The widow of a Greek shipping heir, the New York Post is reporting, is driving a wedge between herself and one of her four children by allegedly trying to sell Matisse drawings and other expensive artwork even though they’re not hers to sell, according to a new lawsuit charges.
Tara Kulukundis — who the Post says, locked herself inside late hubby Michael’s $25 million Southampton home in a dispute over the home’s ownership three years ago — is now being dragged to court by her own son, Manuel, in yet another family squabble.
Manuel, whose grandfather by the same name made his fortune in the shipping business in the 1950s, claims that his mom has every intention of pocketing earnings from the sale of dozens of pieces of artwork through Sotheby’s, according to his Manhattan Supreme Court lawsuit filed Friday.
The art collection, which was previously owned by the grandfather, includes two Henri Matisse line drawings, a painting by French artist Camille Pissarro, a 1600 painting entitled “Christ Driving the Money Changers from the Temple” by El Greco, an Edgar Degas sketch and various Chinese and Greek sculptures.
Manuel says the pieces are part of the family’s trust, of which he is a trustee, and therefore untouchable by his mother.
“She has undertaken discussions, through her counsel, with Sotheby’s to sell the . . . artwork and will most likely do so and keep the proceeds,’’ the suit says.
The art is currently held at an apartment in the posh Pierre hotel on the Upper East Side, where Manuel’s grandparents lived before their deaths — and where Tara and husband Michael moved in 2009.
Tara could not be reached for comment on the suit.
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