At 81 years old, Annina Nosei is considered one of the foremost experts on the art of contemporary American painter Jean-Michel Basquiat. Her eponymous New York gallery was the first to exhibit the artist; its basement served as Basquiat’s studio for many years. In that time, the gallerist cultivated a comprehensive fluency in what she calls “the language” of Basquiat’s style. “I see it like a signature, like you recognize someone’s handwriting,” she says, through a strident Roman accent. “The true language cannot be faked.”
Nosei fields dozens of letters and calls a month from gallerists and art buyers around the world inquiring into the authenticity of purported Basquiat paintings. In April of 2018, she received one such inquiry from a gallery in South Florida. The gallery’s owner was preparing to pay $990,000 for a pair of Basquiats offered by a private seller in California. Upon examination of the works, Nosei immediately determined them to be fraudulent.