Beaverbrook art dispute wraps up in Fredericton
Last Updated: Friday, December 8, 2006 | 11:52 PM AT
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Lawyers for the Beaverbrook Art Gallery in Fredericton wrapped up hearings into an art dispute Friday with tough words for Lord Beaverbrook himself.
The gallery is fighting with a British foundation controlled by the descendants of William Maxwell Aitken (Lord Beaverbrook) over who owns 133 works of art at the gallery.
On the last day of the hearing, the Beaverbrook U.K. Foundation finished its closing arguments and the gallery was given most of the day for a final rebuttal.
Larry Lowenstein, the gallery lawyer, re-stated his theory that the gallery's ownership records were tampered with in 1960.
Lowenstein alleged the tampering was an attempt to conceal the fact that the paintings had been given to the gallery as gifts.
He pointed out that foundation lawyers have not spoke about the integrity and honesty of Beaverbrook.
He said that's because they know Beaverbrook was capable of mischief, such as wanting to conceal the true status of the paintings.
Lowenstein said these tawdry details would never have come out if Beaverbrook's grandsons, Maxwell and Tim Aitken, hadn't started the dispute.
He said Lord Beaverbrook has been, in his words, "exhumed and forensically dissected in a way from which his reputation in this province will probably never recover."
Retired Supreme Court judge Peter Cory said he hopes to hand down his decision in the case by the end of February.
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