For the judgment in a process, which is after all about monkeys, dazzling figures and millions, the Duesseldorfer district court has chosen a tiny meeting room on the fifth floor. The announcement, to which on Tuesday morning not even a lawyer, but only Judge Petra Gundlach has appeared, takes only a few minutes.
In the civil proceedings, the court had to decide who was the legitimate owner of 70 monkey sculptures made by the Düsseldorf artist Jörg Immendorff. They came in 2015, eight years after the death of the master, in a spectacular auction series of the Cologne House Van Ham under the hammer. Even the experts were amazed at the proceeds of about 1.6 million euros.
At this sum, the dispute had ignited: Who was she to? The Swiss Gallery St. Gilles, which was supported in the proceedings of Immendorf's widow Oda Jaune? Or the trial opponent, insolvency administrator Marc D'Avoine? The court awarded the money to St. Gilles because the company was able to submit contracts for 2003 and 2007. Insolvency administrator D'Avoine went out of business.
How did this fight come about? The key figure is Helge Achenbach. The art consultant was an important companion and friend of Jörg Immendorff. And he was his fundraiser: he was to advertise the artist's works on the market so that Immendorff could finance his expensive lifestyle.
Aldi scammers as a fundraiser
Immendorff was in the early 2000s, not only poorly in health, and his finances were not well ordered. He suffered from the nervous disease ALS, his medical care devoured large sums. Despite or perhaps because of his bleak diagnosis, Immendorff celebrated lavish parties, ordered cocaine - to satisfy his "greed for life" - and prostitutes, which earned him a piquant lawsuit on top of that.
The monkeys were an order that also ran over Achenbach. St. Gilles, the gallery from Zurich, had commissioned the monkeys, Immendorff had cast them according to the court of bronze, or rather, let pour. Already heavily marked by his illness commissioned the Düsseldorf artist helpers who produced the sometimes larger than life sculptures in series.
The monkeys should sell Achenbach in consultation with the gallery on a commission basis. He had never been the owner, the art consultant himself admitted in court in his testimony.
But for the sale of the affected 70 monkeys it did not come first. Achenbach was convicted of other trades of fraud. He had, among other things, the Aldi family Albrecht paintings and classic cars turned on far above value, Achenbach landed in custody.
Who is behind the gallery?
His impressive art collection was then transferred to Marc D'Avoine, the insolvency administrator from Wuppertal. He wanted to sell the works of art to use the money to satisfy the many creditors that had Achenbach on the neck.
According to the court, the insolvency administrator has argued until the very end that ownership of the sculptures should also be deduced from the property. In addition, stock lists had been submitted, which were hardly attributable. A further proof should provide bills from the years 2010/11 over 900,000 euros, which the Achenbach Kunstberatung GmbH wants to have taken for the sale of a portion of the monkeys. However, the court interpreted the evidence as false invoices. "They do not appear on the balance sheets," said a spokeswoman. The bills Achenbach probably created to deceive the tax office. All a monkey theater.
How and if the Swiss Gallery St. Gilles and Oda Jaune the now awarded proceeds of 1,657,600 euros split, the Dusseldorf district court can not say. The Swiss corporation and the Immendorff widow have been in other cases in court - as a defendant. In December 2013, Jaune won a lawsuit against St. Gilles because bills of around 1.2 million euros had not been paid. The sum was finally transferred.
But who exactly hides behind St. Gilles is still unclear. In any case, references to a gallery operation are not found on the internet. According to the commercial register, the board of directors is a Zurich-based business lawyer who, according to his own information, advises "various families and companies on matters of private and commercial law".
Helge Achenbach will hardly impress the verdict. The Duesseldorf Higher Regional Court had sentenced him in June 2018 Thursday to 16 million euros in damages for the Albrecht family. Achenbach commented on the verdict with a reference to Joseph Beuys, to whom the conception of a work of art was more important than the material execution: "I am dematerialized." Joseph Beuys was a mentor to Jörg Immendorff.