Lawsuit Against Warhol Estate to Proceed
On May 26, a New York federal district court judge stated that an art collector’s lawsuit against the Andy Warhol Foundation and the Andy Warhol Art Authentication Board. Judge Laura Taylor Swain ruled that the suit by Joe Simon-Whelan, a London-based American filmmaker, could continue to the discovery phase on many of its claims.
According to the CBC:
In 1989, Simon-Whelan purchased for $195,000 US a silkscreen self-portrait print believed to have been created by the famed U.S. pop artist at his New York art factory in 1965. He contends that Warhol’s estate, several art dealers and some of the artist’s acquaintances declared the painting authentic. However, on the two occasions (in 2001 and 2003) when he submitted the work to the foundation and board, they denied authentication.
In 2007, Simon-Whelan filed a class-action lawsuit, accusing the two organizations as well as the exclusive sales agent for Warhol’s estate of engaging “in a conspiracy to restrain and monopolize trade in the market for Warhol works” for the past 20 years.
For other thoughts on this lawsuit, see Jeff Stark’s comments here, as well as other authentication cases.
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