Oct. 17 (Bloomberg) -- New York art dealer Lawrence Salander canceled the opening of his last exhibition yesterday after his London-based collaborator removed about half of the artworks planned for the show.

``I did not feel secure after the experience of the last four days,'' dealer Clovis Whitfield said outside Salander- O'Reilly Galleries, as a crew packed about 40 Old Master artworks into a 26-foot truck, including four pieces that Whitfield says are Caravaggios.

At 5 p.m. yesterday, guards were videotaping the art as it was being removed. Lawyers walked in and out, two hours before guests were expected at the gallery on East 71st Street in Manhattan. An unidentified young man who left the gallery with Salander struck a Bloomberg News photographer. Salander unsuccessfully tried to restrain the man.

The latest developments cast doubt on the future of the 31- year-old gallery.

As late as Monday, the show was still expected to go on. Facing lawsuits by hedge-fund executive Roy Lennox and others, Salander had agreed to relinquish about 650 artworks and his library of rare art books in order to reopen his gallery for a last exhibition.

New York State Supreme Court Judge Richard Lowe approved the partial settlement, which involved just two of Salander's creditors, Lennox and New York investor Donald Schupak.

The agreement seemed to resolve the Lennox suit, one of about two dozen against Salander. The complaints accuse him and his Salander-O'Reilly Galleries of reneging on debts totaling more than $30 million and, in some cases, of operating a Ponzi scheme. Salander has denied the allegations.

Two Exhibitions

The accord was meant to permit last night's opening of two shows at Salander's gallery, ``Masterpieces of Art: Five Centuries of Painting & Sculpture'' and ``Caravaggio,'' which also features works by Titian and Botticelli.

On Oct. 11, Judge Lowe ordered the New York sheriff to padlock the gallery after Salander, 58, was accused of violating a previous court order forbidding him to remove art from the gallery.

For four days, Salander and his employees were barred from entering the limestone mansion off Madison Avenue, which Salander rents for $183,000 a month.

Among the complaints, Carol Cohen of Wellington, Florida, alleges that after the 2004 death of her husband, Alan Cohen, a former chief executive of Madison Square Garden, she placed $3.6 million of paintings with Salander for safekeeping. Salander sold them without permission and without remitting the proceeds, according to her Oct. 3 suit.

Charles Lichtman, one of Cohen's lawyers, has contacted the office of Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau.

``We've gotten a couple of complaints we're reviewing,'' said Barbara Thompson, a spokeswoman for Morgenthau.

Schupak's Art

Under Monday's accord, Schupak's investment vehicle Renaissance Art Investors will receive 642 art works from Salander. Stuart Slotnick, a lawyer for Schupak, said in court that Renaissance Art Investors acquired all of Salander's Renaissance art in April 2006. Schupak, chairman of Triumph Apparel Corp., formerly Danskin Inc., declined to comment.

Lennox, of New York hedge-fund company Caxton Associates, will receive half a dozen artworks from Salander, as well as the library. If the library is assessed at less than $1 million, Salander must make up the difference in jewelry and cash, according to the agreement.

Salander is also required to continue to pay for 24-hour security guards stationed outside his gallery to ensure that he doesn't remove any art.

`We're Over It'

Lawyers negotiated the agreement Monday outside Lowe's courtroom. The dealer, wearing a dark suit, sat slumped on a bench or paced lugubriously.

``I'm glad we're over it,'' he said at day's end, prematurely as it turned out. The exhibition ``is for the benefit of the people of New York.''

Salander said in an interview last month that these would be his last major shows and he was hopeful they would raise hundreds of millions of dollars.

Schupak agreed to leave the Renaissance works that were meant for the show until Thursday. After those works are removed, it's unclear what art Salander will have left.

New complaints have been filed in recent weeks. On Oct. 11, American Express Co. sued Salander and the gallery to collect $698,013 in unpaid credit-card charges. Bank of America Corp. sued Salander and his wife, Julie Dowden Salander, for failing to make interest payments or repay the principal on a $2 million loan, according to court papers. Salander has said he'll eventually repay all debts.

Late on Rent

RFR Realty, led by developer and art collector Aby Rosen, sued to evict Salander-O'Reilly from its townhouse. The suit accused Salander of being consistently late on the gallery's $154,000 monthly rent and $29,000 in monthly real-estate taxes - -triggering RFR's option to terminate the lease.

In court papers, Salander maintained the landlord isn't ``aggrieved'' simply because Salander has been ``substantially late'' with the rent every month except two since he leased the mansion in December 2004. He said that RFR wants him out because it has a buyer for the property or another tenant who will pay a higher rent.

Until November 2006, Salander also occupied gallery space on East 79th Street, according to court papers. That landlord has sued to recover at least $384,000.

Tennis star John McEnroe said in a May suit that Salander didn't make good on a promise to double his $162,500 investment in five months. Salander has repaid $200,000, according to court papers. Arthur Carter, former publisher of the New York Observer, is seeking more than $1.2 million he says he's owed. Lennox claimed in his suit to be the victim of ``an illegal Ponzi scheme'' and has sought at least $4.6 million.

Salander has denied operating a Ponzi scheme.

To contact the writer of this story: Philip Boroff in New York at pboroff@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: October 17, 2007 00:01 EDT