ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Aaron De Groft, a former head of the Orlando Museum of Artwork who left the establishment underneath a cloud in 2022 after it was raided by the FBI as a part of an artwork fraud probe into greater than two dozen cast Jean-Michel Basquiat work, has died. He was 59.
De Groft died final weekend after a quick sickness, the Neptune Society, a cremation service supplier, mentioned with out offering additional particulars. The Orlando Sentinel additionally reported that his spouse, Kathryn Lee De Groft, had submitted an obituary to the information outlet.
“We were saddened to hear about the passing of Aaron De Groft,” the museum said in an emailed statement. “Our thoughts are with his family at this time of loss.”
De Groft grew to become govt director of the Orlando Museum of Artwork in 2021 following artwork museum administration jobs in Jacksonville, Sarasota, and Williamsburg, Virginia.
De Groft negotiated to have the Orlando Museum of Artwork be the primary establishment to show greater than two dozen artworks mentioned to have been present in an previous storage locker many years after Basquiat’s 1988 demise from a drug overdose at age 27. Basquiat, who lived and labored in New York Metropolis, discovered success within the Nineteen Eighties as a part of the neo-Expressionism motion.
Questions in regards to the artworks’ authenticity arose virtually instantly after their reported discovery in 2012. The paintings was purportedly made in 1982, however specialists have identified that the cardboard utilized in at the very least one of many items included FedEx typeface that wasn’t used till 1994, about six years after Basquiat’s demise, in line with the federal warrant from the museum raid.
Moreover, the proprietor of the storage locker the place the artwork was discovered, TV author Thad Mumford, informed investigators he had by no means owned any Basquiat artwork and that the items weren’t within the unit the final time he had checked it. Mumford died in 2018.
On the time of his museum’s exhibit, De Groft repeatedly insisted that the Basquiat artwork was professional.
An FBI search warrant mentioned that De Groft despatched an e mail to a tutorial artwork professional when she requested that her title not be utilized in selling the works as a result of she did not wish to be related to the exhibit. Within the e mail, De Groft urged her to “shut up,” and he threatened to inform her employer that she was paid $60,000 to put in writing a report in regards to the items.
“You took the cash. Cease being holier than thou. You probably did this not me or anyone else,” De Groft mentioned within the e mail quoted within the search warrant. “Be quiet now is my best advice. These are real and legit. You know this. You are threatening the wrong people. Do your academic thing and stay in your limited lane.”
The FBI seized the work in the course of the museum raid in 2022.
In 2023, former Los Angeles auctioneer Michael Barzman agreed to plead responsible to federal expenses of constructing false statements to the FBI, admitting that he and an confederate had created the pretend paintings and falsely attributed the work to Basquiat.
The museum sued De Groft, claiming fraud, breach of contract and conspiracy. The previous govt director countersued the museum for breach of contract and wrongful termination, saying he was being made a scapegoat. The board chairwoman and out of doors legal professionals for the Orlando Museum of Artwork had signed off on the exhibit, even after the FBI had subpoenaed the museum’s information over the exhibit in July 2021, De Groft mentioned in court docket papers.
De Groft’s legal professional, Robert Parks, did not instantly reply to an e mail and telephone name looking for touch upon Wednesday. The Orlando Museum of Artwork mentioned in its emailed assertion that it would not be acceptable to debate the way forward for the litigation presently.
De Groft is survived by his spouse and two youngsters.
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Observe Mike Schneider on the social platform X: @MikeSchneiderAP.
