Fraud to acquire Natasha Gelman's Art Collection

The paintings belonged to Jacques Gelman, a Russian-born producer of Mexican films who died in 1986, and his wife, Natasha, who jointly began amassing art after they were married in 1941. The couple were best known for creating a sweeping collection of 20th-century European art that Natasha Gelman left to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York upon her death in 1998. They purchased the Mexican art mostly from friends as they took part in the vibrant art scene of midcentury Mexico City. Jacques Gelman, who became rich producing the films of the Mexican comedian Cantinflas, moved in glittering spheres in Mexico City and New York, socializing with artists, actors and art curators. As patrons in Mexico, the Gelmans commissioned many portraits: Rivera, Kahlo, Rufino Tamayo and David Alfaro Siqueiros all painted Natasha Gelman.