Christie's caught up as £30m forgeries send shock waves through the art world

[n2doc]

Dalya Alberge
The Observer, Sunday 17 October 2010


Rotes Bild mit Pferden (Red Picture with Horses), sold in 2006 as the work of Heinrich Campendonk, the German Expressionist. Scientific tests have now proved that it is a forgery. Photograph: Dalya Alberge


Panic is spreading through the art world following the discovery of forgeries among major 20th-century paintings sold in recent years by leading auctioneers and dealers worldwide, including Christie's in London.

More than 30 paintings, thought to be by artists including Max Ernst, Raoul Dufy and Fernand Léger, have been unmasked as forgeries, the Observer has learned. The fakes have duped leading figures in the art world into parting with at least £30m.

Four of the paintings have gone through Christie's, including forgeries of Ernst's La Horde, estimated at £3.5m and eventually sold to the Würth Collection, and André Derain's Bateaux à Collioure, sold for £2m. Six paintings were sold by the leading German auctioneer, Lempertz, one for £2.8m. The forger's strategy appears to have been to create compositions that would relate to the titles of documented works whose whereabouts are not currently known.

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http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2010/oct/17/christies-forger-art-scam

[hyphenate]

1. With that many forgeries, it's likely going to be

a sizable ring of thieves working in a coalition.

But you have to ask when the pictures were traded with forgeries? The answer to that could give the police (or FBI, or other such group) a huge lead on who might be behind it.

It also has to be asked if these paintings had a provable provenance, and if any of the other paintings that were involved, have the same provenance?

It would make for an interesting movie, if you ask me!



The real items might not be intended for sale, at any rate: if you owned such a painting that were "hot" it is probably not the best idea to flaunt your possession. Maybe someday down the line, but definitely not if it is famous enough to be recognized. It would be part of a private collection, where only trusted people would be able to see it. Unfortunately, some people who want something like this, can afford to buy it illegally, and the chance for the public to ever see it again is unlikely.

[scarletwoman]

2. Oh dear, the ultra wealthy are getting snookered.

Since no living artists have been harmed by these scams, I can't say I'm terribly concerned.

If the forgers' works are good enough to fool the supposed experts, aren't they just as much real "art" as a piece by a "name" artist? :shrug:

sw

[Scuba]

3. +1

[Hissyspit]

5. No.

They're not.

The original objects represent much more than technical skill. They represent creativity, meaning, imagination, innovation, cultural significance and personal vision. Copying an art work is skillful, but a pretty rote thing to do. I know. I've done it, many times, but without the deceitful fraud part of it.

[dkf]

4. Everything is a scam nowadays.

Forged docs forged paintings forged IDs and work permits and on and on.

[KossackRealityCheck]

6. This is amazing

I mean it's very strange that anyone can get away with forging a modern work. The art industry relies on documenting the chain of ownership from the painter to the current owner, which is pretty easy to do when the painting is less than 100 years old.

I can see a forgery of an old master being sold. Some of those paintings have breaks in the chain of documentation that last 100 years or more. A painting believed to be a portion of a lost Valazquez (Education of the Virgin) was found in a storeroom at Yale, and it's ownership could only be traced back to a sea captain who frequently sailed to the Mediterranian and beyond that nothing.

But how can Christie's have been fooled by a 20th century forgery?