AusLeisure

The National Gallery of Australia has launched legal action in New York after discovering it paid $5.6 million ($US5 million) for a statue that had allegedly been stolen.

The matter relates to the Canberra gallery's 2008 purchase of a bronze sculpture titled Shiva as Lord of the Dance (Nataraja), dating from 11th Century India.

The NGA's lawyers claim a New York-based dealership, Art of the Past, "fraudulently induced" the Gallery to buy the statue by making "misrepresentations and false assurances concerning the history of the Shiva".

Court documents show New York-based art dealer Subhash Kapoor provided the Gallery with sales receipts for the Shiva dating back to 1970.

Subsequently the Gallery paid for the item to be shipped to Australia, added to its collection, and paid in two instalments.

However, in July 2012 US authorities raided a warehouse belonging to the business' director where they seized tens of millions of dollars worth of allegedly stolen art, including many Indian statues from a period similar to that of the Shiva.

Further investigations found the Shiva was stolen from a temple where it had been the property of the Central Government of India.

Court documents read "based on information obtained ... the Shiva has lost its financial value, and its clouded title and notoriety means that the work cannot be promoted as a key work of art in the Gallery's Indian Collection."

Attempts to sell the work are unlikely to be successful due to the uncertainty surrounding its past, the document went on.

The NGA is attempting to recover the cost of the Shiva, plus interest, legal fees and freight costs.

An office manager at the dealership pleaded guilty last year to multiple counts of trafficking in stolen art, and the Shiva statue is listed in court documents as being illegally exported from India.

Dealer Kapoor is also facing charges in India over allegations of art smuggling.

The Canberra Times reported that the NGA is not commenting on the matter while it is before the court.

21st October 2010 - EXTENSION OPENING LAUNCHES NEW ERA FOR NATIONAL GALLERY OF AUSTRALIA

22nd July 2010 - ‘NEW LOOK’ NATIONAL GALLERY OF AUSTRALIA SET TO OPEN

Support our industry news service
We hope that you value the news that we publish so while you're here can we ask for your support?

As an independent publisher, we need reader support for our industry news gathering so ask that - if you don't already do so - you back us by subscribing to the printed Australasian Leisure Management magazine and/or our online news.