If you’re looking for an interesting cultural diversion this summer (or fall… or winter) I’m certain that you will find Treasures on Trial, now on view at Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library, Winterthur, Delaware, a fascinating and intellectually enlightening experience.
LEAD Technologies Inc. V1.01
This major exhibition, April 1, 2017 – January 7, 2018, offers visitors a Sherlockian-style investigation of some of the most notorious fakes and forgeries of our time. Drawn from the Winterthur Collection and public and private sources, Treasures on Trial includes 40 intriguing examples of fakes and forgeries associated with such masters as Henry Matisse, Coco Chanel, Paul Revere, Antonio Stradivari, and Louis Comfort Tiffany.
This broad range of works provides a rather startling view of the scope and sophistication of the counterfeiting market, which ranges from fine art to sports memorabilia, couture clothing, wine, antique furniture and more, notes Linda Eaton, John I. and Marjorie P. McGraw Director of Collections and Senior Curator of Textiles at Winterthur. Ms. Eaton co-curated Treasures on Trial with Colette Loll, Founder and Director of Art Fraud Insights, LLC, a Washington, DC, based consultancy dedicated to issues of art fraud.
Designed to both inform and entertain, the exhibition demonstrates how provenance, research, connoisseurship skills, and scientific analysis are used to expose a broad range of imposters who have fooled collectors and experts alike; it also reveals some fascinating stories about the forgers themselves.
And perhaps the most spellbinding and ultimately appealing story surrounding an art forger is that of British artist John Myatt (born 1945), who, along with John Drewe, perpetrated what has been described as “the biggest art fraud of the 20th century.”
In 1985, Myatt gave up his teaching job to spend more time with his children and attempt to make a living by painting original works in the style of well-known artists. He placed an advertisement in a magazine that read “Genuine fakes. Nineteenth and twentieth century paintings from £150.” He was initially honest about the nature of his paintings, but John Drewe, a regular customer, was able to re-sell some of his paintings as genuine works. When he later confided to Myatt that Christie’s had accepted his “Albert Gleizes” painting as genuine and paid £25,000, Myatt was drawn into Drewe’s fraudulent scheme and began to paint more pictures in the style of masters such as Matisse and Marc Chagall. According to police estimates, Myatt painted about 200 forgeries in a regular schedule and delivered them to Drewe, who sold them to Christie’s, Phillips and Sotheby’s, as well as to dealers in London, Paris and New York.
In September 1995, Myatt was arrested by Scotland Yard. He quickly confessed; and offered to return the £275,000 he had earned and to help convict Drewe, as he had come to dislike both the deception and Drewe himself. John Myatt was sentenced to one year in prison for conspiracy to defraud. He was released after four months for good behavior. Drewe was sentenced to six years for conspiracy and served two.
After his release, John Myatt has continued to paint commissioned portraits and clear copies; and has held various exhibitions of his work. His paintings are now marked indelibly as fakes and have been highly sought after by collectors, several selling for £45,000. In addition, he now works with law enforcement agencies, helping to expose art frauds.
Myatt also has two television shows. One called Fame in the Frame in which he has a private sitting with one celebrity in each episode and paints their portrait in the style of a famous artist. In his other show, Virgin Virtuosos, he recreates famous paintings.
For those who may be interested, the complete story of this spectacular art forgery case is to be found in Provenance: How a Con Man and a Forger Re-Wrote the History of Modern Art, a book by Laney Salisbury & Aly Sujo.
The section of the exhibition that had the most appeal for me personally recounted two sensational wine scandals, both interestingly enough, that involved billionaire wine collector William Koch.
In 1985 in Christie’s London, Christopher Forbes, son of Malcolm Forbes and a vice-president of Forbes magazine, was the buyer of a bottle that was purportedly a 1787 Chateau Lafitte (now spelled Lafite) found in a cellar in France. The price: $156,000.00. According to the catalogue, evidence suggested that the wine had belonged to Thomas Jefferson. After the auction, other serious collectors sought out Jefferson bottles, Marvin Shaken, publisher of the Wine Spectator magazine purchased a bottle through Christie’s. A mysterious Middle Eastern Businessman bought another. And, in late 1988, William Koch purchased four bottles. Several years later, when doubts and rumors about the wines’ authenticity began to reach crescendo proportions, it was Koch who doggedly pursued scientific analysis that ultimately demonstrated they had been created by a German forger.
On the morning of March 8, 2012, oenological wheeler-dealer Rudy Kurniawan, an Indonesian wine merchant, was arrested at his home in Arcadia California. When agents searched his house, they found a virtual “counterfeit kitchen.” Kurniawan had earned tens of millions of dollars fleecing wealthy buyers by manufacturing purportedly rare, decades- and centuries-old wines in his suburban home by soaking labels off bottles, printing up new ones that sported much-coveted names like Chateau Petrus, and then filling them with combinations of cheap wine from other bottles.
Several years before Kurniawan’s arrest, William Koch filed suit against him, alleging that he had knowingly sold fake bottles to him and other collectors, both at auction and privately. As the narrator of an ABC “20/20” segment noted: Kurniawan “had a good thing going until he crossed paths with the wrong billionaire.” Koch estimated that he had spent $25 million in legal fees – far more than the $5 million he originally spent on the fake wine itself. He subsequently won a $12 million judgment against a individual who sold him fakes. He even appeared on the cover of Wine Spectator as the subject of an article entitled “The Crusade Against Counterfeits.”
So, how much wine does one have to buy to be ripped off of literally millions of dollars…? Koch notes that he purchased between 400 to 500 fake bottles from Kurniawan and others… On the other hand, is it difficult to sympathize with a billionaire who spends six-figure sums on a single bottle of wine…? One wine expert referred to wine collectors as “bravado jackasses” with a “my bottle’s bigger than your bottle” complex. Now there’s a thought to contemplate. J
Whatever your point of view, Treasures on Trial is an exhibition that is well worth taking in.
TAD
{ 0 comments… add one now }