The Courthouse News Service is reporting that Canadian art authenticator has expanded his suit to include multiple media outlets in addition to his suit against the New Yorker et al. The suit now includes Gawker, Business Insider, ArtInfo, Fine Art Registry owner Theresa Franks, the Georgia Museum of Art and an independent art blogger. I was sent a copy of the suit the other day, and it certainly makes for interesting reading.
The Courthouse News Service reports
To read the Courthouse News Service article, click HERE.As the story became "widely circulated," dozens of media outlets commented on it with the assumption that "it must be true because it's in the New Yorker," Biro says.
Biro filed an amended complaint against several of those entities, including ArtInfo, which allegedly reported "that Biro was part of a family of art forgers, and that he had been planting the forensic evidence into the questionable works himself."
Based on the New Yorker profile, Business Insider gave Biro the dubious distinction of being included on a list of "Nine of the Biggest Art Forgeries of All Time." That article states, "New Yorker reporter David Grann wrote a profile of Biro revealing him as a forger and long-term fraud who created phony fingerprints on paintings to market them as genuine."
Gawker, the news aggregating blog, took a more neutral position in its story titled, "Is This Man the Art World's High-Tech Hero or Villain?" The post itself leaves the answer ambiguous, concluding, "Just like the art he works with, it's hard to pin down the true story behind Peter Paul Biro. But as shown in the New Yorker piece (which you should really read in full), Biro's complicated cameras and forensic techniques have only introduced a new layer of uncertainty to the hazier corners of art history."
All these comments amount to defamation, according to Biro's amended complaint.
2 comments:
An interesting case no doubt. And with publisher Dan Rattiner already settling with Biro out of court, who knows what's next. The suit also claims Noah Charney of ARCA said in a follow-up article that Biro's family are forgers and planted evidence. Saying someone committed a crime when in fact they did not is a terrible journalistic sin. Doesn't look good for Charney.
How Charney got himself involved in such a scandal is unbelievable. Just heard on blogspot radio that Charney wrote for Fine Art Registry, a dealer website that is said to be trafficking in forgeries and at the center of this massive federal lawsuit. And to think Charney is head of ARCA, a site that deals in "non-profit activities to protect art." Looks like Santa will be filling some stockings with lumps of coal this season.
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