Mickalene Thomas’s former fiancée, the curator and model Racquel Chevremont, has filed a summons against the artist, accusing Thomas of sexual harassment and claiming she owes her millions of dollars. The Independent’s Justin Rohrlich broke the news on 18 August. The summons, signed in Manhattan on 8 August, cites at least $10m in damages. Thomas has about two weeks to respond.
Thomas and Chevremont were together for a decade, starting in 2011. The two often collaborated on various projects, including as Deux Femmes Noires, supporting young artists of colour. Chevremont has been the subject of a number of Thomas’s works. One of Thomas’s portraits of Chevremont from 2016 is now in the Whitney Museum of American Art’s collection; another (also from 2016) sold for $1.8m with fees in 2021 at Christie’s—the current record for a Thomas work at auction.
Although the couple broke up in 2020, they continued to work together. Chevremont’s filing states that: “During this time, Ms. Thomas repeatedly and improperly pressured Ms. Chevremont to resume their romantic relationship, and ultimately terminated Ms. Chevremont’s employment, in violation of New York State and New York City Human Rights Laws, when she made it clear that this would never happen.” The filing cites “breach of contract, unjust enrichment, quantum meruit, conversion, sexual harassment and retaliation” and describes a “hostile and abusive” working environment”.
It further notes that, between 2012 and 2022, Chevremont “contributed immeasurably to Ms. Thomas’s artistic and commercial success, acting as a strategic adviser, and liaison to galleries, collectors and institutions. Despite these work-related contributions, Ms. Chevremont was paid improperly for more than a decade.” The filing states that this was despite a written agreement between the two that went into effect in 2021, adding that Chevremont is also owed “compensation prior to 2021 and for multimillion-dollar deals she negotiated on Ms. Thomas’s behalf”.
Finally, the filing contends that Thomas “illegally diverted significant funds and business opportunities from her and Ms. Chevremont’s jointly-owned entity”, rerouting them to her own business account instead. According to an Artnet report from 2022, the two had agreed that Chevremont would receive a 20% cut on Thomas’s commissioned works she helped sell. Chevremont’s lawyer did not respond to a request for comment.
Chevremont appeared on the latest season of the reality-TV series The Real Housewives of New York City. She is now engaged to the psychologist Mel Corpus.
