More than $500,000 worth of artwork destined for an Upstate New York gallery was allegedly ruined when the pieces were transferred between airplanes during a downpour in Hawaii, according to court filings reviewed by The Independent.
Eleven original paintings were destroyed by Alaska Airlines on March 18 while en route from Osaka, Japan to John F. Kennedy International Airport, destined for Naga Antiques in Hudson, New York, says a lawsuit filed Thursday in state court.
Along the way, the Alaska plane made a stop in Honolulu, Hawaii, the complaint explains.
“In Honolulu, Hawaii, Alaska deplaned the Artworks during a heavy rainstorm and made no effort to protect the Artworks from water damage,” it states. “As a result, the Artworks were soaked and sustained significant damage.”
The complaint accuses Alaska and Hawaiian Airlines, its subsidiary, of failing to protect the paintings on paper, which were packaged in cardboard crates, from getting ruined in the rain. It contends the carriers “acted with gross neglect, reckless disregard, and or with willful misconduct.”
“By the Airlines failure to take any precautions to protect the Artworks from water damage, the Airline and its employees knew that such conduct would result in significant damage to the Artworks,” the complaint states. “As a direct and proximate result… the Artworks sustained damages exceeding the sum of $521,900.00.”
The suit is being brought by Distinguished Programs Insurance Brokerage LLC, which paid out Naga’s claim and is now attempting to recoup its money, plus interest, from Alaska Airlines and Compass Forwarding Co., a Queens, New York, logistics company.
Naga Antiques opened in New York City in 1971, and later moved to the Columbia County town of Hudson, according to its website, which says the store “curates an unparalleled collection of fine furniture, decorative objects, and over 600 exquisite Japanese screens, comprising the world’s largest collection of its kind.”
It offers high-end Asian art, primarily from Japan, at prices that can reach over $100,000. The complaint does not include specific details about the 11 pieces in question.
Distinguished Programs Insurance offers “comprehensive insurance solutions,” including art transit insurance, for art dealers and galleries, it tells prospective customers.
“Fine art and collectibles are always at their most vulnerable when they’re in transit. When items leave their primary location, any number of issues can arise,” its marketing materials tell prospective customers. “Whether it’s theft, problems with an unattended vehicle, or an accident involving a dropped crate, knowing about potential hazards during shipment can prevent avoidable damage.”
In 2009, the Gagosian Gallery in New York sued Lufthansa Cargo in federal court for allegedly destroying a $3 million painting by American artist Brice Marden while being transported from Moscow to the United States. The work became loose in its travel frame while on the way there, resulting in “a significant amount of paint loss,” ruining the painting, attorney Eliot Greenberg told The New York Times.
In 2017, insurance company Zurich American sued Delta Air Lines for $2.6 million on behalf of Christie’s after a Gerhard Richter painting was purportedly ruined on its way from New York to California.
The 1994 work, Abstraktes Bild, left the auction house in “good condition,” but arrived at its destination “not in the same… good order and condition as when received by Delta,” according to court filings reported first by the New York Post. “To the contrary, the consignment was delivered in a damaged condition and seriously impaired in value.”
A year earlier, insurer Lloyd’s of London sued American Airlines, along with seven art handling companies, for damaging a $196,000 Lucio Fontana sculpture shipped by Marc Selwyn Fine Art from Paris to New York.
Other high-profile incidents have included the Book of Kells, a 9th-century manuscript by Celtic monks that contained the four Latin Gospels of the New Testament, which was damaged upon arrival in Australia from Ireland when vibration during flight allegedly damaged the work’s 1,200-year-old pigments; a Christo work destroyed by a forklift; and a Minton vase shipped from South America to London for an insurance appraisal, arriving in “a thousand fragments,” according to The Guardian.
Naga Antiques did not respond to a request for comment by The Independent. A message sent to Alaska Airlines also went unanswered.
