Every other week we hear of a story where an imminent institution or collector has been duped with fake art.
The most recent high-profile incident came to light when the FBI started investigation on the authenticity of 25 Basquiat paintings in the exhibition, ‘Heros and Monsters: Jean-Michel Basquiat’, at the Orlando Museum of Art. Interestingly, the collection came under scrutiny when it was revealed at the type-face of the FedEx box, on which one of the works was painted (the artist often scavenged boxes), didn’t come into being till six years after the artist’s death! The museum subsequently sued its former director who is alleged to be involved and who hoped to pocket the commission from sales after legitimising the works at the museum. We understand that court has recently ruled no jail time for the offender, and only a notional fine and lots of community service hours, plus probation due to extenuating circumstances.
The 2020 documentary on Netflix, ‘Made You Look: The True Story of Fake Art’, was even more interesting. It revealed a long-standing forged art enterprise at one of the most blue-chip and the oldest galleries in New York, Knoedler Gallery, which sold some of the most dazzling American abstractionists, including Mark Rothko, Jackson Pollock, Robert Motherwell, Andy Warhol, Fraz Kline, to name a few.
These works were ratified by the gallery and sold for phenomenal market prices.
Few of us, and much less genuine enthusiastic collectors, can turn away from once in a lifetime, never-before seen, artworks from such luminaries. It is believed that some of the most spectacular forgeries and fakes hang in some of the most prominent museum around the world, hiding in plain sight.
This is all some very murky waters, and prospective buyers would rightfully become even more wary about buying, collecting, and investing in artworks, especially from artists who have become very ‘hot’ in the sales circles.
How are we ever going to navigate this space, where so much depends on trust, reputation, and handshakes?
The question about authentic artworks is not just philosophical, there is also a financial urgency to it. Much monies hinges on making sure that reputation is not marred by selling fakes. For example, Sotheby’s offers a five-year guaranteed refund if the object of sale is proven to be counterfeit. They even bought an independent technology-based authentication company, Orion Analytical, becoming the first auction house to have an in-house conservation and analytics unit.
While technology has made some these areas more transparent, it still is not the first port of call for buyers, who would typically go back to institutions and marketplaces they continue to trust, till something different is revealed. And technology can work both ways, assisting expert forgers in producing even more convincing fakes.
In India, where documentation and public resources available for art are in an even more wanting state, fakes and forgeries abound, making it difficult sometimes for even the most conscientious authenticators and art experts to prove or disprove a claim.
While the few artists estates take the onus of documenting and verifying the artists’ works, there remain swathes of other artists and artworks that have almost negligible provenance or publication histories. We have spoken about the need for free digital public information on art, and its importance towards building authentic databases in our January 2023 article ‘Artworks for Free…’. We also wrote about the most rudimentary steps that a prospective buyer / collector can take in our May 2023 article, ‘How to Build an Art Collection’.
But in spite of these measures, it is important to remember that the art world marketplace requires, like any other dynamic spaces, care and attention and due diligence to navigate successfully.
Since there is little legal recourse or established laws in India about art forgeries, these are likely to continue. Some artists, such as the recent case of Mumbai artist Ravindra Pabrekar, where the artist had to resort to filing a police complaint after discovering an online platform (World Art Hub) selling works, mis-attributing him as a painter, at a fraction of the prices. The platform has since then cited this as an unintentional error and offer damages to the artist. But this was a long, tortuous route for the artist, where even the police were slow to action, and the compensation minimal.
We cant emphasize enough that when buying a work of art ensure that you do your due diligence, ask for provenance for non-living or the famous artists especially when it is an artwork that has changed many hands. Research on the period, what are the other artworks from the period under consideration and compare the artworks, for example: what did Raza’s paintings from the early 1980’s look like, what was the colour palette. Read about the artist biography to understand the artist’s work trajectory better. Souza visited Italy in 1961 and did many sketches of towns and cities; does your work match what he painted during this period? Just as the Basquiat forgery, sometimes the clues to identifying a fake lie in these little details. So, keep an open mind, and close eye, no matter where you choose to buy from!
And as ever, build a circle of trusted art advisors, who can help guide you ask the right questions!
Comments