A judge awarded $465,000 to a collector duped into buying 17 fake Leon Golub paintings.
A Judge in Concord, New Hampshire, has ruled that 17 works purportedly by 20th century American painter Leon Golub were actually fakes, and ordered the forgers to pay the collector Andrew Hall $465,000. The ruling came three years after Hall’s assistants discovered that the works were likely forgeries as they prepared for a show of Golub’s work at the Hall Art Foundation’s gallery in a converted dairy farm in Reading, Vermont. (The collector, whose extensive Anselm Kiefer holdings are on long-term loan to MASS MoCA, also has an exhibition space in his castle, Schloss Derneburg, near Hannover, Germany.)
As he exited the courthouse on Thursday, Hall told New Hampshire Public Radio:
Obviously I’m happy that justice was done, and it’s a relief. It’s good for me, but more importantly, I think it is really good for Leon Golub and his legacy and his reputation.
Hall purchased the works from Lorettann Gascard, a former professor who claimed to have been close with the late artist, having studied with him in the 1960s. Gascard and her son first said they found the works in the home of one of Golub’s family members, but during the trial admitted that they had made up titles and created new works themselves. They did not comment on whether or not they would appeal the ruling.
