Collector sues after Sotheby’s ignores request to resell Modigliani it originally sold him

A collector who bought a painting by Amedeo Modigliani from Sotheby’s in 2003 has filed a lawsuit after the auction house raised authenticity concerns in a 2016 appraisal and allegedly ignored his requests to resell it under a later agreement.

Charles Cahn, the collector, filed the lawsuit last week in New York Supreme Court over Modigliani’s 1917 painting Portrait de Leopold Zborowski, according to court documents obtained by Urgent Matter. The lawsuit was first reported by ARTnews.

Cahn purchased the painting from Sotheby’s for nearly $1.6 million in 2003, including Sotheby’s buyer premium and sales tax.

But when Cahn sought an appraisal from Sotheby’s in 2016, the auction house itself said that the painting failed to satisfy certain criteria, putting its authenticity into question. Sotheby’s told Cahn that it would have no resale value in the international art market.

Still, Sotheby’s signed an agreement with Cahn that year that said if he decided to sell the painting within 15 years, it would offer the work at auction and pay him either the original purchase price plus a compound annual return of 2.5% from the date he bought it or the price at the future sale, whichever was greater, while waiving its vendor fees.

When Cahn sent a letter to Sotheby’s in June informing the auction house that he wished to sell the painting, he did not receive a response.

Cahn’s lawyer then sent a second letter to Sotheby’s on his behalf in September reiterating that the collector wished to sell the painting and reminding it of its obligations under the agreement. But again, Sotheby’s allegedly did not respond.

He is seeking damages of more than $2.6 million to be determined at trial.

Sotheby’s own listing for the artwork on its website notes that Zborowski, the subject of the painting and Modigliani’s dealer, acquired the work directly from the artist. It appeared in a retrospective of the artist at the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels in 1933 and then at Kunsthalle Basel in 1934.

Before it was purchased by Cahn in 2003, it was previously sold by Sotheby’s itself in a 1960 auction. Urgent Matter has reached out to Sotheby’s for more information and additional comment.