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Famed portrait photographer’s heirs sue New York gallery over lost art

NEW YORK (AP) – Relatives of one of the world’s most famous portrait photographers have sued a Manhattan gallery, saying it lost valuable photographs created with Spanish surrealist master Salvador Dalí.

A daughter and two grandchildren of the late Philippe Halsman say in a lawsuitthat 41 of the works created by Halsman and Dalí were reported stolen in April 2007.

The works were among dozens delivered to the Howard Greenberg Gallery in 2003 and 2004.

The federal court lawsuit demands $684,000 in damages.

Messages for comment left with the gallery on Monday haven’t been returned.

Halsman photographed celebrities including Elizabeth Taylor and Marilyn Monroe. He died in 1979 at age 73.

Dalí’s most famous painting is The Persistence of Memory, which shows melting clocks. He died in 1989 at age 84.

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AP-ES-09-15-08 1840EDT