This has been going on for a while, but unless you live in the UK you may not have known…
So basically, the estate of Andy Warhol has been accused of manipulating the market for decades. Joe Simon-Whelan, owner of a 24 x 20 in. silk-screen Self-portrait, has filed a $20 million lawsuit the Foundation and the Authentication board which partnered up in 1995.
His work was authenticated several times by the Warhol estate before the partnership began and now that he has an opportunity to sell the work (for $2 million) they have twice rejected the work in 2001 and 2003. Perhaps, and according to Simon-Whelan, their dismissals are helping to create scarcity in the market?
He also alleges that the Andy Warhol Foundation has sold $150 million worth of Warhol’s work at artificially inflated prices and that the foundation is trying to dominate the Warhol market with “enforcers”, “secret meetings” and “doctored files”.
FYI – this guy is not the first collector or dealer to allege misconduct by the secretive, four-person board which meets three times a year to authenticate Warhol’s work.
The worst part about this – the “denied” stamp they put on the piece has bled through the back of the canvas and is now visible from the front.
Joe Simon-Whelan bought this Warhol self-portrait for $195,000 in 1989
