Pioneering art dealer Douglas Christmas, who was convicted in May of three counts of embezzlement from a gallery's bankruptcy estate, was sentenced Monday in federal court to 24 months in prison.
Mr. Christmas, 80, helped shape Los Angeles' art scene in the 1970s and 1980s through ambitious exhibitions at his gallery, Ace. However, it was beset by lawsuits from artists and landlords over lack of payments, and Andy Warhol also mentioned in his 1979 diary about the lack of compensation for the sale. Mr. Christmas has spent much of the past decade embroiled in a lengthy bankruptcy process.
Sentencing has been postponed until this month, during which time his defense team submitted briefs asking for a “non-custodial sentence” such as probation due to his age. Federal prosecutors had asked for 10 years of the maximum 15 years in prison.
Mr. Christmas, who is currently free on bail, is scheduled to be released from prison on February 17th.
The Government has released statements from those affected by Mr Christmas' crimes. Robert Kwan, the U.S. bankruptcy judge who presided over Ace's Chapter 11 case, wrote in a victim statement: This is just part of a widespread pattern and practice of misappropriation of funds, which “resulted in losses to the bankruptcy estate of more than $14 million,” Christmas said.
Kwan said the “huge invisible damage” to the “integrity of the bankruptcy system” has resulted in “extensive investigations and litigation.”
In a statement from Sam Leslie, appointed bankruptcy trustee, Mr. Leslie described a “pattern of lies and theft” by Mr. Christmas, including diverting funds from his own gallery to a defunct New York gallery. He said that included repurposing the materials to museums that are no longer in operation. Leslie, who filed a civil suit against Mr. Christmas and obtained a judgment against Mr. Christmas in 2022, said: “The total amount of over $14 million that he misappropriated would have been enough to pay all creditors within the branch. ” he said. 11 items. Instead, the remaining amount will never be paid. ”
Prosecutors also presented FBI interviews with several artists who owed money to Mr. Christmas over the years, including Mary Corse, who exhibited intermittently with Ace for decades. (She is currently doing a show with Pace.) In an interview, she said that Mr. Christmas owes her about $3 million for the sale of her work. Although she took back some of her paintings as part of her bankruptcy proceedings, Mr. Christmas said he still owns about 10 of her works. Some artists said they were unable to speak openly because of confidentiality clauses in the settlement terms.
Still, Mr. Christmas enjoys a certain loyalty among an older generation of collectors, who wrote more than a dozen letters of character support to Chief Judge Mark Scalsi with the goal of reducing his sentence in 2024. Ta. Others described his expansive, experimental vision for Ace, which he opened in Los Angeles in 1967. The gallery provided important early exhibitions to artists who tested the limits of the gallery, including Robert Irwin, Michael Heiser, and Donald Judd.
Jarl Mohn, a major arts patron in Los Angeles and former president of National Public Radio, wrote in a letter of support that he had purchased many works of art from Mr. Christmas over the years. “I have always felt that it was a fair compensation for me, the gallery, and the artist,” he wrote. “And all of those pieces are much more valuable today because of the guidance of Christmas.”
Many of the letters emphasized that Mr. Christmas lived “frugally” or “humbly”. Cliff Einstein, former president of the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art, called his support of the arts “completely unselfish.” “Unlike many successful art dealers today, Douglass did not use any proceeds from his sales other than to improve his personal lifestyle or reinvest his success into spaces and exhibitions that he hoped would benefit artists.” I've never seen it used.”
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