Sunday, April 20, 2008

Another Pollock Authentication Dispute

From Friday's New York Post (headline: "You Don't Know Jack!"):

"A world-renowned fingerprint analyst says a purported Pollock painting found in a Long Island garage is a worthless knockoff - and an expert who authenticated it based on a fingerprint is a fraud. Peter Paul Biro had declared the recently sold artwork a Pollock after saying fingerprints he found on the frame matched those on a paint can stored at Pollock's studio in East Hampton. But Pat Wertheim, a veteran law-enforcement fingerprint expert, contends that the prints were actually copied from the can and applied to the painting, likely by Biro."

Biro -- who's also involved with the Teri Horton "Pollock" -- "dismissed the allegation as 'libelous' and 'inviting swift legal action.'"