A Paris Court will soon decide whether the two nephews of the second wife of Russian artist Michel Larionov (1881-1964) are entitled to receive part of his succession largely given to the Russian State a few years ago. The nephews have been battling for a long time against the Russian and French authorities to obtain a share of Larionov's succession.
The Russian-born painter, who obtained French citizenship after deciding to remain in France, first married his fellow-countrywoman Natalia Gontcharova and after her death in 1962 was remarried to Alexandra Tomiline.
Alexandra, who died in 1987, made a will in which she instituted as residuary legatees the Soviet government or in particular her sister and eventually her nephews. In fact, the Soviet Government was entitled to obtain all the works by Larionov and Gontcharova she had in her Parisian apartment.
She however specified in her will that all the paintings she possessed could not be sold or offered during the fifty years that would follow her death while her two nephews were entitled to receive all her financial assets and what was stored in her bank safe.
Alexandra, whose sister died in the meantime, appointed Swiss art expert François Daulte as executor of her will and the latter transferred all the paintings she possessed to the Soviet embassy in Paris. These were sent to Moscow via the diplomatic pouch but French authorities discovered that no death duties had been paid and obtained in 1988 nine paintings and 17 graphic works by Larionov as well as 17 paintings and 24 works on paper by Gontcharova in compensation.
The two nephews, who only received about $ 15, 000 from the succession, however challenged the will and decided to sue the Russian and French authorities.
The fact is that the Soviet authorities needed a court decision to have the will confirmed and to pay death duties in due course while the donation in favour of the French State contradicted the terms of the will, which forbade the legatee to dispose freely of the works during a 50-year period. All the more, the French authorities was entitled to claim 60% of the value of the succession in death duties whereas the works donated in compensation do not match the percentage of the estimated amount of money it represented.
Alexandra Tomiline's nephews, Nikita Khlioupin and Anatoli Sakhnovsky, are basing their claim on the fact that she had stated in her will that she was bequeathing in her sister's favour all her bank assets and what figured in her safe. They thus believe that the paintings possibly stored in the bank safe should have been given to them as Alexandra's sister had died in the meantime. In this respect, legal specialists have noted that the will was not very clear since on the hand Alexandra was giving all the works to the Soviet State she had in her apartment or second residence and on the other she was allocating her bank assets and the content of the safe she rented in her bank to her sister and eventually her nephews.
Alexandra died in Switzerland and her apartment had been emptied well before her death, meaning that the works she possessed had been stored in a warehouse. Therefore, they were not in her apartment as the will indicated.
The donation in favour of the French State could also be annulled at the request of the nephews though they signed in 1988 a document stipulating that they would not challenge such donation but now they argue that the counsel who made them sign this document was illegally representing conflicting parties, the Soviet and French authorities. Moreover, they believe that they are entitled to receive some of the works given to the Soviet State as some of them were probably stored in Alexandra's bank safe.
In addition, convinced that some works disappeared, the nephews have triggered a legal action against François Daulte's son and daughter in order to verify whether some works were not listed in their father's succession.
Daulte enjoyed the confidence of Alexandra during the last part of her life and acted as the executor of her will after she died. According to the two nephews, he was the only person who had the keys to her apartment as well as full access to her bank accounts. All the more, it was him who had the works transferred to a special warehouse and then to the Soviet embassy. It was also noted that during a conference given at Sotheby's in Switzerland he acknowledged that he was in possession of Larionov's works. Therefore, the two nephews wish to verify whether some of these works have not remained in Daulte's bank safe as this was the case for some paintings from the Rouart collection that had disappeared in Paris before they were found precisely in one of Daulte's safes in Lausanne, the daily “Le Figaro” reported.
François Daulte's children however retorted that a French court was not in a position to deal with such matter meaning that no law provided for a Swiss succession to be looked into.
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