The creation of the Giacometti Foundation has been bogged down by a legal dispute following a court action launched on December 9th 1999 against the Annette and Alberto Giacometti Association headed by Mary Lysa Palmer, an American citizen. The legal administrator of the Giacometti succession is now asking Lisa Palmer to surrender all the property she received from Annette Giacometti and his action in court may well jeopardise the creation of the foundation that the latter wished to set up some ten years ago in order to house some 700 works (drawings, paintings, sculptures and engravings) produced by her husband and worth some US $ 122 million.
The Annette and Alberto Giacometti association was set up for a duration of five years and was to serve as a link for the setting up of the Foundation. Some US $ 3,5 million were devoted for its functioning and this amount of money was due to be transferred to the Foundation.
When Annette Giacometti died in September 1993, the Association decided to extend the duration of its existence by one year as there was no development regarding the opening of the Foundation. Similar decisions were taken in 1995, 1996 and 1997 so as to enable the Association to pursue its activities, notably for delivering certificates, listing fakes and completing the Giacometti Catalogue Raisonné.
In June 1999 French culture minister Catherine Trautmann announced that the setting up of the Foundation would rapidly take place but the present court action is likely to delay it as the curator of the Giacometti succession has been asking for an audit of the accounts of the Association that may have to surrender its assets. Lawyers for the Association said it incurred no debts and that the curator had no right whatsoever to control its running. There is now a risk that the Giacometti succession will be handed over to Annette's brothers, Michel and Claude Arm, and to their heirs. This was certainly not Annette's wish but as a result of conflicting interests the creation of the Foundation has been facing many obstacles.
The Arm brothers are against such project as they would never get a cent from the succession and if their demands were met Mary Lysa Palmer would no longer play any role. Meanwhile the French Administration, always cautious vis à vis foundations, has showed no hurry to solve the case regarding the Giacometti institution. In fact, the State seems more interested in a donation since the Arm brothers are not Giacometti's direct heirs meaning that French museums would be entitled to receive some US $ 62 million worth of works as death duties.
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