. N.Y. Co.)
  • Achieving total victory—including unanimous affirmance on appeal—on behalf of a Manhattan art gallery in a title dispute concerning an Alexander Calder stabile.  See Meaders v. Helwaser, 436 F. Supp. 3d 677 (S.D.N.Y. 2020), aff’d, No. 20-730, 831 F. App’x 595 (2d Cir. Dec. 23, 2020).
  • Representing numerous art collectors and other entities in a series of lawsuits arising from the international art fraud schemes of Inigo Philbrick, dubbed by ArtNews as “One of the Biggest Potential Modern Art Scandals.”
  • Obtaining recoveries for buyers defrauded in a scheme to sell stolen Jasper Johns artworks.  See Equinox Gallery Ltd. v. Dorfman, 2018 WL 745707 (S.D.N.Y. Jan. 25, 2018) and Kolodny v. Meyer, et al., Case No. 14-cv-03354 (S.D.N.Y.).
  • Obtaining and recovering a $3 million judgment for an art collector defrauded by an art dealer in connection with the sale of a Pablo Picasso painting.  See Paul Kasmin Gallery, Inc. v. Dicker, No. 654442/2021 (Sup. Ct. N.Y. Co.).
  • Successfully representing more than ten victims of the massive art-fraud scheme perpetrated by Ezra Chowaiki, in connection with state and federal civil, bankruptcy, and criminal proceedings.
  • Representing a prominent New York art gallery in a dispute with a Carnegie Museum trustee arising out of the sale of a Peter Doig painting.
  • Counseling contemporary art museum concerning major Jean-Michel Basquiat exhibition.

Grossman LLP also advises collectors, galleries, and artists on transactional matters related to the acquisition, retention, and disposition of fine art.  Managing partner Judd Grossman served as Chair of the Art Law Committee of the New York County Lawyers’ Association, and he is a member of the Art Law Committee of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, where he served as the Chair of the Title Subcommittee.  

Our lawyers are regularly invited to speak on art-law topics, including at the University of Pennsylvania Law School, Columbia Business School, NYU Art Crime Symposium, NYCLA’s Art Law events, California Lawyers Association, and the International Bar Association conference.  We also regularly offer commentary regarding art-law matters for major news media and publications, including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Guardian, LA Times, Bloomberg Law, Art Newspaper, and Artsy, among many others.