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Thursday, 12 May 2011 02:01

Metropolitan Museum of Art avoids brush with mogul Larry Gagosian

Billionaire Larry Gagosian, seen here with Elton John, is one of the most powerful art dealers in the world. Billionaire Larry Gagosian, seen here with Elton John, is one of the most powerful art dealers in the world. Giulio Marcocchi/Getty/Getty Images

Is the Metropolitan Museum of Art engaging in the age-old sport of blaming the victim?

In March, British collector Robert Wylde made headlines when he sued the Gagosian Gallery for selling him a $2.5 million Mark Tansey painting, "The Innocent Eye Test," which, it turned out, had been promised to the Met.

Wylde had purchased the painting through the gallery in 2009 from former art dealer and Artforum magazine publisher Charles Cowles — only to be informed in spring 2010 that the Met owned 31% of the painting. Cowles' mother, Jan Cowles, owned the remaining 69%, and the museum had been promised it would eventually own the work in full.

According to Wylde's complaint, had the Gagosian gallery properly done its "due diligence," it never would have given Wylde "clear and unencumbered title" to the artwork.

Wylde, who still has the painting, is seeking $6 million in compensatory damages, but now he has to battle the Met and Mama Cowles in a related suit filed Tuesday at U.S. District Court in Manhattan.

The complaint, not surprisingly, seeks the return of the Tansey painting. But what's interesting about the suit is the kid-gloves approach it takes regarding the Gagosian Gallery, which is owned by silver-haired billionaire Larry Gagosian — one of the most powerful art dealers in the world.

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