Soutine Returned: A Rare Deaccession for National Gallery

The National Gallery of Art rarely deaccessions works (other than duplicate prints), but -- in settlement of a lawsuit -- it has just agreed to transfer the ownership of a painting on view there, Chaim Soutine's Piece of Beef, to the family of a prior owner. In return, the NGA will receive payment, which spokeswoman Deborah Ziska described in an email to me as "more ...than it paid for it." 

The suit was brought by the estate of Lorette Jolles Shefner of Montreal against the National Gallery and Maurice Tuchman and Esti Dunow, the authors of the Soutine catalogue raisonné, about a year ago. It accused the men of "tricking her into selling the 1923 painting for $1 million -- below market value -- and then reselling it for twice the amount to the museum in 2004," according to the Associated Press. The suit also said the museum should have investigated how the two men came to own the artwork.

Ownership of the painting will now be returned to the Shefner Family, which has agreed, however, to leave the painting on view at the NGA "for the near future." U.S. District Court Judge Laura Taylor Swain, of the Southern District of New York, approved the settlement last week.

Piece of Beef  is part of an important series of carcasses painted by Soutine. The family contended that the experts should have told Ms. Shefner that comparable works by Soutine had sold for much more than she accepted for the work.

Photo Credit: Courtesy of Edelman Financial