Mickalene Thomas’s former fiancée, the curator and mannequin Racquel Chevremont, has filed a summons towards the artist, accusing Thomas of sexual harassment and claiming she owes her hundreds of thousands of {dollars}. The Unbiased’s Justin Rohrlich broke the information on 18 August. The summons, signed in Manhattan on 8 August, cites at the least $10m in damages. Thomas has about two weeks to reply.
Thomas and Chevremont have been collectively for a decade, beginning in 2011. The 2 typically collaborated on numerous tasks, together with as Deux Femmes Noires, supporting younger artists of color. Chevremont has been the topic of quite a lot of Thomas’s works. One in every of Thomas’s portraits of Chevremont from 2016 is now within the Whitney Museum of American Artwork’s assortment; one other (additionally from 2016) bought for $1.8m with charges in 2021 at Christie’s—the present document for a Thomas work at public sale.
Though the couple broke up in 2020, they continued to work collectively. Chevremont’s submitting states that: “Throughout this time, Ms. Thomas repeatedly and improperly pressured Ms. Chevremont to renew their romantic relationship, and finally terminated Ms. Chevremont’s employment, in violation of New York State and New York Metropolis Human Rights Legal guidelines, when she made it clear that this might by no means occur.” The submitting cites “breach of contract, unjust enrichment, quantum meruit, conversion, sexual harassment and retaliation” and describes a “hostile and abusive” working atmosphere”.
It additional notes that, between 2012 and 2022, Chevremont “contributed immeasurably to Ms. Thomas’s inventive and business success, performing as a strategic adviser, and liaison to galleries, collectors and establishments. Regardless of these work-related contributions, Ms. Chevremont was paid improperly for greater than a decade.” The submitting states that this was regardless of a written settlement between the 2 that went into impact in 2021, including that Chevremont can also be owed “compensation previous to 2021 and for multimillion-dollar offers she negotiated on Ms. Thomas’s behalf”.
Lastly, the submitting contends that Thomas “illegally diverted important funds and enterprise alternatives from her and Ms. Chevremont’s jointly-owned entity”, rerouting them to her personal enterprise account as an alternative. Based on an Artnet report from 2022, the 2 had agreed that Chevremont would obtain a 20% minimize on Thomas’s commissioned works she helped promote. Chevremont’s lawyer didn’t reply to a request for remark.
Chevremont appeared on the newest season of the reality-TV collection The Actual Housewives of New York Metropolis. She is now engaged to the psychologist Mel Corpus.
