ANDY WARHOL - WARHOL ESTATE AND FOUNDATION SUED BY BRITISH FILMMAKER

A British filmmaker is attempting to sue the estate of ANDY WARHOL and his foundation for its alleged "manipulation" of the art world. Lawyers acting on behalf of Joe Simon-Whelan have filed a lawsuit with a district court in Manhattan against the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, claiming the organisation conspires to control the artist's work for its own financial gain. The filmmaker alleges the Foundation, which authenticates official Warhol artworks, refused to acknowledge a 1964 self-portrait of the artist which he believes is genuine. And Simon-Whelan insists the organisation rejected his Warhol work to retain a monopoly on the iconic artist's collection. The lawsuit reads, "So powerful is the art world's reliance on the authentication board's opinion that, in today's art market, no one can sell a Warhol that does not have the board's opinion of authenticity. As such, it indisputably dominates and controls the Warhol market."