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Retrospective: Bouvier affair
"Rybolovlev vs Bouvier" was one of the top art scandals of 2015
Overpriced, confidence fraud, sale of stolen works - The fox and the oligarch are suing in a big way
Judicial claims of collector Dmitry Rybolovlev against art dealer and businessman Yves Bouvier entered into the top art scandals of 2015, according to portal BLOUINARTINFO, along with the cancellation of the Kyiv Biennale and other unpleasant events.
Both are well-known people.
Rybolovlev is a billionaire former owner of Uralkali, now a resident of Monaco, owner of a soccer club with the same name and a valuable collection of art, one of the top 200 collectors in the world according to ARTnews (along with Abramovich, Baibakov, and Mikhelson).
Yves Bouvier is an entrepreneur, originally from the transportation business, and now the owner of a chain of Freeports around the world and an art dealer. Yves Bouvier is well remembered in Russia. It was he who brought the best galleries of the world to Moscow, within the framework of the first Salons of Fine Arts. In those days, starting from 2004, Picasso, Bacon, de Stal, Kandinsky, and other first names were brought to the capital. MWFAF salons are still unsurpassed by the luxury of the material presented and the level of the invited participants.
The more surprising for everyone was the scandal that erupted. To be more exact, two scandals, woven into one.
The first scandal was a lawsuit against Bouvier by Rybolovlev for misleading him when selling his work to an ex-oligarch. Roughly speaking, instead of taking for their mediation of the agreed 2%, Yves Bouvier added more of his "markup. And not a small one at that. According to Rybolovlev's estimates, it could be as much as 20 million. Simplifying the situation even further, we can say that Rybolovlev is not satisfied with the fact that greatly overpaid the Swiss art dealer. In fairness, it should be noted that since then the price of masterpieces has increased markedly. A nude by Modigliani of the same class as sold by Bouvier can go for $170 million, not 118. But the train left, the buyer closed the deal, and now dissatisfied with the prices. It happens, even though it sounds amazing. For example, something similar already happened in the case of Alexander Savchuk v. Anatoly Bekkerman.
The second scandal concerns the sale of allegedly stolen Picasso works to Rybolovlev's collection. Here, too, confusing and dashing story. Picasso's stepdaughter saw two of her works in the Rybolovlev collection, which she did not sell to anyone, but kept in a French warehouse Art Transit, managed by Yves Bouvier's partner Olivier Thomas. Works are not listed as stolen, so a collector and did not take it. As a result, works by Picasso, estimated at $ 30 million Rybolovlev voluntarily returned to the artist's stepdaughter, the daughter of his second wife Jacqueline Rock. And now the search for the perpetrator.
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