Feud between brothers over Aicon name expands with allegations of forged artworks

A legal war between brothers who once ran one of New York’s best-known galleries for modern Indian art escalated last week, after defendants filed counterclaims accusing their sibling’s gallery of selling forged works while denying claims that they hijacked the family brand.

Prajit Dutta, Harry Hutchison and Aicon Art LLC responded with an answer and counterclaims to a New York Supreme Court lawsuit from Prajit’s brother, Projjal Dutta, and his company, Aicon Contemporary LLC. The dispute centers on the use of the “Aicon” name.

Projjal Dutta and Prajit Dutta were once equal owners of Aicon Gallery, a legacy business that operated for years from 35 Great Jones Street in Manhattan. Aicon Gallery remains the prime tenant at the Great Jones Street location, even after the brothers split and formed separate entities.

The brothers stopped working together in 2019 because of “irreconcilable differences,” according to Projjal Dutta’s initial complaint from his October lawsuit against Aicon Art.

After splitting, Projjal started Aicon Contemporary and Prajit started Aicon Art. They agreed to share the same gallery space to prevent confusion in the art market.

In its October complaint, Aicon Contemporary said Aicon Art broke their agreement by using the names “Aicon” and “Aicon Gallery” without making a clear distinction.

The complaint also claimed Aicon Art confused or misled collectors about the gallery’s identity and used unfair business practices.

Aicon Art, while acknowledging limited use of “Aicon” and “Aicon Gallery,” disputed the claims. In turn, it has now accused Aicon Contemporary of offering fake works attributed to M.F. Husain and S.H. Raza, two giants of Indian modernism.