Warhol After Warhol: Power and Money in the Modern Art World

by Richard Dorment

Long-time art critic Richard Dorment reveals the corruption and lies of the art world and its mystifying authentication process.

Late one afternoon in the winter of 2003 art critic Richard Dorment answered a telephone call from a stranger. The caller was Joe Simon, an American film producer and art collector. He was ringing at the suggestion of David Hockney, his neighbour in Malibu. A committee of experts called the Andy Warhol Art Authentication Board had declared the two Warhols in his collection to be fake. He wanted to know why and thought Dorment could help.

This call would mark the beginning of an extraordinary story that would play out over the next ten years and would involve a cast of characters straight out of fiction. From rock icons and film stars; art dealers and art forgers; to a murdered Russian oligarch and a lawyer for the mob; from courtrooms to auction all took part in a bitter struggle to prove the authenticity of a series of paintings by the most famous American artist of the twentieth century.

Part detective story, part art history, part memoir, part courtroom drama, Warhol After Warhol is a spellbinding account of the dark connection between money, power and art.

280 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 9, 2023

Reviews

[Adam · Rating 4 out of 5]

It starts slow and the author doesn't do the best job keeping track of all the different names involved. The early chapters are interesting enough, but slightly confusing. About halfway through, however, the book becomes a real page turner, as the corruption of the Andy Warhol Foundation is made clear, and an account given of appallingly shambolic court proceedings.

[Peggy Glover · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was wonderful! Just like a detective story trying to find out if an early work of Warhol’s is real or not. It takes us through art dealers to the courts of Manhattan. A real page turner!

[Linh · Rating 4 out of 5]

WTF. I’ll never try and buy fancy art.

[Giovanna Walker · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is intense. In the detail, kudos to Dorment for untangling the complexity and explaining it to the 'lay person'. Gosh the anxiety of the court case came through the pages! It was super interesting to read about the behind the scenes of how the rarified art world works - as much as he could. The guy that bought the case, gosh he's practically invisible on the internet, so it was also interesting to read about his life and how he came to obsess about this case (childhood trauma perhaps?) Anyways it does make you reflect on the legacy of Warhol, and the custodians of that legacy, who controls what. And it's not the artist. (obvs he's deceased- but even when he said things in life it's been challenged).

[Khushali Joshi · Rating 3 out of 5]

It starts off slow and feels somewhat disjointed, with occasional name dropping that makes it hard to follow. At first, I almost gave up on the book, but after about 100 pages, the pace picks up, and it turns into a real page-turner.

[Chris Hall · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a lot better than I expected.