The son of a Fort Worth socialite, Shaindy Fenton, wants his mother’s Warhol portrait back after loaning it to his uncle for 27 years, according to the Courthouse News Service. The portait is now estimated at $350,000, which may have something to do with the suit:
Robert Fenton, trustee of the Fenton Family Trust sued Neil Balick, a dentist, in Federal Court. Fenton says his late mother, Joyce Balick Fenton aka Shaindy Fenton, was “a renowned art dealer who operated a private art gallery from her home in Fort Worth, Texas.” He says his mom became friends with Warhol, and commissioned three portraits from him, “in exchange for her transfer of certain artwork and jewelry to Mr. Warhol.” Warhol made three acrylic silk-screen on canvas portraits of Shaindy Fenton, in 1978, 1980 and 1983, a blue one, a red one and a pink one, Fenton says. Shaindy Fenton died in January 1984 and in December that year, Robert Fenton says he sent the blue portrait to his uncle, the defendant. Fenton says it was a loan, and that Balick understood that.
Man Sues Uncle for a Warhol (Courthouse News Service)