Judge Dismisses Dallas Art Collector's Suit Over Multi-Million Dollar Rothko
- September 11, 2014 14:27
A Dallas judge last week dismissed collector Marguerite Hoffman's suit against financier David Martinez for breach of contract over the quick flip of a Mark Rothko painting.
Hoffman, who was widowed in 2006, sold the untitled red Rothko in 2007. The private sale garnered $17.4 million for Hoffman and she paid $700,000 to her dealer, Greenberg Van Doren, and $700,000 went to L&M Arts, the now defunct gallery which represented Martinez.
Three years later, Martinez sold the red Rothko at Sotheby's for $31.4 million. Hoffman filed suit, citing a confidentiality agreement that was supposed to keep the painting's sale private. The judge determined that since Martinez did not sign the contract, only L&M Arts was on the hook. The former gallery, once comprised of prominent dealers Robert Mnuchin and Dominique Lévy, could be liable for $500,000 in the case.
The Hoffman's Rothko was reportedly once a promised gift to the Dallas Museum of Art, and part of the 2007 exhibition "Fast Forward," which featured promised gifts from local collectors.
