According to experts of the Foundation of Andy Warhol, they are tired of the litigation because of disputes about the authenticity of certain works. Warhol Foundation wants to move away from the art market and come to grips with the creation of catalog-R

< br /> Andy Warhol and his assistants to "Factory»
Source: theartnewspaper.com

Commission on the authentication of works of Andy Warhol out its work in early 2012. This decision was made after Warhol Foundation for the strategic review of its main goals - said foundation president Joel Wachs (Joel Wachs). Among the main objectives of the Fund sees the creation of the catalog-Raisonné king of pop art.

Closure Commission will authenticate the fund to spend more money to charity - said in an interview with The Wachs Art Newspaper. «It's all about priorities, and our responsibility to the mission of the Warhol" - says foundation president, referring to the astronomical sums of money spent on litigation in defense of some disputed authentications Fund.

Commission vehemently criticized last year for legal fees spent $ 7 million. Such a tidy sum left to the lawyers in the antitrust litigation with Joe Simon-collector Uelanom (Joe Simon-Whelan), Warhol Foundation has accused of conspiring to monopolize the market and contain the artist's works. Simon-Whelan addressed the court after it refused to recognize the Foundation authentic self-portrait of Warhol in 1964 from his collection, though other experts have previously agreed that the work is authentic. Collector hoped to win back $ 20 million, but he himself had dismissed the case in October, saying that he could not continue to bear such high costs. Warhol Foundation was furious because of the wasted millions. These forced spending "drove me crazy" - says President Wachs. Nonprofit commission-based authentication of Warhol Foundation in 1995, and without that pleasure is not cheap: its content annually takes about half a million dollars.

Simon-Whelan case is not the only case where the commission's decision to authenticate met with hostility. Earlier in the authentication was denied signed and dated work of Warhol from the same series, that and previous self-portrait, owned by former gallery owner, Anthony d'Offe Warhol (Anthony d'Offay). Meanwhile, work with the knowledge of Warhol was previously included in the catalog-Raisonné of the artist, released Reiner Kron (Rainer Crone) in 1970. d'Offe gallery owner planned include the self-portrait of 1964 in a collection of "Studio Artist" of more than 700 works that he was going to pass in the Tate and National Galleries of Scotland in an unprecedented kind of deal, kind of donations in 2008. As a result, after negotiations with museums has remained in self-portrait gallery owner. Representatives Tate has commented on this decision: "We agree with Anthony that do not include [a donation] single work whose provenance in any way be called into question. Nevertheless, we do not have reasons to doubt the authenticity of this painting ».

In October 2010 the Commission was criticized for authentication another conclusion: Warhol Foundation experts have lowered the status of hundreds of wooden" boxes Brillo »to« Copy », although the late Pontus Hulthen (the first director of the Museum of Modern Art in Stockholm, the Centre Pompidou in Paris and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles) has argued that they have been reproduced with the permission of the artist. His negative conclusion of the commission denied its own previous decision is: the earlier Commission has identified some of the series as the original box, "Stockholm type».

«The Fund is apparent that further maintenance Commission authentication requires too much money, time and effort. People do not need to Warhol to their reputation from day to day blackened accusations of incompetence or malignancy. I can clearly see that the experts would prefer to spend money on their programs, rather than the multi-million dollar lawsuits "- believes Peter R. Stern (Peter R. Stern) from the law firm of McLaughlin & Stern.

President Joel Wachs said that the Fund will continue to work on the catalog-Raisonné of Andy Warhol. Wachs, however, stressed that this activity is not an alternative to the special authentication of the commission. "Catalogue Raisonné, serves no commercial purpose: it is created for the benefit of the scientific study of Andy Warhol's legacy. The market seems to like to, and continue to use the commission to authenticate [their own purposes], but it's not our problem "- says Wachs. The President also added that," directory-Raisonné - this is an attempt to look at the whole baggage of works created by Warhol, and not only on a few papers someone seeking authentication of their owners. It will be much more complete coverage of the artist's heritage, to the same public ».

experts will examine the work in chronological order, and each decision will be taken to include its or not reasonable. It will not be some urgent examination at the request of the owners of the works. The project could take up to twenty years. Even at a cost of this work by $ 1 million per year, the Foundation has moved so far only up to the fourth volume. According to the calculations Wachs' work for 1970 will focus on at least three books, four volumes will cover the 1980s, another book will be about the pictures, but for photography, we have not taken even ».

In closing authentication commission art community sees a serious step, but not towards the art market, but in the opposite direction. "They say they will not be authorized to market a tool for authentication of works, and I do not blame them for that" - says Michael Findlay (Michael Findlay), director of Acquavella Galleries, resale of Warhol. Gallery owner also added that the examination is usually done authentication in order to greatly increase the cost of the work, not to determine how important a part of the legacy of Warhol it is.

Findlay confident that closing commissions do not affect the market, since the experts who write the catalog-Raisonné, still continue to issue conclusions on the work. There are over 100 thousand works of Warhol, of which only about 6000 were examined for authentication. "People attach too much significance to this - about 95 percent of the work Andy has not been through it. The market is very take care of themselves. And we have to do with what we wanted from Andy" - says Wachs.

Fund, established after the death of Warhol in 1987, intends to return to the charity. Money Fund makes selling products, and proceeds support the artists, galleries, exhibitions and publications do. "The last six months we were thinking about how to extend our charitable activities. Everywhere we hear that times are tough and subsidies are cut. We try to focus on the issue of grants, "- said Joel Wachs.

Prepared Maria Onuchina, AI

Sources : artinvestment.ru