A Font Triggers FBI To Confiscate All 25 Paintings From Basquiat Exhibition
By Mikelle Leow, 28 Jun 2022
Photo 175564345 © Ritu Jethani | Dreamstime.com
The Federal Bureau of Investigation has seized all 25 works from the Heroes & Monsters: Jean-Michel Basquiat, The Thaddeus Mumford, Jr. Venice Collection at the Orlando Museum of Art, following an unwinding investigation into the paintings’ supposed authenticity.
The paintings, created on cardboard standing between 10 inches and five feet tall, were displayed in the gallery on the premise that they’d belonged in the collection of screenwriter Thad Mumford, who was apparently sold the works by the late Basquiat himself.
The museum’s director and chief executive Aaron De Groft shared with the New York Times in February that Mumford didn’t pay the bill for the storage unit that kept these artworks. As such, the paintings were all sold at an auction to a buyer named William Force for a mere US$15,000.
The biggest clue that set off alarm bells for the FBI was how the FedEx cardboard scrap on which one of the paintings was on, was printed with the text, “Align top of FedEx Shipping Label here,” in a typeface that was not in use until 1994.
Imagine the effort put into creating a forgery that even the Basquiat experts can’t disprove, all while concocting a provenance that’s just plausible enough that it’s hard to contradict…
— Kiki C (@kiki2u) May 30, 2022
Then you realize you timestamped it with an era-specific FedEx font. ð https://t.co/1CvXhOCQsW pic.twitter.com/pVMEOsT6GZ
Basquiat, as fans might be aware, passed away in 1988—six years before FedEx adopted this font. Lindon Leader, who worked on the new typeface, confirmed that the design only started being in circulation from 1994.
Plus, it was suspicious how—with the value of Basquiat’s works in 2012—Mumford would stop paying for storage instead of instead of selling his Basquiat collection at a far steeper price, potentially millions.
The Basquiat estate dissolved its authentication committee in 2012. According to the Times, it was around this time that the FBI began looking into whether the works had been forged.
An affidavit was filed to obtain the search warrant to look into two possible crimes: conspiracy and wire fraud. The Times, which acquired a copy of the document, quoted that Mumford in 2017 had signed a statement reading: “At no time in the 1980s or at any other time did I meet with Jean-Michel Basquiat, and at no time did I acquire or purchase any paintings by him.”
There has been speculation that the cardboard works were put up for sale on several occasions but had not secured buyers.
The affidavit also stated that investigations had pointed to attempts to sell the artworks with “false provenance,” in addition to bank records that indicated “solicitation of investment in artwork that is not authentic.”
As a result of the raid, the Orlando Museum of Art was forced to shutter the art show on June 24, ahead of the planned closing date of June 30. Had there been no disruption, the exhibition would have gone off to travel to Italy.
[via The Art Newspaper, ARTnews, The New York Times, cover photo 175564345 © Ritu Jethani | Dreamstime.com]