Suit to block art show is dropped

The grandson of a Russian businessman Tuesday withdrew a lawsuit against the Los Angeles County Museum of Art that was intended to prevent the exhibition of 25 artworks including paintings by Cezanne, Degas, Matisse, Picasso and Van Gogh.

In July, Andre Marc Delocque-Fourcaud brought the suit against the museum in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, arguing 25 paintings in “Old Masters, Impressionists, and Moderns: French Masterworks From the State Pushkin Museum, Moscow,” on show at LACMA until October, were stolen from his family by Lenin’s Bolshevik government in 1918 and should be removed from the exhibition. The suit also sought compensation for damages.

Delocque-Fourcaud moved to withdraw the suit, which was also dismissed by the court.

“It confirms the ability of museums in this country to obtain artwork and to show it without the threat of lawsuit, and that is a major victory for the people who are interested in art,” said Chip Rawlings, an attorney with the Quinn Emanuel firm, which represented the museum.

The suit was part of a larger campaign to recover ownership of the works , Edward E. Klein, Delocque-Fourcaud’s New York-based attorney, told The Times in July.

Louise Roug