Carol Vogel of the NY Times has just published a short post with the announcement that as of Wednseday October 19, the Warhol Foundation will be dissolve its authentication board. It appears there was just too many lawsuits and accusations of market manipulation which led to the decision.
The post is short and I have included it in its entirety. As more information and analysis becomes available, I will update AW Blog readers.
The NY Times reports
The Andy Warhol Foundation announced on Wednesday that it will dissolve its authentication board early next year. In a statement, the foundation said the move reflects its intent to shift focus toward maximizing “grant making and other charitable activities.” In recent years, the foundation has been involved in legal disputes over its authentication process for works whose owners said they were by Warhol.
One long-running lawsuit brought by Joe Simon-Whelan, a filmmaker who bought a work identified as a Warhol self-portrait in 1989 only to see it later declared inauthentic on two occasions by the board, contended that the foundation and the board had conducted a 20-year conspiracy to inflate the prices by denying the authenticity of a certain number as a way to create artificial scarcity. The board and foundation denied the accusations. After more than three years and rising legal bills, Mr. Simon-Whelan dropped the case. Others who had bad experiences with the board claimed it favored museums and powerful dealers over individual collectors, another charge foundation officials denied. Still, some dealers and collectors view the decision as irresponsible since it is the mission of the Warhol Foundation’s to promote and protect the reputation and authenticity of the Pop master’s art.
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