Yesterday, the Authentication Committee of the estate of Jean-Michel Basquiat announced that it would disband in September. A statement posted on its website read: “The Authentication Committee has been in existence for eighteen years and has reviewed over 2,000 works of art. It believes that it has fulfilled its goal of providing the public with an opportunity to obtain an opinion as to the authenticity of works purportedly created by Jean-Michel Basquiat.” They made no comment on what would happen if new Basquiats (or cleaver fakes) appear on the market after they close up shop in September. The committee was headed by the artist’s father, Gerard Basquiat, and included experts on his work, working with his first gallerist Annina Nosei, early associate Jeffrey Deitch (now curator of MOCA in LA), Larry Warsh and gallery owner John Cheim. We previously reported on a claim that there was a Basquiat graffiti work on the door of a bodega in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. The authentification committee found that the work was not by Basquiat. It is very hard to see how a new Basquiat painting not included in the excellent catalogue raisonné compiled by the dealer Enrico Navarra could emerge after all these years. While there are a few paintings discovered since the publication of the catalogue, none has surfaced in a long while. However, the Navarra volume of drawings is not as complete. Basquiat was very prolific and free with his drawings, especially in his early years, and new works on paper, like those in the sketchbook left for Arto Lindsey displayed last year, may still be found. But with several decades of astronomically rising prices, it is much more likely that new drawings will be fake. While not perfect (and sometimes skewed by politics and self interest, as we see in the Andy Warhol case) such expert committees are the closest we have to impartial and reliable way to see whether a work is fake or authentic. In 2008 the authentification committee itself was sued by businessman and collector art collector Gerard De Geer, who claimed the committee breached its contract by refusing to offer an opinion on the authenticity of the painting Fuego Flores (1983). Court papers claimed the painting could have brought $3 million at auction if it were authenticated by the committee, but after the refusal was worth less than $5,000. However, the work was subsequently sold for £ 959,650 ($ 1,562,118) at Sotheby's (the nasty union-busting scab house), London in October of 2009. In 2007 the auction house Christie’s was taken to court on a claim that it had knowingly sold art dealer Tony Shafrazi a fake Basquiat, later acquired by the collector Guido Orsi. The case was dismissed in November 2011. The notice by the Basquiat committee follows in the footsteps of the equivalent body for Warhol’s works. In October 2011, The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts also announced that it would dissolve its extremely controversial Andy Warhol Art  Authentication Board early this year.
The attributions of works of Andy Warhol has seen notorious controversies, partly because the artist produced an immense amount of work, much of it produced in multiples by others, and much of the later work undocumented. But the connection of the Warhol authentication board to the Warhol Foundation, which had a great financial interest in no new Warhols being put on the market, also played a part. Last year also saw a major scandal about forget paintings said to be by the Abstract Expressionists Jackson Pollock, Robert Motherwell, Mark Rothko, and Barnett Newman, and involving major New York and London galleries. The Gallerist website quotes Alberto Mugrabi (who’s famous collectionincludes many Basquiat's andWarhols), as saying “All these foundations, they just don’t want to be responsible for when someone brings in a painting and it’s not authentic.” While the cost of running the committee will have increased slightly since Mr. Deitch moved to the West Coast from New York, one would suspect this could easily be covered by fees. It is the potential cost of more lawsuits against the board that convinced the Andy Warhol Foundation to close its authentification board, and similar considerations may have played a role here. Anyone who does own a scrap of paper with a scrawl by Basquiat’s hand should be bringing it to the committee now while they have the chance – unless they are more scared of getting an “unapproved” stamp. Write to: Authentication Committee |
