Yale Takes on Alum in Battle for Van Gogh
Vincent Van Gogh's "The Night Café" shows a place where one "can ruin oneself, go mad or commit a crime." Yale will compete against an alum to keep the painting.
Yale tends to turn out great minds but the administration might be hoping the faculty did not do such a great job with the one representing the other side of the Van Gogh painting case.
Yale alum Allan Gerson, a 1976 grad, is representing Pierre Konowaloff, the purported great-grandson of industrialist and aristocrat Ivan Morozov, who owned “The Night Café” in 1918.
Konowaloff claims to be the rightful owner of the masterpiece, which hangs in the Yale University Art Gallery, and wants to yank the painting for the school's walls and give it to Russia.
The new document says Konowaloff has until May 22 to respond to Yale’s suit, the Yale Daily News reports.
Gerson, of AG International Law in Washington, worked for the U.S. Justice Department.
He is also an artist. His own work hangs in museums and he he has written opinion pieces for the New York Times on art.
Copyright Yale Daily News
Posted Sunday, Jul 19, 2009 - 10:43 PM EST
