I bought a reproduction painting of Tamara de Lempicka’s ‘Autoportrait Green Bugatti’ from 1st-art-gallery.com. It was 8 weeks late in being shipped and then I received a letter from US Customs and Border Protection asking me to provide them with a copy of the licensing agreement as Lempicka’s work is under copyright. And as the painting had shipped from China they said that they were suspicious that it was an unauthorized copy as many pirated copies came from China, and that they would not release it until I had shown them authorization. I called 1st-art-gallery.com and spoke to David the owner, who I must confess had an accent much more similar to Benjamin Netanyahu’s rather than Donald Trump’s, he told me to inform US Customs that it was only ‘Inspired by’ Tamara de Lempicka. So I contacted US Customs and told them what David had told me, they replied that although it was badly painted it was still a copy of Lempicka’s ‘Autoportrait Green Bugatti’ and therefore needed a license. I contacted David from 1st-art-gallery.com again and he confessed that they didn’t have a license to make copies of Lempicka’s work so I asked him for my money back as I couldn’t get the painting as it was stuck in US Customs who wouldn't release it. He replied that since 19 days had passed since 1st-art-gallery.com shipped the painting that their guarantee had expired after 7 days so they wouldn’t refund me one cent. I pointed it that it was their fault not mine that it was still held up in US Customs to which David barked in reply, ‘No refund, never refund, we never ever refund’, and slammed the phone down.
Mike Mitchelle
NYC,#2UPDATE Employee
Sat, August 12, 2017