IFAR Journal

Volume 13, No. 3

2012

Warhol Board Stops Authenticating: Issues and Fallout -- An IFAR Evening
— Robert Storr; Christine J. Vincent; Jack Flam; Jack Cowart; Peter R. Stern; David Nash
The edited proceedings of a December 2011 IFAR program covering the issues surrounding the Andy Warhol Foundation's decision to disband its Authentication Board; the concerns of other artists' foundations; and the impact on the broader art field. The program included talks by six speakers from the worlds of art and law.

Warhol Board Stops Authenticating: Issues and Fallout: An Overview
— Robert Storr
The author, a renowned critic, curator, and educator, addresses the inherent challenges of defining originality and authenticity and notes with regret that the current market-driven and litigious climate has shifted public awareness of art toward issues of financial investment and ownership.

Warhol Board Stops Authenticating: Issues and Fallout: Artist-Endowed Foundations and Art Authentication
— Christine J. Vincent
The Study Director of the Aspen Institute’s National Study of Artist-Endowed Foundations discusses the authentication activities, including catalogues raisonnés, of artist-endowed foundations and the considerations they make in deciding whether to undertake authentications.

Warhol Board Stops Authenticating: Issues and Fallout: Defending an Artist's Legacy -- The Dedalus Foundation
— Jack Flam
The President of The Dedalus Fundation discusses a recent authenticity lawsuit involving his foundation and argues that artists' foundations should give opinions regarding authenticity so as to ensure the integrity of their artist's oeuvre and that they should not follow the Warh ol Foundation's lead and pull out of authentication activities.

Warhol Board Stops Authenticating: Issues and Fallout: The Roy Lichtenstein Foundation
— Jack Cowart
The Executive Director of the Roy Lichtenstein Foundation describes the primary goals and activities of his organization and the reasoning behind the foundation's recent decision to opt out of authentication activities.

Warhol Board Stops Authenticating: Issues and Fallout: The Legal Perspective
— Peter R. Stern
A New York attorney who has been involved in numerous authenticity cases outlines ways to minimize the legal risks of offering expert opinions about the authenticity of works of art.

Warhol Board Stops Authenticating: Issues and Fallout: Impact on the Marketplace
— David Nash
A prominent New York gallerist and former auction house executive explains why the market should not be preoccupied with the Warhol Foundation's decision to disband its Authentication Board.

Letter to the Editor: Re "Resale Royalties and the Visual Arts: Should the Droit de Suite Come to the U.S.?"
— Theodore Feder; Hattula Moholy-Nagy; John H. Merryman
Theodore Feder, the President of the Artist's Rights Society (ARS), and Hattula Moholy-Nagy, the head of the Moholy-Nagy Foundation, each respond to a letter John H. Merryman wrote in response to the edited proceedings of a panel organized by ARS and published in IFAR Journal, Vol. 12, no. 4. Mr. Merryman then responds to Mr. Feder's letter.

News and Updates: From Switzerland to Serbia and Back -- The Bührle Collection’s Stolen Cézanne and Degas: An Interview with the Museum’s Director Sheds Light on the Theft and Recovery
— Sharon Flescher
The executive director of the International Foundation for Art Research reports on the events surrounding the theft and recovery of four paintings from a museum in Zurich, Switzerland with information drawn from an exclusive interview with the museum's director.

News and Updates: Italy to Florida to Auction – Trajectory of a Restituted Work
— Katie Gerlach
A painting confiscated during WWII by the Vichy government is seized while on l oan in the U.S., returned to the heirs of the original owner, and then sold at Christie's.

News and Updates: Court Dismisses Suit Against Christie's for Sale of Fake Basquiat and Reveals Surprise Link to Knoedler Scandal
— Mary Morabito Rosewater

Interesting follow-up to a case on which IFAR first reported in IFAR Journal, Vol. 12, no. 1 reveals the consignor of the fake "Basquiat" painting sold in 1990 to be connected to a figure implicated in the Knoedler Gallery forgery scandal.


News and Updates: Federal Court Sours on California Droit de Suite Statute: Plaintiff Artists, Artists' Foundations and Estates Plan Appeal -- Meanwhile National Legislation is Proposed
— Sharon Flescher and Mary Morabito Rosewater
Among other things, the court rules the California artists resale royalties statute unconstitutional because it affects commerce outside of California.

News and Updates: Court Dismisses Cassirer Suit Over Disputed Pissarro and Strikes Down Second California Statute Favorable to Holocaust Claims
— Sharon Flescher and Mary Morabito Rosewater
The court maintains that California does not share the federal government's constitutional power to conduct foreign affairs and strikes down a California law.

News and Updates: A Busy Period at CPAC: U.S. Renews Import Agreements with Five Countries and Signs an Agreement with Greece
— Sharon Flescher and Nicholas Dietz
An update on the recent U.S. bilateral agreements for the protection of international cultural property under the U.S. Cultural Property Implementation Act.

The Fall and Rise of Marion True and the Getty Museum: A Review of Chasing Aphrodite
— Thomas R. Kline
The reviewer, an art attorney, concurs with the authors of Chasing Aphrodite that the Getty as an institution supported its former curator, Marion True, in the unlawful acquisition of antiquities and that the Getty and True were not the only guilty players. He also notes that the museum has dramatically changed its practices.

Stolen Art
Stolen items include Aristide Maillol's Nude Female (Bather) bronze, stolen in Paris; Saul Steinberg's Banlieu II, stolen in transit; five silver gelatin prints by Ansel Adams, stolen in San Francisco, CA.

Recovered Art
Recovered items include Paul Cézanne’s Boy in the Red Vest and Edgar Degas’ Ludovic Lepic and His Daughters, stolen in Zurich; Henri Matisse’s Odalisque in Red Pantaloons, stolen in Caracas; jewelry stolen from the Duchess of Argyll in Glasgow.

Missing Art

Missing items include Jan Brueghel's Concert of Birds, missing in Los Angeles, CA; Thomas Buttersworth's To the Rescue, missing in Corea, Maine; Jackie Tsai's Floral Skull Red Lives, missing in London, England.