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Georges Demotte (1877–1923)

Georges Joseph Demotte, a Belgian-born collector and dealer of Islamic and medieval art, had businesses in Paris (first at 27, rue de Berri, and later at 23, rue de Provence) and New York City (first at 25 East Seventy-Eighth Street and later at 8 East Fifty-Seventh Street). Demotte was killed in a hunting accident on the estate of the Parisian antiques dealer, Otto Wegener, on September 3, 1923. Questions have been raised as to whether his death was accidental. He was involved in a lawsuit with Joseph Duveen and a forgery scandal at the time of his death. After his death, his seventeen-year-old son, Lucien Demotte (1906–1934), took over the presidency of the Demotte businesses in Paris and New York.


"Demotte Killed in Gun Accident; International Art Dealer Shot Dead While on Hunting Expedition in France,New York Times, September 5, 1923.

Meryle Secrest, Duveen: A Life in Art (New York: Knopf, 2004), 207–23.