Roberto Matta

Les Arethuses by Roberto Matta

July 04, 2018

One of our specialties at Art Recovery International is resolving complex disputes between art dealers outside of the courts much to the dismay of our attorney colleagues who love the hourly billing. The courts are not always suited to art related title disputes where the costs become astronomical and the surrounding publicity becomes damaging to
both parties and the artwork itself.

For decades now, we have been advocating for dealers to use well-drafted agreements when buying, selling, or consigning works of art and utilising our secure escrow services. Sadly, such agreements are not yet ubiquitous and we find ourselves having to sort out
issues that could have been avoided with a solid contract in place. Here, two dealers had a bare bones agreement between them that didn’t begin to address
who was to pay for exhibition costs. A dispute arose and one dealer decided to hold this Matta sculpture hostage until he was paid what he thought he was owed from another dealer. Of course, the agreement was silent and ARI was brought in to negotiate an
amicable and confidential resolution which was concluded in 2018.