Court Throws Out Lawsuit Aimed at Halting Sale of Wyeth Paintings

The South Carolina Supreme Court has thrown out a lawsuit by a Greenville, S.C., man, who claimed $45 million in Andrew Wyeth paintings had been improperly sold to a Japanese company.

The target of the lawsuit was Arthur Magill, who bought the paintings in 1979 and for 11 years allowed them to be displayed in the Greenville County Museum of Art. Magill had paid movie producer Joseph E. Levine $3.5 million for the collection, considered one of the finest of its kind in the nation.

But in 1990, Magill sold all of the paintings to Seibu-Pisa, a Japanese department store chain.

The suit against Magill was filed by Don Owens, 53, a self-employed graphic artist. Owens said Magill had promised to donate the paintings to the museum, and he sought the paintings’ return.

Magill, who made a fortune in textiles, countered that the paintings were never given to the museum, but were merely on loan. He said that as early as 1983 he made it clear that he was dissatisfied with the operation of the museum and would not even consider giving it the collection.

The court said Owens had no right to sue.

“It was a giant pain in the neck for us,” Magill said of the lawsuit. “We spent a hell of a lot of money on this. I’m glad it’s over.”