Jump to content

Eric Ian Spoutz: Difference between revisions

Edit links
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Browse history interactively
← Previous editNext edit →
Content deleted Content added
VisualWikitext
000111AAA (talk | contribs)
34 edits
No edit summary
000111AAA (talk | contribs)
34 edits
No edit summary
Line 25: Line 25:
| parents =
| parents =
| children =
| children =
| relations =
| relations = [[Ian Hornak]] (uncle), [[Julius Rosenthal Wolf]] (uncle)
| website =
| website =
}}
}}

Revision as of 23:37, 1 May 2017

Eric Ian Spoutz
Eric Spoutz lecturing at the Washington County Museum of Fine Arts in Hagerstown, Maryland in 2013.
Born
Eric Ian Spoutz

(1983-08-03) 3 August 1983 (age 41)
Mount Clemens, Michigan
NationalityAmerican
EducationCardinal Mooney Catholic High School (Marine City, Michigan)
OccupationArt Dealer
RelativesIan Hornak (uncle), Julius Rosenthal Wolf (uncle)

Eric Ian Spoutz (born August 3, 1983) is an American art dealer,[1][2] art historian[3] and museum curator.[1][2] In 2003, he founded the Eric I. Spoutz Gallery in the Fisher Building in Detroit, Michigan,[1][2] subsequently opening Gallery 928 at the Westin Cape Coral Resort at Marina Village in Cape Coral, Florida[4] in addition to galleries in Palm Beach, Florida and Los Angeles, California.[5]

In 2017 he was sentenced to 41 months in federal prison at Federal Correctional Institution, Morgantown for selling fraudulent art through internet auction sites and through auction houses.[6][7][8][9][10]

Early Life, Family, Education

Eric Ian Spoutz was born in Mount Clemens, Michigan on August 3, 1983 to Carl Spoutz, a real estate developer and Rosemary Hornak, an artist.[11] Eric Spoutz's maternal uncle was the founding photorealist and hyperrealist artist, Ian Hornak.[1][2] Ian Hornak's life partner was the casting director, producer, theatrical agent[12] and art collector, Julius Rosenthal Wolf who was the assistant director of Edith Halpert's Downtown Gallery in New York City and helped to champion American Modernism in the visual arts.[13][14]

Spoutz attended Cardinal Mooney Catholic College Preparatory School in Marine City, Michigan where he graduated high school in 2001.[1][2]

Spoutz's parents divorced in 1993 when he was 9 years old. He was raised by his mother, his father's parents and his uncle, Ian Hornak. During the school year he lived in Mount Clemens, Michigan and many summers he spent with Ian Hornak at his home and studio in East Hampton, New York and in New York City.[2]

Career

Through his early exposure to the art world in New York, he took an interest in art and became his uncle's studio manager in East Hampton at age 16.[2] Eric Spoutz's grandfather, Elmer Spoutz died when he was 18 in 2002 and Eric Spoutz became the manager of his estate.[2] Also in 2002, his uncle, Ian Hornak died and Spoutz became the executor of his estate.[2] In 2003, Spoutz opened the Eric I. Spoutz Gallery in the Fisher Building in Detroit, Michigan which specialized in photorealist and hyperrealist artwork.[1][2] He curated, "Lowell Nesbitt: A Retrospective" there in 2004, which was the largest display of the artist's artwork since the artist's death in 1993.[15] Later Spoutz moved to Palm Beach, Florida where he lived until moving back to Michigan.

Between 2007-2017 Spoutz placed artwork by many artists into the permanent collections of the Smithsonian Institution's American Art Museum, the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History, the Smithsonian Institution's Archives of American Art, the Smithsonian Institution's Smithsonian Libraries, the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, the Library of Congress Rare Books and Special Collections Division, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the National Museum of Women in the Arts, the National Hellenic Museum, the National Czech and Slovak Museum and Library, the Florida State Capitol Complex, the Academy of Motion Pictures and Sciences, the Los Angeles County Museum, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the Detroit Institute of Arts, Dartmouth College Rauner Special Collections Library, Rutgers University Zimmerli Art Museum, The George Washington University Luther M. Brady Art Gallery, The Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender and Reproduction, the Forest Lawn Museum, the The Long Island Museum of Art, History and Carriages, the Flint Institute of Arts, the Children's Hospital, Boston, the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, the Detroit Historical Museum and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum.[6][1][2] He also curated traveling museum exhibitions throughout the United States including an exhibition at Federal Reserve Board of Governors in Washington D.C. that was on display during Barack Obama's 2013 Presidential Inauguration.[1][2][3]

During the City of Detroit bankruptcy, Spoutz was frequently quoted as an art expert in The Detroit News, valuing the Detroit Institute of Arts collection[16] and public art in the City of Detroit including Marshall Fredericks sculpture, Spirit of Detroit.[17]

Spoutz opened Gallery 928 at The Westin Cape Coral Resort at Marina Village in Cape Coral, Florida where he exhibited the artwork of contemporary artists and masterworks by Andy Warhol, Joan Miro, Pablo Picasso and others, at one time reportedly having 20 million dollars worth of artwork on display.[4][18] The gallery closed in 2014 and Spoutz moved to Los Angeles, California where he opened an online dealership for authentic masterworks.[11]

He also donated his time, expertise and worked for The Heidelberg Project in Detroit, Michigan, The Connecticut Sports Foundation in Old Saybrook, Connecticut and the estate of Jack Mitchell (photographer).[2]

On February 3, 2016 Eric Spoutz was arrested at his home in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California based upon a 26 page complaint[19] issued by the office of United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Preet Bharara.[20][21][22][23][24][25] On June 3, 2016 Spoutz plead guilty to one count of wire fraud related to the sale of falsely attributed artwork accompanied by forged provenance documents.[6] The government charged Spoutz with marketing and selling the fraudulent artwork through online auction sites and auction houses, however the case did not relate to Spoutz's legitimate art galleries that he owned, the artwork that he put into museum collections or the artwork by his uncle, Ian Hornak.[5] On February 16, 2017 Spoutz was sentenced in the case U.S. v. Spoutz by the Honorable Lewis A. Kaplan in United States District Court for the Southern District of New York to 41 months in federal prison at Federal Correctional Institution, Morgantown and ordered to forfeit the $1.45 million he made from the scheme and pay $154,100 in restitution.[6]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Tom Watts, "Harrison Township art dealer is quick study," Macomb Daily, Feb. 15, 2012
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Jameson Cook, "Dual depictions presented of a prominent art dealer gone bad," Macomb Daily, Feb. 14, 2017
  3. ^ a b Stephen Bennett Phillips, "Ian Hornak Transparent Barricades," exhibition catalogue, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Fine Art Program, Washington D.C., 2012
  4. ^ a b Charles Runnells, "Gallery 928 brings Picasso, Warhol and other art icons to Cape Coral," The News Press, Feb. 7, 2014
  5. ^ a b US v. Spoutz, 16 Cr. 392: Government Sentencing Materials, Feb. 6, 2017
  6. ^ a b c d Reuters, "Michigan Art Dealer Gets Three Years in Prison for Selling Fake Paintings," NBC News, Feb. 16, 2017
  7. ^ "Michigan art dealer gets more than 3 years in prison for fraud," The Detroit Free Press, Feb. 16, 2017
  8. ^ Nate Raymond, "Michigan art dealer gets 3-plus years in prison for forgeries," Reuters, Feb. 16, 2017
  9. ^ "Art Dealer Sentenced to More Than Three Years in Prison for Selling Forged Modern Art," Art Forum, Feb. 20, 2017
  10. ^ Caroline Elbaor, "Art Dealer Eric Spoutz Sentenced to Over Three Years in Prison for Selling Forgeries," Artnet News, Feb. 20, 2017
  11. ^ a b "Forging Papers to Sell Fake Art," Federal Bureau of Investigation (press release), April 6, 2017
  12. ^ "Jay Wolf, 47, Producer, Casting Director and Agent," New York Times, June 14, 1976
  13. ^ "Papers of Jay Wolf, Circa 1900 - 2009," Dartmouth College Rauner Special Collections Library
  14. ^ "Downtown Gallery records, 1824-1974, bulk 1926-1969," Smithsonian Institution, Archives of American Art
  15. ^ ""Lowell Nesbitt: A Comprehensive Retrospective Exhibit Opens at the Eric I. Spoutz Gallery in Detroit, Michigan," PRWeb.com, August 22, 2003
  16. ^ "Christies lists alternatives to selling art," The Detroit News, Dec. 5, 2013
  17. ^ "Could other assets be sold?," The Detroit News, Oct. 24, 2013
  18. ^ Brittany Weiner, "$20 million art exhibit on display in Cape Coral," NBC2, July 18, 2014
  19. ^ U.S. v. Spoutz Complaint - US Department of Justice, Jan. 16, 2016
  20. ^ "Michigan Art Dealer Arrested And Charged With Fraud For Selling Dozens Of Forged Artworks Over Five Years," Department of Justice, U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of New York, Feb. 3, 2016
  21. ^ "Michigan Art Dealer Sentenced To More Than 3 Years In Prison For Defrauding Collectors Of $1.45 Million Through Sale Of Forged Artworks," Department of Justice, U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of New York, Feb. 16, 2017
  22. ^ Alex Johnson, "Art Dealer Eric Spoutz Charged With Selling Dozens of Fakes of American Masters," NBC News, Feb. 3, 2016
  23. ^ Meg Wagner, "Michigan art dealer arrested for selling fake paintings by American masters with forged letters of authenticity," New York Daily News, Feb. 4, 2016
  24. ^ Nate Raymond, "Michigan art dealer arrested by FBI for selling forgeries," Reuters, Feb. 3, 2016
  25. ^ Lia Eustachewich, "Art dealer con man allegedly sold dozens of forged pieces over 15 years," New York Post, Feb. 4, 2016
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/enwiki/w/index.php?title=Eric_Ian_Spoutz&oldid=778250705"