Council for Artists' Rights

Art Dealer Larry Salander Cheats Artists' Heirs, Faces 6 to 18 Years in

Prison

Why do U.S. museums not face the same scrutiny when ethical shenanigans cheating
the public is reported by the mainstream media?

August 6, 2010

Dear ally of artists' rights:

Corrupt art dealer Lawrence Salander was sentenced to prison in New York the other day for
cheating the heirs of some famous artists. East coast arts writer Lindsay Pollock's Art Market
Views and New York arts lawyer Sergio Munoz Sarmiento's Clancco reported on it.

And what about U.S. art museums--including its fiduciary section, the board of directors and
museum trustees--when they engage in questionable practices and further tarnish the art world
by abusing their tax-exempt nonprofit status?

For example, the current King Tut exhibition is winding down its tour in the U.S. Art
museums hosting the show have been roundly criticized because they're surrendering curatorial
decision-making to partner profit-making entities. More to the point, in 2009 the Dallas Museum
of Art refused to turn over financial records related to the King Tut show at the request of the
Dallas Morning News when the museum was reported to have lost money on the show due to
poor attendance. Where is the DMA's museum transparency? It certainly begs the question:
Is the DMA primarily serving its King Tut profit-making partners or the taxpaying public? Why
hasn't the Texas Attorney General brought the DMA before a court of law for such behavior? Is
the DMA too big (rich) to fall?

This is not the first incident involving the DMA. In May of this year Art Market Views
reported on the $31M Rothko painting "secret sale" which was supposed to have been a
irrevocably promised gift to the DMA. Instead, then-DMA museum trustee, Ms. M. Hoffman
pulled it, sold it and profited handsomely! What about the irrevocably promised gift to
the DMA by Howard and Cindy Rachofsky of Jeff Koons' monumental sculpture Balloon
Flower(Magenta)? That piece was taken out to the museum's future when the Rachofskys
pulled it from the DMA and sold it for $25.8M. Where's the museum transparency that accounts
for the disbursement of the proceeds? How much profit did the Rachofskys reap on that deal?
They originally purchased it 7 years earlier at approximately $1.2M. This is a recent sampling
of the DMA's machinations, but from what I understand, a respectable Texas art historian
and others know of decades old DMA scandals. Traditional journalists are land-locked in their
city and probably reluctant to report on these goings-on in depth and may even fear of losing
their jobs if they attempt to do it. However, out-of-state bloggers and others can't be retaliated
against for asking the hard questions.
 According to some attorneys who have been consulted regarding the sale of two of the
DMA's "irrevocable" gifts, they are wondering if the museum's fiduciary arm should be held
accountable for the millions of dollars in lost proceeds of those sales. That cash should
have remained in the DMA's coffers and not in private citizens' bank accounts. The voice of
the taxpaying public weighing in about these matters has gone national. One respectable
source said, "Were those two pieces of art the only works sold from the DMA"s ‘Fast Forward’
exhibition?" Since the sale of the Rothko painting was kept so very top secret, one really has
to wonder if the board of directors even has a clue. There is probably more than a little tension
among the board members at this time.

Would Mr. Texas Attorney General be interested in this issue? If not, his opponent in the
next election cycle most likely would be. And if neither candidate wants to ask the important
questions, it will certainly be a field day for local and national reporters with the resultant black
mark left on aspiring political careers.

The Council for Artists Rights is based in Chicago, IL USA. Its thrust is to educate the
public about artists' rights and advocates for artists whose work is in distress. CFAR was
spontaneously born in 2004 when devotees of public art learned a city park district had
irrevocably altered--without its creator's permission--a 20 year old work of public art.

Recognition of CFAR founding member John Viramontes:

Honoree, Huffington Post blogger Esther J. Cepeda's Chicago Latino List 2009

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