GalleristNY adds a little reporting to Josh Baer’s news earlier this week that the Basquiat authentication committee was following the Warhol Foundation’s authentication committee into oblivion.

Gallerist spoke to Basquiat’s first dealer, Anina Nosei about the change of heart:

“We authenticated–and sometimes did not–an enormous amount of work,” she said. “I guess Gerard Basquiat [the artist’s father and head of the estate] decided that he had it. I guess. I haven’t talked to him.”

The committee itself may turn out to be less important than Enrico Navarra’s catalogue raisonné:

“If there is a painting that isn’t in the Navarra catalogue, or a Basquiat that has never been shown, that could be dodgy,” said Christophe Van de Weghe, a dealer who has sold a number of Basquiats out of his Upper East Side gallery. “It would still be very easy to contact the people who showed a painting originally. The Navarra catalogue is very good. It’s not complete,” he said, “but it’s almost complete.”

Basquiat’s Authentication Committee to Disband in September 2012 (GalleristNY)