Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2018/04/30/most-paintings-in-french-art-m.html
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You think that’s bad, my Cezannes turned out to be prints!
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Breaking news : Duchamp’s Fountain turns out to be a porcelain urinal.
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Turns out my Brillo box was just a Brillo box… oh well, I didn’t like Worhal that much anyway…
Well the good news is - 58 pieces should be enough to fill a small museum with some rotation.
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I thought that Pollock painting I bought looked suspiciously like blood spatters…
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The question is whether the fakes are mostly from the same forger or not. If the majority are from one forger who can be identified, the solution is obvious; change the name of the museum.
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“I went up into the attic and found a Stradivarius and a Rembrandt. Unfortunately Stradivarius was a terrible painter and Rembrandt made lousy violins.” - Tommy Cooper
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Museum dedicated to the work of a Cezanne knockoff discovers half its paintings are knockoffs
Fixed it.
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Well said.
If it was really about the art, then it wouldn’t matter if it was a fake because it LOOKS the same, thus creating the same emotions.
I guess it’s not really about the art.
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Fake News, Moose and Squirrel
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Have art collections ever just been about the art?
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Back when art was commissioned by kings and popes, I imagine it was.
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I feel like vanity is a more defining characteristic of that era, kings and popes included, than an appreciation for the art itself.
For the artist, the art is for the sake of the art. Otherwise, it’s not so clear.
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The title seems a bit misleading because it’s a broad statement. Yes 60% of the museum is likely fake but it’s a museum that showcases a single artist’s work, if we’re talking about a regular art museum and 60% of the works in there are fake then I’d be quite surprised.
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Sort of off topic, but the documentary Art& Craft about the decades-long forgery career of Mark Landis is really wonderful.
Landis is a fascinating study in contrasts, and for anyone who has spent any time in the art world (guilty), the implicit indictment of museum and gallery culture resonates.
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The cult of personality (or, at least the monetary value placed on the cult of personality) in the art world is perfectly understandable from a business point of view. Not so good from an artistic appreciation point of view I guess.
“If we can prove that this sketch was by [Widely Known Painter], then it will be worth millions; otherwise it has no value at all.”
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“I’ve chosen you, Michelangelo, to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.”
“I am honored, your Holiness. Might you have some ideas for it?”
“Well…I was thinking, maybe blue?”
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One of my various ambitions is to open a museum to showcase art forgeries and counterfeits.
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There are a number of documentaries on youtube about forgery in the art world, it’s a lot more common than we think. If there’s money to be made, people will do it, and while it might be harder to sell a fake Vermeer with no provenance, the money is reallllllly good if you can pull it off.
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