The Dadalus Foundation, better known as the Robert Motherwell Authentication Board, is embroiled in two lawsuits that challenge its authentication veracity due to a series of recent flip flop authentication positions.
These lawsuits raise serous questions about authenticity decisions made to date by the Dedalus Foundation for Robert Motherwell works of art, adding instability to the vast Robert Motherwell Market.
In our March 2009 article in The Fine Art Blog titled Dueling Lawsuits Undermine Robert Motherwell Authenticity Decisions, Joseph K. Levene raised the following serious issues concerning decisions made to date by the Motherwell Foundation:
- Is the Dedalus Foundation providing impartial authenticity decisions?
- Is the Foundation acting in the best interests of Robert Motherwell?
- Is the Foundation operating in the best interests of certain individual board members?
- Are authenticity decisions made unilaterally or by formal committee?
- How frequently does the committee meet?
- Is there a formal authenticity procedure followed for each Work of Art that is submitted?
Lindsay Pollock has written a comprehensive update in 1/20/10 The Art Newspaper regarding "a pair of lawsuits winding through New York courts".
Joan Banach is suing to to be reinstated onto the board of the Daedalus Foundation. "Banach filed an amended complaint on 10 April 2009, adding gender discrimination to a long list of allegations. The fight first went public on 25 March 2009, when Banach, a 61-year-old artist, curator and art historian involved with Motherwell since 1981, filed suit in New York State court seeking to be reinstated to the board".
Lindsay Pollock also indicates that in 2007, the Dedalus Foundation had over $59 million in assets, and continues to pay substantial six figure salaries. She indicates "Flam earned $229,336 in 2007, and executive director Morgan Spangle made $239,588, according to tax records."
1 comment :
That is in fact good news because it might oblige people to face the facts that they buy, not what they appreciate, but what looks like a safe investment.
Motherwell talked too much, you know? And he used a vocabulary that didn't hold up. After all, there are way too many out there with claims similar to his, and at the top there is usually room for only two or three.
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