THE SMITH ARCHIVE: The Continuing Story of 95 “Lost” Masterworks On Paper — Jean-Michel Basquiat 1981–1987

“Lee had been working to prepare the Mumford Collection for a potential sale with Talin Maltepe of Sevan Art Gallery. Maltepe is a prominent art consultant, dealer and broker based in Toronto. She has a unique niche in the art world, specializing in consulting on due diligence for paintings that are not catalogued. She, in turn, brought in a colleague, Jason Halter, a respected architect who also serves as an adjunct professor at the University of Toronto teaching architecture, landscape, and design.”

(Lost And Found And Lost…And Then Found Again?)

In “Sleeping With Basquiat”, her catalogue essay for the 2018 “Smith Archive”, Toronto resident Talin Maltepe spins a tale describing her fateful first meeting with Jason Halter:

“That same day I finally get a call back from Jason Halter talking about
his collection and how he acquired it. We made arrangements to go
visit him that day and when he gives me his address I realized that he
actually lives right across the street from my home. We could throw
rocks at each other from our windows!”

Later today, I’ll tell you (and show you) why that’s only one of the deceptive claims made in the Smith catalogue.