A long-running inheritance dispute over Franz West’s estate, reportedly worth more than $50 million, has finally been settled after Austria’s highest court ruled last month that all of the Austrian sculptor’s art should be donated to the Franz West Private Foundation , which is represented by Gagosian, Eva Presenhuber and Bärbel Grässlin. The decision overturns an earlier court ruling that awarded ownership of West’s works to his widow and children.
West’s last wish was to separate his art from his other assets, making his widow and children heirs to his estate while transferring his art—and all rights to it—to the foundation, which he created while in the hospital five days before his death. in 2012.
Shortly after he died, West’s widow, the artist Tamuna Sirbiladz, sued the foundation, claiming that she and her children (not biologically West’s, but considered by the artist to be his own) owned West’s works. Christoph Kerres, the lawyer who represented the family until 2017, told earlier The Journal of Art that the contracts drawn up while West was in the hospital were “rushed” and incomplete. Following Sirbiladz’s untimely death in 2016, Benedikt Ledebur, the children’s biological father, continued the dispute on behalf of the family.
Crucially, the latest decision, handed down on November 21, names West’s sister, the late Anne Gutjahr, as the artist’s legal successor, not his children. Gutjahr, who died in March 2021, previously ordered that the entire artistic estate of his brother be transferred to the Franz West Private Foundation.
The decision also marks a victory for Gagosian, who has represented the private foundation since its inception, over rival David Zwirner, who continues to represent the estate and the Franz West Archive, which was established in 1997. Zwirner first discovered the talent of West in the early 1990s, feeding him until Gagosian poached the artist in 2001, a body blow for Zwirner who said Vanity Fair in 2019, West’s departure “made it clear to me that I had to grow up.” A spokesman for David Zwirner did not respond to a request for comment.
Stefan Ratibor, director of the Gagosian gallery, says Zwirner has done “fantastic work” with West in the past and continues to show the artist, including in Los Angeles earlier this month. Without access to the foundation’s works, the works in that exhibition are likely to come from Zwirner’s own collection and others.
Ultimately, Ratibor thinks the legal resolution is a “good thing” for the art world. “Franz was well-loved by artists and curators, and now there is clarity in the foundation,” he says. Until now, every loan and sale of West’s work from the estate has required court approval, including Gagosian’s exhibition of West’s drawings at Frieze Masters this year. “Museums were also reluctant to do shows because they didn’t know who to talk to,” adds Ratibor. A retrospective at the Center Pompidou in 2018, which traveled to the Tate Modern in 2019, was only possible because it was planned and prepared during West’s lifetime.
The foundation is run by West’s former studio director, Inés Turian, and has Roland Grassberger, the artist’s nephew, on its board. “We are very pleased with this result,” Grassberger said in a statement. “Finally, we can take steps to make Franz West’s work visible again in the public sphere and defend the importance of his artistic legacy. For us, this legal certainty is the basis for doing so.”
The artist’s nephew points out that “a number of issues remain to be resolved”, and adds, “for now we are focused on devising a future strategy to defend West’s legacy, in collaboration with museums, galleries and collectors around the world”.
Those unresolved questions center primarily on whether West’s children are still entitled to a portion of the artist’s assets, which could include a portion of the value of the works now held by the foundation. In Austria, children are automatically entitled to 50% of their parents’ inheritance. However, in his will, West stipulated that if his widow and children contested his donations to the private foundation, they would lose their entire inheritance. This may still have to be cleared up in court, so the saga continues.
