ARTnews has won the Society of the Silurians 2013 Excellence in Journalism Arts/Culture Award for its article “The Dalí Sculpture Mess,” which appeared in the December 2012 issue. The article was by Thane Peterson, with additional reporting by George Stolz and Charles Rump.
One of the most egregious abuses in today’s art market is the production and sale of posthumous bronzes stamped with the signature of Salvador Dalí. The article revealed that the Dalí Foundation, which is responsible for managing Dalí’s estate and legacy, has been ineffective in policing the situation. Questionable new sculptures continue to emerge. The market remains plagued by misinformation, unauthorized editions, ownership disputes, and outright fraud.
Peterson’s initial investigation, published in ARTnews in 2008, for the first time described the Dalí sculpture industry and identified the producers of the sculptures. He continued to gather information for the last five years and spent about six months on research and intensive reporting in the United States, Europe, and Asia for the latest story.
Other award winners this year include the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Daily News, the New York Post, Bloomberg, Newsday, The Record, and Thomson Reuters.
©CLAUDE CHEDAL.
The Silurians, founded in 1924, is an organization of more than 500 editors and reporters from the New York metropolitan area, who have worked for every major newspaper, wire service, and radio and television station in the region. For more than five decades the Silurians have awarded journalists whose reporting and writing embody the highest standards of the profession.
This is the thirteenth time the Silurians have honored ARTnews. Since 1975, ARTnews has won 45 awards for excellence in reporting, criticism, and design, including the George Polk Award, the National Magazine Award, the Overseas Press Club of America Citation for Excellence, the Investigative Reporters and Editors Award, the Clarion Award of the Association for Women in Communications, and the Page One Award.