National Hellenic Museum denies damaging Petrides sculptures

The National Hellenic Museum denied damaging George Petrides's sculptures and said he shipped the works to Chicago without protective packaging and has refused to collect them for more than two years, court documents show.

The museum's answer, filed May 26 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, is its first detailed response to the lawsuit and places much of the responsibility for the dispute on the artist.

Petrides sued the museum in March, asserting three claims under the Visual Artists Rights Act along with claims of negligence, unjust enrichment, conversion and breach of the parties' exhibition agreement. The lawsuit concerns five works from Petrides' traveling exhibition "Hellenic Heads."

The museum said it commissioned an independent review by The Conservation Center, which concluded that two of the five works were in the same condition as when they arrived and the other three showed only minor alterations.

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Documents: National Hellenic Museum answers Petrides lawsuit

Records from the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.

Urgent MatterAdam Schrader

The report attributed those changes to the works' fabrication process, natural material degradation over time, and worsening of damage that predated the exhibition, the museum said.

The museum also said its intake records, prepared when the sculptures arrived, documented "extensive preexisting chipping, scratching, and abrasions on the works that preceded their arrival to the museum."

Regarding protective handling, the museum said the artist is responsible for how the sculptures were packed.

"Plaintiff did not ship the works to the museum with any custom crating, foam padding, protective wrap, or any protection at all," the museum said, adding that it had no obligation to supply protective materials the artist himself did not provide.

The museum said the sculptures were displayed in the Calamos Great Hall at Petrides's own request and acknowledged moving them to reconfigure the space for events. But it said its staff did so "with gloved hands" and slid each work and its pedestal "as a unit approximately 10-15 feet" while exercising "utmost care."

It hosted seven events in the hall between September 22, 2023, and March 22, 2024, and denied the works were damaged by any of those moves.

The National Hellenic Museum also disputed the artist's account of why the works are still in Chicago. It said the sculptures have stayed at its facility since the exhibition closed in March 2024 because Petrides declined to retrieve them despite "eight separate requests" from the museum, its insurer and its attorneys between April 11, 2024, and May 12, 2026.

The museum said it paid Petrides $12,500 for costs tied to removing the works and that he kept the money without arranging collection.

The museum further said no exhibition fee was paid because Petrides waived it under the exhibition agreement, and that it separately paid him $6,000 for promotional travel.

Responding to the artist's criticism that it is not accredited by the American Alliance of Museums, the museum said it has no duty to join and maintains its own collections management policy that meets the alliance's standards.

The museum raised 15 affirmative defenses. It argued that the sculptures are not renowned enough to qualify for protection under the federal Visual Artists Rights Act, that any change to the works came from the materials aging on their own, and that Petrides broke the agreement by failing to pick up the sculptures.

It also argued that he did not take reasonable steps to limit his losses, that he shares blame for any damage, and that his negligence claim should be dismissed because the dispute is governed by the parties' contract.

Petrides rejected all of the museum's defenses in a reply filed June 16. He noted that he is not claiming the museum violated his rights through any posters or promotional materials that reproduced the works.

The case is now in discovery, and at a Friday status hearing, the court directed the parties to report by August 26 on the progress of discovery and whether a settlement conference would be useful.

"The museum refutes the allegations but has been, for some time, attempting to manage an ongoing matter with Mr. Petrides through its insurers," a representative for the museum previously told Urgent Matter. "As this matter is now before the court, the museum will not make any further comment."

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