Legal action has been filed by Larry Gagosian against the Qatari family’s agent, Pelham Holdings, over a dispute in which both parties claim ownership of Picasso’s Bust of a Woman (1931), currently in the Picasso Sculpture show at MoMA, New York, The New York Times reports.
Both parties claim they purchased the sculpture from Picasso’s daughter, Maya Widmaier-Picasso: Gagosian in May 2015 for $106 million and Pelham, in November 2014 for the sum of $42 million. Pelham had filed court documents last May when Widmaier-Picasso, 80, allegedly consented to sell the piece to Gagosian. Gagosian made clear that his dispute is with the Qataris’ representative, not the royal family
In the court papers, the dealer claims he has so far paid 75% of the price to Widmaier-Picasso, and that the title was transferred to him after this percentage of the payment had been made, which also allowed him to resell it to an undisclosed New York collector, who expects to receive it after MoMA’s show closes on 7 February. To be continued…
13 January 2016.
