Baldwin’s lawsuit accuses Mary Boone and Mary Boone Gallery of fraud and deceptive business practices for allegedly passing off a counterfeit copy of Bleckner’s painting “Sea and Mirror” as authentic, complete with a phony Mary Boone Gallery inventory stamp, made-up back story and spurious explanation for the painting smelling inexplicably clean and bright.
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Baldwin is asking for the difference between the purchase price of the painting in his possession and the current value of the original Sea and Mirror, which was painted, as Baldwin claims, while Bleckner was at the height of his artistic career.
Boone’s attorney, Ted Poretz, denied the charges and said Baldwin was made aware from the start that he was not getting an original.
He continues, “Ms. Boone offered him a full refund and took every step to handle this in a professional manner”.
Baldwin’s representative had no comment.
Baldwin – who touts his “multiple Emmy Awards, Golden Globe Awards and Screen Actors Guild Awards” in the suit – readily agreed. He says Boone ultimately admitted to duping him out of $190k.
Boone told him she had the painting cleaned before she delivered it to him because the prior owner had been a heavy smoker.
The Amityville-born Baldwin, who was raised in the Nassau Shores neighborhood of Massapequa and now has a home in Amagansett, had met Bleckner at events in the Hamptons.
Bonne has represented Bleckner for years, and in 2010 told Baldwin she had a buyer willing to sell to the Oscar-nominated actor.
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Boone, whose original 1978 gallery in a pre-gentrified SoHo became an important springboard for numerous following decade’s most notable artists, now has a gallery on Fifth Avenue and another on West 24th Street.
