Evelyn A.J. Hall — Update

I previously posted an update on the controversy surrounding the Jolika Collection at the M.H. de Young Memorial Museum in San Francisco.

Here is what has developed since the last post. 

• San Fransisco agreed to sell 76 pieces from the collection to resolve the inheritance dispute between the three Friede brothers.
• One of the brothers opposes the sale because he was not involved in picking the pieces, which he feels are not valuable enough to pay the debt owed him and another brother.
• The same brother is also opposed to a $3.7 million payment from his mother’s estate to the museum that will promote the collection.
• The $3.7 million is currently being held by JPMorgan.
• This summer Sotheby’s plans to auction ten of the works it was previously awarded as an unpaid creditor.

See John Cote, De Young selling tribal art as family squabbles, San Fransisco Chronicle, April 22, 2009; Kate Taylor, Art Collection Dwindles as Disputes Continue, New York Times, April 24, 2009.