The fake Jean-Michel Basquiat paintings: who attempted to gain from it?

At the beginning of August, legal action was initiated by the Orlando Museum of Art against its ex-director Aaron De Groft, alleging he aimed to financially benefit from exhibiting alledged Jean-Michel Basquiat paintings later deemed inauthentic. The multi-medium artworks in question were promoted as recently discovered works by Basquiat, but are now believed to be not created by the artist.

According to the lawsuit, first detailed in the New York Times on Tuesday, the five co-owners of these art pieces had pledged a portion of any sale proceeds to De Groft. De Groft and the paintings' proprietors maintained the works were fabricated while Basquiat resided and worked in Los Angeles circa 1982, then forgotten in a storage facility.

However, attempting to pass off fake Basquiats has been an ongoing issue and this is not the first time that something like this is happening.

• In 2012, two fake paintings reportedly by Basquiat were removed from the Barbican Art Gallery in London after doubts were raised about their authenticity.

• In 2020, Florida art dealers attempted to sell fake Basquiat works that had been intentionally aged to look authentic.

• A 2011 FBI investigation uncovered a sophisticated forgery operation in Los Angeles that had produced numerous fake Basquiats and other renowned artists.

• In 2021, an art dealer in New York paid a six million dollar fine for selling fabricated paintings he claimed were by Basquiat.

Doubts about the authenticity of the paintings began showing up shortly after their debut. For example, a branding expert noted to the Times that the FedEx typeface depicted on a cardboard piece was not utilized by the company until 1994, six years after the artist's death. What's more, an interview of the alleged original owner also included a sworn statement that they had never purchased any work created by Basquiat. The lawsuit claims that De Groft leveraged the museum's stature to legitimize and increase the monetary value of the forged paintings for his own financial gain. The museum is seeking unspecified damages for fraud, conspiracy, breach of fiduciary duty, and breach of contract.

This latest legal action follows an FBI raid on the museum last year which resulted in the seizure of the paintings. The museum terminated De Groft's employment, who has a history of rediscovering artworks and was put on probation by the American Alliance of Museums.

In an earlier plea deal this year, Los Angeles auctioneer Michael Barzman admitted to creating the forged Basquiat paintings. De Groft’s emails and texts, cited in the court documents, referenced potential future sales of the paintings. However, De Groft and two co-owners of the works have claimed Barzman is being untruthful. The museum also alleges that De Groft aimed to validate the documented histories of other works attributed to renowned artists Titian and Jackson Pollock that he is linked to within the legal papers.

According to the lawsuit, the ex-director agreed to showcase the Basquiats before viewing them personally and only examined the artworks three months before the exhibition opening.