More than 100 works by the late op-art pioneer Victor Vasarely and his son Yvaral were reportedly seized by authorities last week during a raid on the Michèle Vasarely Foundation in San Juan, Puerto Rico, as branches family of the deceased artist disputed the work of Vasarely. and inheritance.
According El Nuevo Dia, Puerto Rico’s largest newspaper. The raid was linked to an investigation into the location of hundreds of works of art worth more than $40 million according to the newspaper, citing unnamed sources. The FBI did not immediately return a request for comment. The raid was reportedly carried out on the orders of a judge in France.
The Michèle Vasarely Foundation was founded by Michèle Taburno-Vasarely, the second wife of Vasarely’s son, Jean-Pierre, better known by his artist name Yvaral. Ownership of the work held at the Taburno-Vasarely foundation in San Juan was disputed by Pierre Vasarely, Yvaral’s son from his first wife. Pierre directs the Vasarely Foundation, based in Aix-en-Provence, France, which was created in 1976 with the participation of Vasarely before died in 1997.
According to the Michèle Vasarely Foundation website, the organization was founded on the fact that the Vasarely Foundation was “totally antinomic to art” with its links to law and politics, an apparent reference to the involvement of the Vasarely Foundation in an embezzlement scandal in the 1990s.
Pierre Vasarely says The arts journal last year that a French court ordered Taburno-Vasarely to render 200 arrays in 2013, but rejected the order. He said about 600 paintings left France illegally for the United States and eventually Puerto Rico.
Last year, the Vasarely Foundation accused the London gallery Mazzoleni Art of selling works by Vasarely legally belonging to the foundation that were consigned by Taburno-Vasarely. Taburno-Vasarely says The arts journal she received two of the works included in the Mazzoleni art exhibit in a 2008 court case, while the others were given to her by Vasarely’s sons. His request was disputed by a spokesperson for the Vasarely Foundation.
“It’s not funny, but I often compare the situation to a family (with less money and less lineage) killing each other over a color TV, a home video camera or a tablet,” said Pierre Vasarely. The arts journal Last year. “It’s an age-old problem, stupid and cruel.”
Taburno-Vasarely claims she has documents proving the works are legally hers.
“It is extremely sad to have to accept that the Aix foundation created by the artist has only become a place of politics and scandal. We are no longer in art; we are in a disaster,” Taburno-Vasarely said last year.
In 2008, Taburno-Vasarely was arrested in Chicago after she allegedly tried to break into a dealer’s storage unit to retrieve paintings by Vasarely she believed were rightfully hers, a claim she deny.
Neither the Vasarely Foundation nor the Michèle Vasarely Foundation immediately responded to requests for comment.
