By Gabriela Resto-Montero
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
UPPER EAST SIDE — Lenders carried out artwork from renowned American painters out of a gallery Tuesday after its owners defaulted on a $9.5 million loan, the Wall Street Journal reported.
A judge ruled that the Berry Hill Galleries at 11 East 70th St. defaulted on a loan from American Capital Financial Services on March 30 and chairman James Berry Hill had entered into negotiations to repay the loan, he told the Journal.
Boxes containing art carted out of the gallery Tuesday bore the names of artists H. Frishmuth, for Harriet Whitney Frishmuth, B. West, for Benjamin West, and N.A. Brooks, for Nicholas Alden Brooks, the Journal reported.
Over the years, the gallery has shown the works of American masters Winslow Homer, Mary Cassatt and Milton Avery, according to its web site.
Berry Hill denied the art was seized, claiming that movers were simply warehousing the works while the gallery prepared for a one-person show, the Journal reported.
"We are negotiating to pay the bank in full," he told the paper.
The judge also found that the gallery "secretly" sold $300,000 worth of its art to another gallery after the bank notified it of the default, the Journal added.
