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- “A work of art is the unique result of a unique temperament.”
Oscar Wilde
Here you will find the renowned famous ones and a few really bad ones and the only ones that should have importance: THE ANONYMOUS
Famous ones are not the good ones, the good ones are those unknown and will probably never be known.
(There is a myth that Lipchitz painted several Modigliani for Zborowski but no proof is given of the scam.)
Take this as an example:
In the book of 1981 made by the Musee d'art Moderne de la Ville de Paris,
the first major study or Modigliani work under technical analysis made by the
Laboratoire du recherche des musees de France conducted by Suzy del Burgo and Lola Faillant-Dumas
( two absolute eminences in their field)
They reached the next terrific conclusion over this painting:
Portrait of Woman with blue eyes (nº 98), although we must note that we do not find in this work some of the usual characteristics of Modigliani, the pasting that form the face, neck and hands are brushed with a nervous writing reminiscent of that of the painter,
but
the original trace, which is usually mastered in volumes, is almost non-existent. |
| this means in common words that it's a fake, a good one, but fake... |
This work has been Included in many exhibitions, publications, etc by: Marc Restellini - Christian Parisot - Lanthemann -
etc. etc.
With a very long provenance that lead us to Zborowski (no idea if the provenance is really true but who knows...)
and exhibits since 1952 -
it was even once included in the French stamps.
The painting was part of the legacy by Dr. Maurice Gerardin
who was a dentist in the 20´s and collectionist that became art dealer with gallery etc. etc.
And why they didn't included the work in the fake ones during the study?
The answer is quite simple, that study left the museum with no Modiglianis (they had 3, 2 are now declared fakes so they had to save one).
Political question to save one that even was used in the stamps??? |
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1918
Woman with blue eyes
The French stamp |
from Girardin legacy came also this other work to the museum that the same study discovered it had nothing to do with Modigliani, another fake:
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Anyway, I am not the person to state what is a fake and what is not so I will just refer to the press and external links.
The final opinion is up to you, reader.
(I do not include here the Livorno joke because they were only joking, none of them tried to get money with their Black & Decker until much later...)
But, no matter how good the fake was if it does not present the correct pigments and a coinciding X-Ray it is not...
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- Pigments in paintings are like DNA
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IDENTIFICATION DES MATERIAUX SYNTHETIQUES DANS LES PEINTURES MODERNES. II. PIGMENTS ORGANIQUES ET MATIERE PICTURALE
NAOKO SONODA, JEAN-PAUL RIOUX, ALAIN RENÉ DUVAL, STUDIES IN CONSERVATION, VOL. 38, NO. 2 (MAY, 1993), PP. 99-127
EXTERNAL LINK >>
PIGMENTS IN PAINTING ARE LIKE A DNA TEST
A REVIEW OF THE CLASSES, STRUCTURES, AND METHODS OF ANALYSIS OF SYNTHETIC ORGANIC PIGMENTS, SUZANNE QUILLEN LOMAX,
TOM LEARNER. JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE FOR CONSERVATION, VOL. 45, NO. 2 (SUMMER, 2006), PP. 107-125. EXTERNAL LINK >>
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THE FAMOUS ONES:
The main issue it that you don't have to be very clever to recognize that the "famous ones" were so silly that it is really easy to catch them, just take a look with examples and discover it for yourself.
Very good page on all of them >
Even a monkey with a minimum training would recognize them. |
| 1.- ELMYR DE HORY: |
The most popular and as can be easily seen, not a very good one.
Revealed as a forger in 1968. Orson Welles included him in F of Fake and gave him the credit to become a popular freak character.
Made an estimated 1000 fake paintings, primarily in the style of the post-impressionists.
He was close to many art historians, preeminent dealers and museum directors (so he was an insider in the art world, paying for certificates and COA´s and all that crap).
He had a drama queen life, with lovers coming and going, full of lies, mobsters, and ended up committing suicide to avoid extradition (?).
His paintings were sold in North America, Europe, and Japan, and the total market value is estimated to be over one-hundred million dollars of his time.
Many fine and respected galleries and museums are in possession or have dealt with what they believe to be a valuable “Matisse” or “Modigliani,” but which is in fact a “de Hory” (he said that in "Fake" but it has never been proven.)
As can be seen at first view he does not have the quality to even be compared.. Much more quality in drawings than in painting, he never reached the quality of the Livournese. this can be clearly seen with a simple view of his fake-copies and the originals.
His main victims were Matisse and Picasso and specially Duffy,
Modigliani was collateral but just a simple look reveals they are not good to really deceive, the lack of soul and the over construction is clear.
he never understood the dynamics in Modigliani backgrounds.
External Link >
Web page dedicated to him >
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How to detect his fakes:
Some of his works have a certain quality, of course not like Modigliani. but can perform a little "tour de force" for eyes with a total lack of knowledge about Modigliani.
A simple X ray reveals the truth, he did not know that Forensic methods would some day exist.
He used Industrial pigments and supports.
All his paintings have titanium white.
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| 2.- JOHN MYATT: |
An ex part-time art teacher and songwriter from Staffordshire, produced more than 200 paintings over 10 years, which were sold around the world for a total of about £2m.
With an aversion to the smell of expensive oils, which also took a long time to dry, he used house paint mixed with turpentine (that's what he said), linseed oil and lubricant jelly (Vaseline, yes the industrial one).
His favorite targets were the modernists, the cubists Gleizes and Braque, Ben Nicholson, Nicolas de Stael, Giacometti and a dozen others.
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How to detect his fakes:
A simple look at his poor quality.
Forensic methods will make any possible alarm sound, he used Vaseline as agglutinate, in 10 years more or less all of them will be revealed...
All his paintings in Modigliani don't deserve even the investment of an analysis.
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| 1.- DAVID STEIN: |
- In 1967, Stein, a former art dealer, was convicted in his country on his plea of guilty, of six counts of counterfeiting art work and grand larceny. He had mastered the styles of such great artists as Chagall, Picasso, Matisse, Braque, Klee, Miro, Cocteau and Rouault to such an extent that he was able to and did sell as the original works of such artists, watercolors, gouaches and other paintings which he had created. After serving his jail sentence, Stein was deported to France where he was arrested and subsequently convicted for selling art forgeries. Stein, in jail in Paris was permitted by the French authorities to produce paintings “in the style of” such renowned artists as Chagall, Matisse, Picasso, Braque and others, only if they bore his own signature: “Stein, D.” rather than the signatures of these masters as had been his prior practice.
In April, 1969, Gallery's affiliate in London exhibited and sold a number of such paintings made by Stein during his confinement.
Collaborated in the movie "The Moderns" and all the paintings were by his hand.
Died 1999.
- Examples of his work (the movie is quite nice):
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How to detect his fakes:
A simple look at his poor poor quality.
Forensic methods will make any possible alarm sound, he used industrial /commercial trade paint.
All his paintings in Modigliani don't deserve even the investment of an analysis.
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The main question is that we don't have to be afraid of the famous ones, they are quite easy to discover (by the way some of the living ones have contacted me asking for my opinion on some of their crap.).
The good forgers must be part of the art market and work for the best dealers (with, or using them depends...), those are the really complicated ones, but today and with the state of the question about Modigliani, they go for another easier challenge like a Picasso or an abstract expressionist painter whose pigments are industrial and therefore much easier to fake.
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MONKEY SEES - MONKEY DOES