The History of Art Forgery
University of Central Missouri The Art of Forgery History of Art Forgery
4/15/2012 |
Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to examine the history of Art Forgery and the history of one of the greatest art forgers of our time, Tom Keating. The paper will go into the basic history of art forgery from the first recorded art forgery all the way up to the ways forgeries are made today. It will also go into the changes of how forgeries were detected and how forgers are prosecuted.
The history of art forgery is not as sinister as some people may believe. In the past, and in some art schools today, students were/are made to copy the works of the master artists, such as Leonardo, Michelangelo, Van Gogh, Monet, and countless others, to hone their skills and practice. In years long past the masters would create their originals and then many copies would be made to make it visible to many people all over the world and to enhance the likelihood that the art would survive the ages. (Dutton, 1983) This went on for years without any thought but as time went on more and more of the masters art started to surface the need for experts were needed to make sure the art in question was the real thing. In the past a person would have to spend years if not a lifetime researching and studying the way an artist would paint by looking at brush strokes, type of paint and canvas used, and other distinctive characteristics of the artist. As time progressed those same experts became some of the most accomplished art forgers. One such forger was French artist Jean-Pierre Schecroun. Before he was arrested and found guilty of forgery in 1962, Schecroun is said to had produced somewhere around eighty forgeries of artists’ works like Picasso and other modern masters. The pictures were said to have brought in £25,000 in two years (Dolice, 2003). Forgeries have become such a common practice that any work that surfaces that is allegedly a work done by a modern master such
4/15/2012 |
Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to examine the history of Art Forgery and the history of one of the greatest art forgers of our time, Tom Keating. The paper will go into the basic history of art forgery from the first recorded art forgery all the way up to the ways forgeries are made today. It will also go into the changes of how forgeries were detected and how forgers are prosecuted.
The history of art forgery is not as sinister as some people may believe. In the past, and in some art schools today, students were/are made to copy the works of the master artists, such as Leonardo, Michelangelo, Van Gogh, Monet, and countless others, to hone their skills and practice. In years long past the masters would create their originals and then many copies would be made to make it visible to many people all over the world and to enhance the likelihood that the art would survive the ages. (Dutton, 1983) This went on for years without any thought but as time went on more and more of the masters art started to surface the need for experts were needed to make sure the art in question was the real thing. In the past a person would have to spend years if not a lifetime researching and studying the way an artist would paint by looking at brush strokes, type of paint and canvas used, and other distinctive characteristics of the artist. As time progressed those same experts became some of the most accomplished art forgers. One such forger was French artist Jean-Pierre Schecroun. Before he was arrested and found guilty of forgery in 1962, Schecroun is said to had produced somewhere around eighty forgeries of artists’ works like Picasso and other modern masters. The pictures were said to have brought in £25,000 in two years (Dolice, 2003). Forgeries have become such a common practice that any work that surfaces that is allegedly a work done by a modern master such
Cited: Dolice, J. (2003). Fabulous Fakes and a History of Art forgery. Dutton, D. (1983). The Forger 's Art. Berkeley: University of California Press. Federal Trade Commision . (1993). 9 F.3d 1551: Federal Trade Commission, Plaintiff-appellee, v. Magui Publishers, Inc.; Pierre Marcand, Defendants-appellants. Retrieved April 2012, from FTC.gov. Fleming, S. J. (1975). Authenticity in Art: The scientific Detection of Forgery. New York: Crane, Russak & Co Inc. Keating, T., Norman, G., & Norman, F. (1977). The Fake 's Progress: The Tom Keating Story. London: Hutchinson and Company.