The significance of the firm’s 2012 victory in a landmark art recovery case was discussed in the April 22 New York Law Journal article “Third-Party Miscellaneous Proceedings in Surrogate’s Court.”
The recent release of the movie Woman in Gold, starring Helen Mirren in the true story of the recovery of a Gustav Klimt painting from the Austrian government, has drawn renewed attention to the Carter Ledyard art law practice’s 2012 victory in New York’s highest court, which also concerned a posthumous challenge to a gift of art. In Mirvish v. Mott, this firm recovered a monumental sculpture by Jacques Lipchitz, entitled The Cry, which had been given by the artist’s widow to her longtime companion. This unanimous landmark decision established how to demonstrate a gift of art and prevail against a competing claim of ownership asserted after the donor’s death in a probate proceeding. Gary D. Sesser, Ronald D. Spencer and Judith Wallace represented the owner.