A legal battle between Sotheby’s and a dealer over a record-setting Keith Haring painting Is Headed for Trial

ARTNET NEWS
By Brian Boucher

Keith Haring's Untitled (1982).

NEW YORK---A legal fight between Sotheby’s and a dealer over a Keith Haring painting will get its day in court. [Last] Thursday, a New York Supreme Court judge dismissed the auction house’s request for a summary judgment against Anatole Shagalov, who the house claims ponied up a record-breaking bid for the work but then failed to pay up. The decision clears the way for a trial. Shagalov, based in Great Neck, New York, was the winning bidder on a 10-foot-square Keith Haring painting on a plastic tarp that was offered at Sotheby’s major Modern and contemporary art sale in May 2017. The price, with fees, was $6.5 million dollars—an auction record for the artist—on a presale estimate of $4 million–$6 million. [More]