Princess Eugenie has worked for the art gallery Hauser & Wirth for many years. She used to work for an American auction house, and Hauser & Wirth headhunted her and helped bring her back to the UK. It honestly sounds like Eugenie is a pretty big deal in the art world. Well, Hauser & Wirth is now in deep trouble by the British authorities. The gallery sold a George Condo painting to a Russian in 2022, and they actually shippd the painting to Russia. England, like many NATO countries, has had all kinds of sanctions against Russia for years, even before Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, but a new round of sanctions (on luxury goods) were introduced after the invasion. And it sounds like this sale went through AFTER the invasion too. Yikes.

An art gallery of which Princess Eugenie is a director has been accused of breaching sanctions on Russia. Hauser & Wirth is accused of making available “a luxury good” to a “person connected with Russia” between April and December 2022. The gallery allegedly supplied a painting titled Escape from Humanity, by American artist George Condo, to Alexander Popov, who runs a foundation alongside his wife which includes a collection of contemporary art.

Since April 2022, the Department for International Trade has imposed a ban on the export of items to Russia valued over £250, including high-end fashion clothing, vehicles, works of art, semi-precious stones, and jewellery.

The decision to prosecute, following an investigation by HMRC, is reported to be the first under the law banning the supply of luxury goods to Russia.

Princess Eugenie, 35, has been involved with Hauser & Wirth since 2015 and says on her LinkedIn profile that she is a director with the gallery. The Princess is not a member of Hauser & Wirth’s London board and there is no suggestion she had any role in the alleged supply of the painting to Mr Popov.

[From The Telegraph]

I was curious what the art-world media was saying about this, because the British media is obviously talking about through the prism of “this is Eugenie’s gallery!!” But it sounds much more complicated:

The U.K. tax authority HM Revenue and Customs has charged the London branch of mega gallery Hauser and Wirth with breaching criminal sanctions that prevent the export of luxury goods to Russia by providing a George Condo painting to a Russian art collector.

The gallery and the art shipping firm Artay Rauchwerger Solomons are accused of providing Condo’s work on paper, Escape from Humanity (2021), to Alexander Popov, who runs the Popov Art Foundation near Moscow, according to proceedings at Westminster Magistrates’ Court.

The gallery, which is headquartered in Switzerland but has U.K. locations in London and Somerset, is alleged to have provided Popov with the painting between April 2022 and the end of December of that year, according to court documents. HMRC claims that the shipping company made the artwork available between August and December of the same year.

Popov is not under U.K. sanctions and is not accused of any wrongdoing.

“Our U.K. gallery has been charged with one instance of making an item of artwork available to a non-sanctioned person connected with Russia,” a spokesperson for Hauser and Wirth confirmed in an email. “We are fully committed to complying with all our legal obligations including sanctions. As the case is ongoing, we are unable to comment further other than to say we strongly contest this charge and intend to plead not guilty.”

[From ArtNet]

If the gallery is fighting the charges and pleading not guilty, I wonder if there’s a technical aspect to when the painting was sold versus when it was shipped. Like, if it was sold before the ban on luxury exports, the gallery might argue that they believed the sale and shipment would be grandfathered in, you know? I also wonder if Eugenie was more involved here.

Photos courtesy of Cover Images.