The artist Susanna Blunt, whose depiction of the late Queen Elizabeth II adorned Canadian cash for many years, is suing an area seller in Vancouver for damages.
Blunt, whose picture of the Queen with out her crown was chosen to be stamped onto all of Canada’s cash starting in 2003, filed a civil declare within the Supreme Courtroom of British Columbia on 30 Could in opposition to Benjamin Lumb of the Benjamin Lumb Artwork Home, a gallery in Vancouver.
The lawsuit considerations alleged theft of a sculpture at a bunch present in 2021 that Lumb curated in addition to damages to work at an exhibition at Lumb’s former area in West Vancouver in June 2022. The swimsuit additionally alleges breach of contract and breach of obligation of care “in an quantity to be assessed” in line with the declare. Requested why she waited two years to file the declare, Blunt, who’s now 83 years outdated, cited “in poor health well being”.
The declare alleges that in Blunt’s 2022 solo present, Lumb drilled a gap into certainly one of her sculptures, damaging it; that he knocked over a plinth inflicting a “domino impact” that broken different works; that he was “careless and negligent” when packing up her items after the present, damaging them; and that certainly one of her sculptures was stolen whereas beneath his “care and management”. The declare states that Lumb was apologetic and promised he would repay the artist the worth of the stolen work, “however thus far has failed to take action”. It additionally states that he did not report the theft to the police, as he had promised.
Additional allegations embrace “improper” set up and show of works, failure to show the artist’s biography and achievements, failure to tell guests that they might see extra of her work in her studio and tardiness in sending out exhibition invites.
The lawsuit, first reported by the Vancouver Solar, has despatched ripples by way of the town’s artwork neighborhood. Lawsuits by artists in opposition to galleries are comparatively uncommon in Canada. There have been few instances within the public eye since 2010, when the Anishinaabe artist Rebecca Belmore had a public and authorized dispute along with her gallery in Toronto over possession of labor and staged a protest, efficiency and public authorized response in entrance of the Vancouver Artwork Gallery.
Lumb, whose gallery is at present exhibiting new work by Belmore in a bunch present to assist the Portfolio Prize in help of rising artists, tells The Artwork Newspaper he was shocked to be taught of the lawsuit through the Vancouver Solar article.
“I hadn’t had any communication from her for the reason that finish of the 2022 present,” he says, disputing Blunt’s allegations. “There had by no means been any dialog about compensation for something.” He provides: “This isn’t indicative of my follow. Rebecca Belmore, Graham Gilmore, Attila Richard Lukacs (artists whose work is a part of the Portfolio Prize exhibition) all put their religion in me.”
Lumb remembers Blunt’s 2022 solo present as a “success”. “We had an amazing opening,” he says, “with round 150 folks attending.” Though none of her mixed-media sculptures product of salvaged objects offered, Lumb says a few of her prints offered.
Relating to the allegations of broken works, he explains: “We collaboratively dropped a chunk as we have been putting it on a shelf. It fell and hit a plexiglass shelf. The piece that fell was broken—nevertheless it was not irreparable.”
The stolen sculpture in query, he says, “had gone lacking at a co-working area in North Vancouver that was a part of the native ‘tradition crawl’ occasion. Susanna knew the context of that area. It went lacking as a result of somebody on the co-working area stole it.”
Susanna Blunt’s work The Storm, which was stolen from an exhibit at a co-working area in 2021 Courtesy the artist
Lumb says he and the artist “mentioned one of the best ways to proceed” and thought that she was going to file a police report. Additionally they informed the story to an intern on the native North Shore Information within the hopes that publicity may help in retrieving the sculpture, however “the intern left, and the story was by no means revealed”. The sculpture in query—a small assemblage work product of salvaged steel and wooden depicting motion—was known as The Storm.
Lumb says he hopes to “converse on to Susanna” and has reached out to her for the reason that lawsuit was filed, with no reply.
Bunt says she can’t touch upon specifics as a result of ongoing litigation, however that, “in my 58 years of exhibiting (together with portray portraits of the likes of Prince Edward and cellist Steven Isserlis), thefts and breakages have occurred usually in the midst of exhibitions massive and small, and this time is the fifth for me. Two have paid me directly for theft and for breakages, and three have both blamed an worker or ignored it.”
She echoes Lumb’s shock that the lawsuit has elicited press protection in any respect. “I had maybe naively assumed that this personal enterprise matter might have been resolved by a decide with out anybody else understanding about it,” she says. “This might have been much more dignified for Mr. Lumb, and for me.”
