MOSCOW, March 5 (RAPSI) - The family members administering the estate of Jean-Mechel Basquiat filed a $1 million federal lawsuit against Christie’s auction house Tuesday alleging false endorsement and false advertising in connection with the auctioning off of what has been advertised as the late modern artist’s work, New York Daily News reported Tuesday.

The plaintiffs reportedly include two of the artist’s siblings, Jeanine Basquiat Heriveaux and Lisan Basquiat.

Christie’s is presently auctioning off a collection of Basquat’s work from the collection of former girlfriend Alexis Adler. According to an announcement on the auction house’s website: “Before Jean-Michel became Basquiat, and could afford studios and canvases, he painted any bare surface he could find — on walls, doors, refrigerators, and even clothes. In 1979 the artist began transforming the East Village apartment he was sharing with Alexis Adler into just such a living installation. Christie’s is honored to host a blockbuster month-long exhibition featuring a grouping of approximately 50 works coming from the apartment where she lived with Jean-Michel Basquiat from 1979 to 1980. A curated selection of 39 works will be sold through a dedicated online only sale held March 3-17.”

Basquiat’s siblings claim that Christie’s presented seven pieces to their brother’s estate authentication committee in 2007, which declined to verify one piece.

The plaintiffs allege accordingly that the remaining items “were not only not authenticated by the authentication committee… but also were never submitted to them for review,” as quoted by the New York Daily News.

According to a profile on the Emory University website, Basquiat was born in New York in 1960. His love for art developed very early and was encouraged by his mother. He got his start in graffiti art in the late 1970s. He dropped out of high school and began selling postcards and teachers featuring his art, before his first public art exhibit launched in 1980. He rose to fame in the early 1980s, and developed a close friendship with Andy Warhol. He died of a heroin overdose at the age of 27.