LE MOSTRE SULLE OPERE D’ARTE FALSE
The fake works of art, the nightmare of every collector and professional, exhibited in some exhibitions.
Discover the most important ones and the new digital solution to support the art world
How often we have told about the problem of fakes not only affects Collectors, but above all damages the market of the counterfeit Artist and consequently the professionals involved.
If in 2014 the Fine Art Expert Institute of Geneva estimated that more than half of the works examined in their laboratories are false or wrongly attributed, there have been numerous cases abroad of acquisitions and still the display of works by Collectors and Museums, such as the striking one of the Genoese exhibition dedicated to the masterpieces of Amedeo Modigliani .
The case of the Etienne Terrus museum, of the French town Elnus, which after some restoration works, discovered to own and exhibit 82 fake works out of 140; a scandal that shook the art world.
Over the years, however, there has been a willingness on the part of prestigious institutions to voluntarily organize exhibitions dedicated to works recognized by experts as false, erroneously attributed or counterfeited, with the aim of making collectors and operators aware of the extent of the problem and art lovers.
Below a selection of the most famous:
“Intent to Deceive: Fakes and Forgeries in the Art World”, at Springfield Museums(2014)
This revolutionary exhibition told some of the most famous scammers in the world , examining how they managed to counterfeit the most important works of art for much of the twentieth century, up to the present day. On display over 60 works of art produced by counterfeiters such as Han van Meegeren, Elmyr de Hory and Eric Hebborn, but also John Myatt and Mark Landis. The profile of each counterfeiter included a sample of their counterfeit works , together with personal effects, photographs, videos and representations of the materials and techniques used to create the fakes. Of particular interest were the reports of how art experts were able to use new technologies to reveal their fraud.
“Close Examination: Fakes, Mistakes and Discoveries”, at the National Gallery of London (2010)
La prestigiosa National Gallery di Londra ha organizzato una mostra incentrata su 40 dipinti contraffatti, comprati The prestigious National Gallery in London organized an exhibition focused on 40 counterfeit paintings , bought by the museum institution by mistake. The protagonist of the exhibition was a painting called ” the most sensational error that the National Gallery has ever made, even become famous ” : a fake Botticelli bought for a higher amount than that for which, in the same days, another authentic one was bought. Among the other works on display there were fakes by Rembrandt, Andrea del Verrocchio, Piero della Francesca, Giorgione and also a Hans Holbein.
“Seconde Main (Second Hand)”, at Museé d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris (2010)
This exhibition was a wide selection of “double-works”, created from the 1960s to today, which compare, on the one hand, with the layout of the permanent collection and, on the other, trigger a more general reflection on the problems of copy of the forgery, the quote, plagiarism and appropriation. All practices implemented in different ways that range from the more comprehensible ones of counterfeiters and copyists to the more sophisticated and provocative ones of conceptual and modern artists. Duchamp, Mondrian, Pollock, Jasper Johns, Warhol are among the many looted and overhauled masters.
“In difesa della bellezza”, at Università degli Studi Roma Tre (2019)
The “In defense of beauty” exhibition presented 108 works seized by the Carabinieri Command Corps for the Protection of Cultural Heritage (TPC) and analyzed by students, teachers and experts of the Laboratory of forgery Roma Tre University. Yes, but all false masterpieces: Burri’s material art with his Sacco, Schifano’s multimedia art, Sironi’s expressionist art, Balla’s futuristic and revolutionary art and the Macchiaiolo Fattori’s with his Tuscan Maremma.
How can you distinguish fakes from originals without being an art expert? Who are the most counterfeit artists? How much is the black market of fake art worth? These are some of the questions the exhibition has attempted to answer.
Behind every exhibited work of art there is a story, a path that involves the artist, together with galleries, collectors, auction houses, fairs and museums involving as many professionals in the management and enhancement of the works.
Today all this information is forgotten, sometimes lost, even omitted, making the procedure of authentication, attribution and evaluation of works of art complex, affecting the counterfeit market and the cultural and economic value of the same.
This is why Art Rights is born, a digital platform that is innovating, digitizing and automating the authenticity process of works of art typical of the Artist Archives, offering this opportunity also to Artists, Galleries, Curators, Museums and Professionals in favor of authenticity and tracing the history
The platform becomes a protocol for the exchange and verification of information, with a unique system of validation of the historian of the works and of the documentary equipment by several professionals in favor of authenticity, provenance and during due diligence.
After two years of development and testing with artists and protagonists of the art, the professional platform is now available, offering its users an Art Manager to manage the collection, Art Rights to certify the works and an exclusive Art Concierge to get in touch with the best service professionals to support the management and enhancement of art collections.
Are you ready to fight the fakes?
