In an art world abounding with fakes, forgeries and falsities of all kinds, determining what is real and not has been a challenge for decades.
To that end, Christoph Heinrich, the Denver Art Museum’s new curator of modern and contemporary art, is one of two new members of the prestigious, sometimes controversial Andy Warhol Art Authentication Board.
The panel, which meets three times a year, was established in 1995 by the Andy Warhol Foundation to judge the authenticity of works by the famed pop artist who died in 1987.
As chief curator of contemporary art, collections and exhibitions at the Hamburg Kunsthalle in Germany, he organized the major 1999 exhibition “Andy Warhol — Photography,” which traveled to the United States.
Heinrich spoke to The Denver Post about Warhol and the authentication board:
Q: Where do you place Andy Warhol in importance among 20th-century artists?
A: He was probably one of the most important artists and, in a way, an island, because what he did went in so many directions. He was very inspiring for many artists, who left with his idea of multiplication, of reproduction. On one side, he did the icon of Marilyn Monroe. And on the other hand, this is an icon that can be reproduced endlessly. That is a comment on our age of reproduction, which won’t become old stuff soon.
Q: You curated an Andy Warhol show in Germany. What was its basic thrust?
A: It was the idea, which is probably not so original, but nobody did it before, that the photography is the source of every image of his. And even Warhol’s films, they depart from his photography. They are like photographs that are moving. It had this retrospective approach, but it was focused for the first time on the photographs he actually did and his works.
Q: Why did you want to be part of the authentication board?
A: I’m still very much interested in Warhol. When you’re in a museum, it’s very difficult to become a scholar of one thing, because you always have different issues, you always have different subjects. I did shows on (Francis) Bacon and Chinese contemporary art and on art that has to do with space exploration. But if I focused on one subject during the last years, that was probably Warhol.
Q: What do you see as the biggest challenges facing the board as it tries to authenticate Warhol’s works?
A: The biggest challenge is certainly to be 100 percent sure whether a work is authentic or that’s it not. After the first meeting (in November), I realized there are many, many cases where you just can say right away, because they are badly forged. I’m aware that it has to do with the expectations of people as well as the disappointment of people, but you have to be very honest and reliable anyway.
Kyle MacMillan: 303-954-1675 or kmacmillan@denverpost.com.
