“Windfall”
Gagosian, which sued Pelham in January over the dispute, claims Pelham paid too little for the sculpture, generating a "windfall" of more than $60 million at the expense of Picasso’s daughter and granddaughter. Gagosian said it had already entertained several $100 million offers for the work during its 2011 show, “L’Amour Fou,” which exhibited the work alongside other art inspired by Picasso’s affair with Walter.
Gagosian received title to the work on Oct. 2, per his sales agreement, according to his suit.
Black, a masterpiece hunter and MoMA Co-Chairman, is one of the world’s top 200 art collectors, according to ArtNews magazine. He bought Edvard Munch’s “The Scream" for $120 million in 2012. In 2009, he paid $47.6 million for Raphael’s chalk drawing “Head of a Muse.” His collection, valued at $800 million, represents 20 percent of his $4 billion net worth, according to the Bloomberg Billionaire Index.
Guy Bennett, the principal of Pelham, is currently the chief of Collections and Acquisitions of the Museums Authority of Qatar, according to court papers. In 2015, Qatar Museums, according to widespread reports, bought Paul Gauguin’s “When Will You Marry?” for $300 million, the highest price ever paid for a work of art.
Two casts of “Bust of a Woman” already exist -- one bronze, another cement -- according to Werner Spies’ catalog of 664 sculptures by Picasso completed between 1902 and 1971.
When the plaster bust is deemed sold, it will likely become the most expensive Picasso sculpture to change hands. Today that record rests with the bronze head of a woman that fetched $29.2 million in 2007 at Sotheby’s, according to Artnet.
The case is Gagosian Gallery Inc. v Pelham Europe Ltd. 16- cv-00214. U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).