While digging through the ArtNews archives on this beautiful Sunday afternoon, I found an interesting article from November 2009. "The Brillo-Box Scandal" by Eileen Kinsella investigates the fabrication of 105 Andy Warhol Brillo boxes after the artist’s death by a respected curator, the late Pontus Hulten (1924–2006) in 1990. In 2007, when the boxes were revealed to have been created three years after Warhol's death, the art world (especially Warhol collectors) were shocked. Just one of these boxes sold at Christie’s London in February 2006 for $208,695*. There is no real clue as to Hulten's motivation or ultimate goal in creating these boxes.
This scandal caused quite the conundrum for authenticators and calls attention to the problem of the term original for work whose design was appropriated from commercial sources and then produced in a "factory" setting with many studio assistants. This issue will continue to haunt contemporary authenticators and estates as more and more artists adopt and continue to promote the Warholian model.
link to the "The Brillo-Box Scandal" on ArtNews.com
*all of my information/numbers are from Kinsella's article.
1 comment:
:-) There is only one scandal to that scandal. And that is or rathwe was the former Andy Warhol Art Authentication Board, Inc. They knew all from late 1994 and possibly the estate knew it from the very start.
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