| Art forgery means creating and especially selling works of art that are falsely
attributed to be work of other, usually more famous artists.
History
Copying of famous works has happened from the time immemorial. Roman
sculptors produced copies of Greek sculptures. Presumably the
contemporary buyers knew that they were not genuine.
Before the commercial art market, copying a work of a master was considered a tribute, not a forgery. In the previous
centuries, many painters like Rembrandt had workshops with apprentices that studied painting techniques by
copying the works and style of the master. As a payment for the training, the master had a right to sell these works for money.
Some of these works have been later erroneously attributed to the masters.
The art forgery became more prominent in the Renaissance when the interest
of antiquities increased their value. This soon extended to contemporary and recently deceased artists. In the 16th century imitators of Albrecht Dürer's style of printmaking added signatures to them and thus increased the value of their own
prints. These are currently considered forgeries. Some now famous artists, like Michelangelo, also created forgeries for their own reasons.
The 20th century the art market has favored artists like Salvador Dalí, Pablo
Picasso, Klee and Matisse and
they have been common targets of art forgery. Usually the forgeries are sold to art galleries and auction houses who cater to the tastes of art and antiquities collectors.
Nature of the forgery
Copies, replicas, reproductions and pastiches are legitimate works. They become
forgeries when someone intentionally tries to pass them off as genuine items even if they know better.
Sometimes a difference of a legitimate copy and deliberate forgery is blurred. Guy
Hain used the original molds to create copies of Auguste Rodin's sculptures. What made them forgeries was that he signed them
with the name of Rodin's original foundry.
Art forgers
Art forger must be at least somewhat proficient in the area he is trying to imitate. Many forgers have been fledgling artists
that have tried to get a break into the art market and eventually resorted on forgery. Some forgers have borrowed the original
items, copied it and given the copy to the original owners.
Although many art forgers are in he business solely for money, some have claimed that they have created forgeries to expose
the credulity and snobbishness of the art world, essentially claiming that they have performed only hoaxes of exposure. These claims have usually surfaced after they have been caught.
Most forgers usually copy artists who are already dead, but the others may try to imitate still living artists. At May 2004,
for example, Norwegian painter Kjell
Nupen noticed that a Kristianstad gallery was selling unauthorized
signed copies of his work.
If the dealer of the forged art is aware of the fraudulent nature of the item, they may end up exploiting the painter by
threatening to expose them.
Some of the exposed forgers have later sold their work attributing them as honestly copies or selling them as their own work.
Some forgers have actually gained enough notoriety to become famous for their own right. Forgeries painted by late Elmyr de Hory have become valuable collectibles.
Methods of detection
The most obvious forgeries are revealed because they are just clumsy copies of previous art. Forger may try to create a "new"
work by combining elements of more than one work. They may omit details typical to the artist they are trying to imitate or add
anachronisms. They may also try to claim that a slightly different copy is a previous version of the more famous work.
However, if the forger is skilled enough to create something new that is reminiscent of the style of a specific artist,
investigators must rely on other methods.
Sometimes thorough investigation is enough. Sculpture may have been created with modern methods and tools and diluted in
chemicals to "age" it. Some forgers have tried to imitate worm marks by drilling.
Art experts try to find out whether the work came out of nowhere and study catalogues of previous auctions to find out whether
it has been for sale elsewhere. If the item has no paper trail, it is probably a forgery. Some forgers therefore try to produce
proof. British art dealer John Drewe created false documents of provenance and
even inserted pictures of forgeries into the archives of prominent art institutions.
Investigators may try to use carbon dating to find out the real age of
the item but this is useful mainly in very old items. They may analyze used pigments to find out if the used paints are too modern. They can use infrared analysis or x-ray fluorescence to find whether a painting had been painted on old
canvas or over some other painting (not a surefire method since genuine artist may have
also reused old canvases if they could not afford new ones). X-ray fluorescence can also reveal if metals in metal sculpture or
even in the pigments are too pure. Sometimes they may be able to check the artist's fingerprints left in the paint.
Some forgers are able to answer to that as well. Han van
Meegeren used historical methods to create pigments for his paintings of Vermeer.
If the forger had been meticulous, there is still the analysis of style of how the original artist has created his art -
characteristic brushwork and perspective, preferred themes and techniques. Some forgers study these as well in order to imitate
them.
Another feature of genuine paintings sometimes used to detect forgery is craquelure.
Problems in verification
The fact that experts do not always agree on the authenticity of a particular item makes the matter of provenance more complex. Some of the artists have also sometimes accepted the copies of
their work - Picasso is attributed to saying that he would sign a very good forgery.
Jean
Corot painted 700 works but also signed copies made by others in his name.
Sometimes art restoration is so extensive that the original is
practically replaced when new materials are used to supplement older ones. Art restorer may also remove or add details to a
genuine painting, trying to make the painting more saleable in the contemporary art market environment. This is not a modern
phenomenon - historical painters who got hold of other artist's work might have "retouched" it to their liking by repainting
background and details.
Currently there have been claims that art dealers and auction houses have been too eager to accept the forgeries as genuine so they could be sold
quicker for profit. If the dealer finds out the work is a forgery, they may quietly withdraw it and return it to its previous
owner - which gives a forger an opportunity to try to sell it elsewhere. Some of the potential buyers may not even care about the
provenance of the item as long as it can pass for the real one in their social circles.
Some experts and institution may also be reluctant to admit their own fallibility. Estimates about the amount of forgeries in
the art institute collections range from insignificant to Thomas Hoving's 60%.
It also sometimes happens that the work that has been declared a forgery is later accepted as genuine; Vermeer's Young
Woman Seated at the Virginals had been treated as a forgery from 1947 but was declared genuine at March 2004.
Famous forgeries
Known art forgers and dealers of forged art
- Giovanni
Bastianini, (1830-1869) Italian forger of renaissance sculptures
- William Blundell, Forged Australian painters
- Yves Chandron, France -
forged Mona Lisas
- Chang Dia Chien,
(1899-1983) forged Chinese art
- Alceo Dossena, (1878-1937) Italian sculptor
- John Drewe who sold the work of John Myatt
- Guy Hain, forged Rodin bronzes
- Eric Hebborn, British-born forger of old masters
- Elmyr de Hory, (1906-1976) Hungarian-born painter of Picassos
- Tom Keating, British forger
- Frank X. Kelly, forged
Thomas Hoeving
- Ferdinand Legros, purveyor of forged art
- Real Lessard, Canadian
forger
- John Myatt, British painter who painted forgeries for John Drewe
- Claude-Emile Schuffenecker, (1851-1934),
French forger with Otto Wacker
- Han Van Meegeren, Dutchman who painted Vermeers
- Ely Sakhai, who sold Gauguin's Vase de Fleurs twice
- Jean-Pierre Schecroun who forged Picasso
- David Stein, US art dealer and painter
- Paul Desire
Troullebert, (1829-1900) French forger
- Otto Wacker, German purveyor of fake Van Gogh's
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