First-Time Art Buyers Sue London Gallery After Estate Cancels Sale Over Dinner Conversation
Two first-time art collectors are suing a London gallery for breach of contract after it cancelled the sale of three paintings they had already paid for, following objections from the artist's estate.
Yoed and Natasha Anise bought three paintings by the Swedish artist Monica Sjöö from the Alison Jacques gallery in London on 6 October 2023, paying £264,000 — a 20% discount off the £330,000 asking price. The works were Meeting the Ancestors at Avebury (1993), Forest Beings (1997) and Amazon Women of the Bronze Age (1999). It was their first-ever art purchase.
The trouble began at a dinner. On 16 November 2023, the Anises attended a celebration marking the opening of Sjöö's retrospective at Modern Art Oxford, an exhibition that included the three paintings they had bought. There they met representatives of the artist's estate. Days later, the Anises' art adviser, Marie St Germain, was told by gallery founder Alison Jacques that the estate had rescinded the sale, reportedly because of remarks Natasha Anise made at the dinner.
Natasha Anise told The Art Newspaper that her comments were simply that she had never bought art before and might never again — remarks she said were not serious. She had planned to be a steward for the works, including loaning them to museums for exhibitions.
The gallery tells a different story. In a counterclaim, Jacques alleges that St Germain misled a gallery employee by describing the Anises as "beginning to collect and have the potential to be very important supporters for this artist." The counterclaim also states that Natasha Anise said she planned to hang the works in her children's rooms, which the gallery said was unwise given the paintings' fragile condition and lack of glass protection.
Emails from Jacques in November 2023, cited in the Anises' claim, reportedly said the gallery had been "misled" about the buyers' credentials and that estate representatives were made "very uncomfortable" by Natasha Anise "oversharing" about her personal life and emotions. During a phone call on 22 November 2023, St Germain allegedly told Jacques she regretted allowing the Anises to attend the Oxford opening or have direct contact with the estate. The counterclaim also alleges that Natasha Anise cancelled a proposed dinner on 14 November with Jacques and St Germain over concerns she "would screw it up."
The Anises live between Austin, Texas, and Stockholm and run a tech company in the alcohol industry. Natasha Anise befriended St Germain eight years ago at a mothers' group in Texas; St Germain had previously worked at Galerie d'Orsay in Boston and Heather James Fine Art in Austin. According to The Art Newspaper, St Germain discussed collecting as an investment with Yoed Anise, though he was not compelled to buy anything until he and Natasha visited Sjöö's retrospective.
Alison Jacques gallery announced its representation of Monica Sjöö's estate on 4 May 2023. Sjöö, who died in 2005, was a self-described "radical anarcho/eco-feminist and Goddess artist, writer and thinker involved in Earth spirituality," born in Sweden. Her work was censored during her lifetime for its unconventional feminist spirituality. Moderna Museet in Stockholm presented the first major survey of her work, The Great Cosmic Mother, in spring 2023, and Alison Jacques gallery held a Sjöö exhibition from 1 February to 9 March 2024.
The lawsuit is due to be heard in the Central London County Court in March 2027.
