A Keith Haring drawing deemed authentic by a Superior Court judge but lacking sufficient provenance records to sell at Christie’s and Sotheby’s was the subject of a trial in Connecticut. The gallery that sold it ended up proving victorious.
As reported by Greenwich Time, Nevada businessman Vernon Hartung bought the drawing of flying saucers from Martin Lawrence Galleries for $165,000 in 2018. But when he inquired about selling it at Christie’s and Sotheby’s, the two auction houses said the artwork’s documented history “did not meet their requirements for selling a Haring drawing as an authentic work,” according to trial records.
Martin Lawrence Galleries then attempted to sell the work for Hartung, but he deemed potential prices ranging from $20,000 to $30,000 too low and sued the gallery for breach of contract and other claims related to the Connecticut Unfair Trade Practices Act.
In a written decision in May, Judge Robert L. Genuario described the drawing “by a preponderance of the evidence, to be authentic,” citing a 2002 letter from Richard Hambleton, a friend of Haring’s known for collecting the artist’s fleeting subway works. But when its credentials did not pass similar muster on the market, Hartung “argued the gallery effectively sold him something that could not be authenticated to standards required by top auction houses.”
After he could not prove that the drawing was inauthentic and the gallery had violated its warranty, however, Hartung lost his case and was found responsible for the defendant’s attorney’s fees related to the suit.
