Rothko case

The Rothko case was the protracted legal dispute between Kate Rothko, the daughter of the painter Mark Rothko; the painter's estate executors; and the directors of his gallery, Marlborough Fine Art. The revelations in the case of greed, abuses of power and conspiracy by financial interests in the art world were described by the New York Court of Appeals, the highest court of New York state, as "manifestly wrongful and indeed shocking",

Details

On September 16, 1968, Rothko executed a two-page will, drafted by and its execution supervised by his friend Bernard Reis, an unlicensed law-school graduate and Certified Public Accountant, leaving all of his residual estate to the non-profit Rothko Foundation which Rothko organized shortly before his death.

Five months later on February 21, 1969, Rothko entered into an agreement with Marlborough A.G., a Liechtenstein corporation with international galleries, which provided in part that he agreed "not to sell any works of art for a period of eight years, except to Marlborough A.G. if a supplementary contract is made."

Valuation issues

The courts involved in litigating the Rothko matter were faced with many complex issues as part of and beyond the wrongdoing of the Marlborough group as estate executors. In particular, the valuation of services rendered by counsel were litigated at length; and the valuation of the paintings posed complex questions as their valuation affected nearly every other matter facing the court. In 1979 after much of the matter's litigation had already taken place, the court said:<blockquote>... <nowiki>[</nowiki>T<nowiki>]</nowiki>he bulk of the estate was and is in the form of hundreds of paintings rather than cash ... and ... <nowiki>[</nowiki>the<nowiki>]</nowiki> Internal Revenue Service may not at an early time complete its final determination with respect to date-of-death estate taxes. The estate is presently resisting a deficiency assessment of large proportions. In litigating that issue there is not only a difference of opinion with respect to the value of the hundreds of paintings in this estate but also whether a blockage discount should be given to the estate and whether a further discount should be available due to the inter vivos contract for an exclusive agency in favor of Marlborough Galleries for seven years after death, and finally whether a discount should be enjoyed by the estate for commissions which must be paid for selling many of the paintings by agents of the estate.

...

<nowiki>[</nowiki>P<nowiki>]</nowiki>revailing counsel have participated in approximately 20,000 pages of transcript of pretrial and trial testimony; thousands of exhibits have been introduced and considered; thousands of pages of briefs have been submitted to this court and to the appellate courts; many decisions were made in this court, pretrial as well as the ultimate disposition; the Appellate Division has ruled on these matters several times; and the Court of Appeals has finally unanimously affirmed the major disposition made in this court, (43 N.Y.2d 305, 401 N.Y.S.2d 449, 372 N.E.2d 291).

Despite Theodoros Stamos' protestations that he had done nothing wrong,

Marlborough A.G.'s founder Frank Lloyd paid a third of the $9.2 million award to the Rothko children as a fine against Marlborough for violating the court's injunction against the sale of any further paintings before a final ruling or settlement. Lloyd died in 1998 at age 86. on interviews and the trial transcripts. In 2021, Rothko, a film adaptation of Seldes' book, was announced, with Sam Taylor-Johnson directing.

Details

Valuation issues

See also

References

Further reading