Galleries Sue for Millions

More than 40 artists, galleries and collectors have begun a legal battle against the storage company Momart over works destroyed in a warehouse fire in east London last year. The list of litigants includes some of the most powerful figures in the industry: the artists Damien Hirst and Gillian Ayres; the sculptor Barry Flanagan; five Royal Academy of Arts trustees, including the celebrated architect Sir Nicholas Grimshaw; and a host of galleries. The lost artwork is believed to have been valued at a total of £60m. The Waddington Galleries lost about 150 works by artists from Heron to Flanagan, including 20 of major significance. Tracey Emin, who was among the most high-profile artistic victims of the fire, whose destroyed work included her famous tent, Everyone I Have Ever Slept With 1963 - 1995, confirmed that she was not suing Momart. For the full story - click the title Irish Art