Latest news with #artdealer
Daily Mail
09-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE 'Diana wore nothing but a fur coat and a tiara': Confidante of late Princess revealed sensational details of 'infatuated' royal's turbulent love affair with married art dealer Oliver Hoare
Princess Diana 's passionate - but tumultuous - love affair with a married English art dealer in the early 90s, just months after her separation from the now King, once saw the late royal turn up at his family home naked except for a fur coat and tiara. The eye-opening new details about Diana's on-off dalliance with charismatic old Etonian Oliver Hoare, who died aged 73 in 2018, were revealed this week by journalist and royal biographer Sally Bedell Smith in her latest post on her Substack Royal Extras. Bedell Smith recounted the 'incredibly close bond' that Diana shared at the time with 'mother figure' Lady Elsa Bowker. Lady Elsa, who was already in her mid eighties when her friendship with the then 32-year-old princess blossomed, saw the royal divulging her deepest secrets to her on her affair with the handsome Hoare, a close friend of Prince Charles. The art dealer, who was 16 years Diana's senior at 46, was married to Diane de Waldner de Freundstein at the time, heiress to a French oil company - with the couple sharing three children, Tristan, Damian and Olivia Lady Elsa, wife of diplomat Sir Reginald James Bowker, became privy to the most intimate details of the liaison, including the alleged moment when Diana was so upset at the thought of Oliver seeing his wife, she fled a moving vehicle the lovers were in. Diana's confidante Lady Elsa, who died in 2000 at the age of 92, recounted: 'Once when Oliver's wife was out of town, he told Diana he had to leave because he had to see his daughter, who had a fever. 'She suspected he was really going to see his wife, and nothing he said could convince her otherwise. She was very suspicious and mistrustful. They were in the car, and at one point she was so upset that she opened the door as if to jump out.' The ageing ambassador's wife, who was described by Bedell Smith in her book Diana In Search of Herself as 'enchanting' to those she met, went on to relay how the late Princess did eventually exit the vehicle in haste. She said: 'A little while later they were in a traffic jam in Sloane Square. Suddenly Diana did jump out, leaving behind her bag and her money and everything, Oliver was so distraught that he never even saw his daughter. 'He drove all over London for three hours and finally found Diana in the park near Kensington Palace, lying down and weeping.' Their emotional entanglement was, according to Lady Elsa's account, a hugely sexual affair, with the 'mother confessor' revealing that Diana had once been bold enough to arrive at the Hoare family home clad in nothing but a fur coat, a tiara and jewels. Revealing Diana's revelations on the impassioned encounter to Bedell Smith over high tea in May 1998, the royal biographer says Lady Elsa told her: 'One time she [Diana] arrived at his house when his wife and children were away. 'Diana came in the evening, and when he opened the door, she was wearing a fur coat and tiara. They came inside and were standing in front of the fire. 'He said, "Aren't you warm in that coat?" and she took it off. Underneath she was naked and wearing lots of jewels. Both Diana and Oliver told me that.' Of all Diana's lovers (they included James Hewitt, James Gilbey, Will Carling and Dodi Fayed), Hoare was arguably the most debonair - although he never publicly admitted to falling for the royal. Over tea in the late 90s, Lady Elsa, who was in her 80s when she became close to Diana, divulged that the pair had a stormy relationship, with the late royal once fleeing his car - she was later found by the art dealer lying down in a park close to Kensington Gardens (Hoare pictured in the early 90s close to his home in Chelsea) Diana was once said to have smuggled him into Kensington Palace in the boot of her car, and security staff once found him half-naked and hiding behind a bay tree as he tried to sneak out after a fire alarm went off in the middle of the night. However, Hoare was not inclined to leave his wife and after he tried to cool the relationship in 1994, Diana allegedly bombarded his Chelsea home with nuisance telephone calls. On his wife's insistence, Hoare contacted the police, and some of the 300 calls were traced to the Princess's private line in Kensington Palace, with others coming from telephone boxes in the Kensington area. The police later announced the inquiries had been ended 'at Mr Hoare's request.' Diana admitted in the notorious Panorama interview with Martin Bashir in 1995 that she had sometimes called Hoare. 'Over a period of six to nine months, a few times, but certainly not in an obsessive manner, no,' she insisted. She had previously told Lady Elsa that she 'daydreamed of living in Italy' with him. In Sally Bedell Smith's latest Royal Extras post, entitled 'Mother Confessors', she lists the women who Princess Diana turned to in lieu of her own mother. Mother confessor: Diana shared her biggest secrets with Lady Elsa Bowker, who she became friends with when she was in her early 30s and Lady Elsa was in her mid 80s. She revealed in the late 90s to journalist Bedell Smith that Diana had told her she 'daydreamed of living in Italy' with Hoare DIANA'S OTHER FORMER LOVERS James Hewitt James Hewitt showered Diana with the attention she craved during her marriage to Prince Charles, and she showered him with gifts in return. However, he betrayed her trust by assisting Anna Pasternak in her 1994 book Princess In Love, which revealed their five-year relationship, and Diana never forgave his actions. In a 1995 TV interview, she said: 'Yes, I adored him. Yes, I was in love with him. But I was very let down.' James Gilbey James Gilbey was far more loyal than Diana's previous suitor; the pair always denied their affair but had a close relationship. Following her engagement to Charles she still used to iron his shirts, with their relationship making the press following their 'Squidgygate' scandal in August 1992. This emerged when a soppy phone call emerged between the pair in which Gilbey referred to Diana as 'Squidgy' 14 times, during the height of Charles and Diana's marriage crisis. Will Carling England Rugby Union legend Will Carling and Diana became close after meeting at a fitness class, and he pursued her despite being warned by friend Gary Lineker that she was 'trouble.' Like Gilbey, he has always denied a romance with Diana, claiming that the pair were very good friends and nothing more. However, his marriage to TV host Julia Carling ended after rumours of a tryst with the princess. Dodi Fayed A month after her break-up to another of her lovers, heart surgeon Hasnat Khan, Diana rebounded with Dodi Al-Fayed, son of Egyptian billionaire and Harrods owner Mohamed Al-Fayed. After vacationing on his family's yacht in the French Riviera, the new couple were en route to London when they both lost their lives in a fatal Paris car crash in August 1997. In her 1999 book, the journalist wrote that the royal had a 'collection of surrogate mothers' as she navigated her high profile life in the late eighties and early nineties. She says they included 'Lady Annabel Goldsmith, Lucia Flecha de Lima, Hayat Palumbo, and Elsa Bowker - formidable women in their own right, but all living outside the conventional world in which Diana had been raised.' Bedell Smith added that Diana's mother figures 'were anywhere from twenty to fifty years her senior; even within the maternal category, they occupied different niches.' Lady Elsa Bowker was described as 'the most intriguing of these women - exotic, mysterious, and especially compelling to Diana when she was at her most vulnerable.' Wrote Bedell Smith: 'She spoke with heavily accented femme fatale English that would have earned her a fortune in Hollywood. Her personality and vitality were pure Mediterranean.' Of all the men drawn into the vortex of Princess Diana's life, Hoare was one of the few to emerge with any credit. Too well-bred to ever allow his emotions to go on public display, he weathered the endless speculation about his affair with the Princess of Wales with a wearied insouciance, keeping both his dignity and his silence. Diana never publicly acknowledged her love for Hoare as she did for Cavalry officer James Hewitt, or allowed her friends to talk of him as they did subsequently of other men friends such as Hasnat Khan or Dodi Al-Fayed.
Globe and Mail
27-06-2025
- Globe and Mail
Ontario art dealer Jim White pleads guilty to selling forged Morrisseau artworks
An Ontario art dealer has pleaded guilty to his role in what investigators have called Canada's largest art fraud case, admitting he handled works falsely attributed to the late Anishinaabe painter Norval Morrisseau. Jim White appeared before an Ontario Superior Court of Justice in Newmarket, Ont., on Wednesday and pleaded guilty to uttering forged documents and possessing property obtained by crime for the purpose of trafficking. Through his lawyer, Emily Lam, he declined to comment after the proceeding. Mr. White was one of eight people charged in March, 2023, as part of a 2½-year art fraud investigation that would identify two distinct counterfeiting rings – one based in Thunder Bay, the other in Southern Ontario – responsible for faking thousands of Morrisseaus. Mr. White's precise role is unclear from available court records, but one of the co-accused, David Voss, identified Mr. White as a 'major distributor' of forgeries in court filings last year. Mr. Voss admitted to overseeing 'the production and distribution of thousands of forged artworks falsely attributed to Norval Morrisseau' and claimed that Mr. White 'consigned the forgeries to auction houses and galleries across Canada, where the forgeries were sold to unsuspecting members of the public.' Mr. Voss was handed a five-year prison sentence for his role. Mr. White's sentencing is scheduled for Aug. 7. The Morrisseau investigation launched in 2020, shortly after Jason Rybak, a Thunder Bay Police homicide investigator, watched There Are No Fakes, a TVO documentary that identified many key players in the forgery scheme. McGill believes it has painting falsely attributed to acclaimed artist Norval Morrisseau after investigation Insp. Rybak partnered with the OPP to investigate the film's explosive allegations. In the documentary, Mr. White states that '100 per cent' of his business came from Morrisseaus and that he'd personally dealt with 189 works by the late painter. At one point in the documentary, Mr. White tells filmmaker Jamie Kastner, 'I have never seen a fake, have you?' Insp. Rybak said that statement makes the guilty plea all the more gratifying. 'He was a central figure in the documentary saying there were no fakes and today that has culminated in him admitting that paintings he had in his possession and that he sold were fake,' said Insp. Rybak on Wednesday. Lawyer Jonathan Sommer, who has defended unwitting buyers of Morrisseau fakes and tried in vain for years to get the police involved, said Mr. White played a significant role in denying that any forgeries existed. 'He's been very litigious in all of this,' said Mr. Sommer. 'His position always centred on the idea that there were no fakes.' Once called the Picasso of the North, Mr. Morrisseau died in 2007 having earned a reputation as one greatest artists in the country. His work featured depictions of people and animals in thick black lines, a style that came to be called the Woodland School. In the years before his death, Mr. Morrisseau identified dozens of counterfeit works. But buyers who tried to sue galleries for selling them suspect Morrisseaus ran into legal hurdles trying to prove a painting was a definitive fake. Barenaked Ladies band member Kevin Hearn was one of those plaintiffs. His lawsuit against the gallery that sold him a dubious Morrisseau forms the basis of the documentary. Mr. White intervened in that case. 'To hear [Mr. White] plead guilty to criminal offences is a watershed moment,' said Mr. Sommer, who represented Mr. Hearn. 'This is something we've been waiting on for a long time.'
Yahoo
07-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Artists Accuse Prominent Dealer Reco Sturgis of Issuing Death Threats and Withholding Payments
A number of artists have accused art dealer Reco Sturgis—the founder of Hugo Galerie in New York, which closed in 2023—of withholding artworks, failing to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in owed funds, and making violent threats via email and text message. In one message reviewed by ARTnews, Sturgis seemingly threatened to kill a friend of an artist who had publicly warned others about him: 'She is in danger now. This bitch will die. On my mother's grave,' he wrote. More from Robb Report You Can Now Stay at King Charles's Favorite Country Retreat Ernest Hemingway Worked on 'A Farewell to Arms' at This $29 Million Wyoming Ranch This Rhode Island Distillery Just Made a Pizza Vodka Sturgis, who is originally from Atlanta and whose current whereabouts are unknown, has been named in at least one legal proceeding by an artist seeking unpaid sales proceeds. In 2023, he was also sued by his landlord, Peter Weisman, for nonpayment of rent on Hugo Galerie's SoHo location. Court documents filed in the Civil Court of New York show that a settlement of more than $463,000 was reached, but Weisman told ARTnews that no payments have been made. Other companies, including CFG Merchant Solutions, Byzfunder, Mantis Funding LLC, DHL Express, and Sutton Maddison Inc., have sued Sturgis for outstanding debts between 2023 and 2025. The cumulative damage claims in these lawsuits, together with the rent he owes Weisman and overdue payments to artists, exceed $1 million. Neither Sturgis nor his attorney, Daniel Kokhba, responded to ARTnews' requests for comment. In 2023, Sturgis gave a rare interview to Shoutout Atlanta, in which he said, 'The relationships I build, whether with artists or clients, or employees, are built on respect, admiration, and trust.' (The artists who have made financial claims against Sturgis in this article have provided corroborating invoices, text messages, and email correspondence that have been reviewed by ARTnews.) British sculptor Beth Carter, who began working with Hugo Galerie in 2016, said problems began around 2019. '[When he closed to the galleries in 2023] he didn't tell most of the artists—he just moved everyone's work into storage,' Carter wrote in an email to ARTnews. She claims Sturgis owes her $200,000 and sold several large bronzes after she repeatedly asked for their return over the course of a year, including a life-size Minotaur that cost her £10,000 to cast. 'He has not paid me for any of these pieces,' she said, adding that Sturgis sold several of her works below what she believes was market value. While Carter did not sign a consigner agreement with the gallery, she said Sturgis 'regularly confirmed inventory and sales records.' She eventually retrieved her remaining unsold works—shipped at her own expense back to the UK—and chose not to sue after receiving legal advice on the cost. 'I counted Reco as a friend of mine (as did my husband) for many years,' she wrote. 'We stayed with him at his apartment in New York and he stayed with us in the UK.' Carter said that the prolonged uncertainty has caused her and other artists who worked with Sturgis 'emotional, mental, and financial harm.' ARTnews reviewed emails in which two collectors contacted her about works they claim to have paid Hugo Galerie for but never received. Another British sculptor, Joseph Paxton, who started working with Hugo Galerie in 2017, told ARTnews that Sturgis has refused to return three bronze sculptures and two drawings worth at least $70,000 combined. He also claims he is owed almost $10,000 in payments. 'I only discovered Reco had closed the galleries when another artist from New York who had recently started exhibiting with Reco messaged me to say he'd walked past the SoHo gallery and seen it was all closed up,' he wrote in an email. French artist Patrick Pietropoli told ARTnews he is 'one of the artists owed the most' by Sturgis. In a statement, he said that Sturgis launched Hugo Galerie in 2016 by soliciting $5,000 from several participating artists—many of whom had previously worked with him at Axelle Fine Arts, where he had been a director until founder Bertrand Delacroix died in 2015. Carter was one of the artists to contribute $5,000 to the gallery's startup costs, but said Sturgis paid her back. Another artist who did not want to be named told ARTnews they were also asked to pay the same amount, but chose not to. Pietropoli said Sturgis' debt seemed to spiral out of control when he opened a second gallery on Madison Avenue in 2021. Another artist, who requested anonymity, said they were owed €120,000 and had also previously been represented by Axelle. 'Our relationship began falling apart in 2023, when Reco stopped paying and stopped communicating,' they wrote. They echoed that Hugo 'unraveled quickly' after opening the Madison Avenue location. While they weren't threatened directly by Sturgis, the artist said the dealer had been 'emotionally manipulating.' One of the artist's friends was threatened by Sturgis after she posted a message online warning people about his conduct. In an emailed reply shared with ARTnews, Sturgis wrote to the artist: '[Your friend] knows absolutely nothing about me or my business… and now she is going to regret putting her nose where it does not belong. I will not tolerate this anymore. She in danger. This old bitch will die. On my mother's grave.' Sturgis emailed the artist just this week to say that he is planning to open a new gallery in New York. 'I have been working on opening another gallery. But it is not as easy as I thought it would be. I am determined so it will happen sooner or later. Most likely in SoHo again,' he wrote. He offered to continue selling their work, proposing a higher percentage of sales 'to cover some of the debt owed.' Several artists told ARTnews that after Hugo Galerie closed, Sturgis attempted to continue selling their work, offering 60 percent of sales to gradually pay back what he owed. Canadian painter Joseph Adolphe, who said he is owed over $30,000, publicly warned others via Instagram in October 2023. 'Numerous other artists are also left in the cold, many with their art unretrievable,' he wrote. Sturgis later messaged him: 'Please take this post down… If you damage my reputation with the art world, it will make it impossible for me to pay you.' In an email to ARTnews, Adolphe wrote, 'Of course there will never be any financial closure, but a judgement against him would be nice. He is in hiding, if we can locate him, we can serve him and have our day in court.' Painter Brian Keith Stephens, who began working with Hugo Galerie in 2016, filed a complaint in the Civil Court of New York in 2023 in which he alleges Sturgis owes him $40,351.50. However, Stephens said he was unable to serve Sturgis because he could not locate him. Stephen also told ARTnews he sold many of his works below market value. 'His messages were delusional and aggressive,' he wrote in an email, of Sturgis's state after the closure of Hugo Galerie. 'He blamed the artists for his failure instead of taking responsibility.' Stephens, who never signed a consignment contract, said his lawyer determined that their correspondence on works, prices, and terms was sufficient to constitute a legal agreement. In a group email reviewed by ARTnews that Sturgis sent to many artists he worked with, he directed homophobic slurs at Adolphe and Stephens. In one message reviewed by ARTnews, he posted an image of Adolphe's daughter and named her school, which prompted Adolphe to contact campus security. 'The whole thing is a sad documentation of the machinations of a truly disturbed mind,' Adolphe said. French artist, Benoit Trimborn, told ARTnews that he began working with Hugo in 2016 and that Sturgis owes him $22,000 after he sold three of his works on Artsy. He said that he tried to get Sturgis to sign a consigner agreement, but he never answered. 'He makes promises without keeping them,' Trimborn wrote in an email. 'I know that he mistreated many artists beyond the non-payment of debts, but I am not one of them, I think I was relatively spared compared to other artists.' French painter Marc Chalmé, who said he is owed $48,000, told ARTnews that he was able to retrieve his work but received threatening texts and videos from Sturgis. In one screenshot shared with ARTnews, Sturgis sent an image of a masked man holding a knife with the caption, 'Keep posting shit about me.' Chalmé had previously posted on Facebook about Hugo, writing 'Bad experience with this gallery, no payment for a sold-out show.' In another message to Chalmé reviewed by ARTnews, Sturgis wrote: 'If I hear that you are continuing to defame me … there will be consequences. I promise you.' At one point, Sturgis's lawyer Daniel Kokhba sent a cease-and-desist letter—reviewed by ARTnews—to several artists on his behalf, claiming that their statements constituted 'tortious interference' and 'libel. At the time of this writing, the social media pages for Hugo Galerie and its online offshoot, Sturgis Art Gallery, remain active—though they have not posted since April and March, respectively. Best of Robb Report The 10 Priciest Neighborhoods in America (And How They Got to Be That Way) In Pictures: Most Expensive Properties Click here to read the full article.
Sky News
30-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Sky News
Banksy shares image of latest street art - as location found after speculation
Banksy has shared an image of what appears to be his latest street art - without revealing its location. But after London-based art dealer MyArtBroker said on Instagram that the artwork is in the southern French port city of Marseille, the Associated Press has tracked it down to a street near the city's port. The graffiti artwork, which has appeared on a wall, is of a lighthouse and features a message which reads: "I want to be what you saw in me." The lighthouse has been made to look like it is the shadow of a bollard that is on the edge of the pavement. Banksy, an anonymous graffiti artist from Bristol, shared two photos of the artwork on his Instagram page on Thursday, triggered speculation over where it may be. Banksy's artworks often address issues such as war, poverty, government corruption, consumerism, and social injustice. However, any potential meaning of his latest street art is not immediately clear. MyArtBroker has speculated that Banksy's work touches on "perspective, meaning and marginalised voices" because Marseille is a "hub for migration and cultural exchange". The quote used by Banksy could have been taken from a song by Tennessee-based country band Lonestar, called Softly, which features the lyric: "I want to be what you see in me. I want to love you the way that you love me." Last year, a swathe of animal-themed Banksy works including a rhino seemingly mounting a silver Nissan Micra, two elephant silhouettes with their trunks stretched out towards each other, and three monkeys that looked as though they were swinging on a bridge, appeared across London.
Sky News
30-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Sky News
Banksy shares image of latest street art - as people speculate over its location
Banksy has shared an image of what appears to be his latest street art - without revealing its location. The graffiti artwork, which has appeared on a wall, is of a lighthouse and features a message which reads: "I want to be what you saw in me." The lighthouse has been made to look like it is the shadow of a bollard that is on the edge of the pavement. Banksy, an anonymous graffiti artist from Bristol, shared two photos of the artwork on his Instagram page on Thursday, triggered speculation over where it may be. London-based art dealer MyArtBroker has said on Instagram that the artwork is in the southern French port city of Marseille. Banksy's artworks often address issues such as war, poverty, government corruption, consumerism, and social injustice. However, any potential meaning of his latest street art is not immediately clear. MyArtBroker has speculated that Banksy's work touches on "perspective, meaning and marginalised voices" because Marseille is a "hub for migration and cultural exchange". The quote used by Banksy could have been taken from a song by Tennessee-based country band Lonestar, called Softly, which features the lyric: "I want to be what you see in me. I want to love you the way that you love me." Last year, a swathe of animal-themed Banksy works including a rhino seemingly mounting a silver Nissan Micra, two elephant silhouettes with their trunks stretched out towards each other, and three monkeys that looked as though they were swinging on a bridge, appeared across London.
