LINKS

• Judith Dobrzynski reports on the newly-created ad-hoc advisory committee to the NY Board of Regents which is intended to aide the Board in coming up with a revised deaccessioning policy (see here on the expiration of the deaccessioning "emergency" regulations last October and the outcry that ensued).
• Art Market Monitor interviews Judith Pearson and Lawrence Shindell of ARIS art title insurance (see here on Argo Group's takeover of ARIS last November).
• Donn Zaretsky summarises the most significant changes to the federal gift, estate and generation-skipping taxes for 2011 and 2012. According to Forbes, the increase in the tax exemption to $5m means "that, except for the super wealthy, the tax benefits of giving through an estate plan have been wiped out."
• Gerard Malanga, former Warhol Factory assistant, is set to finally have his day in court in the longstanding dispute with the sculptor John Chamberlain over the silkscreen titled "315 Johns," estimated to be worth $5m. Malanga claims authorship and restitution alleging Chamberlain never acquired title and therefore did not have the right to sell it in 2000. Testimony given by Chamberlain's wife suggests the sculptor knew the work was not a Warhol; the Warhol Authentication Board though declared it an authentic piece in 2000, paving the way for its sale. The court, however, is not bound by the Board's declaration.