Andy foundation ‘idiocy’ hit

A gleaming, 10-foot statue of Andy Warhol was erected in Union Square this week, but that didn’t stop The New York Review of Books from running a story aimed at taking down the Andy Warhol Foundation. In a lengthy piece for the lofty lit paper, Richard Dorment accuses the foundation’s Art Authentication Board of “sublime idiocy” in its decisions deeming some Warhol works authentic and others copies made by Warhol lackeys. The piece dissects a recent “historic lawsuit” that the foundation called “frivolous” but “spent $7 million to defend itself against.” Dorment calls the case “wonderfully clear-cut” in proving that Joe Simon-Whelan owned a genuine Warhol but says the collector gave up his fight “faced with the burdens of pursuing his lawsuit against a foundation with assets valued at half a billion dollars.” Foundation President Joel Wachs told us, “The only thing I can say against Dorment’s rehash of his losing arguments is that he’s full of prunes.”