One man’s long, strange quest to prove his Warhols weren’t fake
“Warhol After Warhol: Secrets, Lies, & Corruption in the Art World” (Pegasus Books, out now). “The two highly realistic Andy Warhol signatures were stamped facsimiles, not written in Warhol’s own hand.” Simon and Dorment teamed up to determine the true authentication process behind Warhol’s works.Ultimately, they uncovered what they believed was far-reaching fraud, leading to a years-long legal battle that cost millions and millions of dollars and featured a cast of characters that included a mob lawyer and a Russian oligarch.Simon, now 57, first moved in Warhol’s circles as a young man. He was a social Zelig who came to New York at age 15.