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Chicago Art Institute 'Gauguin' a Forgery
by
findingDulcinea Staff
The Art Institute of Chicago removes a counterfeit sculpture previously thought to be the work of famed post-impressionist Paul Gauguin; the fake was discovered thanks to an investigation into a multimillion-dollar forgery operation run out of a garden shed by a family in Britain.
30-Second Summary
The ceramic sculpture “The Faun” was traced back to the London branch of the respected auction house Sotheby’s. The piece appeared to match one of Gauguin’s 1887 sketches.
Even Anne-Birgitte Fonsmark, the world’s leading specialist in Gauguin ceramics, accepted the piece as a genuine, describing it as “among Gauguin’s most satirical” works.
However, its bogus nature was revealed in the course of Scotland Yard’s investigation into the Greenhalgh family, an elderly couple and son who forged art works by famous masters.
The Greenhalghs were being prosecuted for charges relating to the forgery of the Egyptian “Armana Princess” sculpture when investigators found evidence shedding doubt on “The Faun’s” origins.
Prosecutors claimed that Olive and George Greenhalgh and their son Shaun reproduced an estimated £10 million of artwork.
“They are possibly the most diverse forgery team in the world, ever,” Scotland Yard Detective Sergeant Vernon Rapley told the Times of London.
Because the family was independently wealthy, Detective Sergeant Vernon Rapley, from the Metropolitan’s Art and Antiques unit, suspects that the Greenhalgh’s nefarious activities were motivated more by rancor than greed: "They had a resentment of the art market and wanted to prove they could deceive it."
If Rapley's theory is correct, the Greenhalghs are reminiscent of the infamous art forger Elmyr de Hory, subject of Orson Welles' 1975 documentary "F for Fake."
Even Anne-Birgitte Fonsmark, the world’s leading specialist in Gauguin ceramics, accepted the piece as a genuine, describing it as “among Gauguin’s most satirical” works.
However, its bogus nature was revealed in the course of Scotland Yard’s investigation into the Greenhalgh family, an elderly couple and son who forged art works by famous masters.
The Greenhalghs were being prosecuted for charges relating to the forgery of the Egyptian “Armana Princess” sculpture when investigators found evidence shedding doubt on “The Faun’s” origins.
Prosecutors claimed that Olive and George Greenhalgh and their son Shaun reproduced an estimated £10 million of artwork.
“They are possibly the most diverse forgery team in the world, ever,” Scotland Yard Detective Sergeant Vernon Rapley told the Times of London.
Because the family was independently wealthy, Detective Sergeant Vernon Rapley, from the Metropolitan’s Art and Antiques unit, suspects that the Greenhalgh’s nefarious activities were motivated more by rancor than greed: "They had a resentment of the art market and wanted to prove they could deceive it."
If Rapley's theory is correct, the Greenhalghs are reminiscent of the infamous art forger Elmyr de Hory, subject of Orson Welles' 1975 documentary "F for Fake."
Headine Links: Faking ‘The Faun’
The Art Newspaper reveals that “The Faun” was created by Shaun Greenhalgh and sold by his mother to London art dealers through a Sotheby’s auction. When the Art Institute bought the sculpture from the London dealers, the purchase was celebrated by sculpture curator Ian Wardropper: “It's one of the most important acquisitions of the past 20 years.” However, detectives investigating the Greenhalgh family in November 2007 soon discovered documents relating to the piece's sale and alerted the Art Institute to its dubious authenticity.
Source: The Art Newspaper
The Times of London reported that the Greenhalgh family had forged a collection of art worth £10 million whose subject-matter spanned four millennia. Scotland Yard Detective Sergeant Vernon Rapley stated, “They are possibly the most diverse forgery team in the world, ever.” Shaun Greenhalgh made the artwork in the garden shed of his family’s home in Bolton, England. He was sentenced to four years and eight months in jail, while his mother, Olive, received a 12-month suspended sentence. His father, George, is wheelchair bound; his sentence was deferred.
Source: The Times of London
Background Link: The ersatz ‘Armana Princess’
The Greenhalghs were first arrested in August when experts determined that an Egyptian artifact they sold to the Bolton metropolitan borough council for £410,393 was a fake. Four years ago, the town council had to raise money to buy the piece. Laurie Williamson, the council's executive member for culture said, "This was a once in a lifetime opportunity to secure an important Egyptian treasure."
Source: The Telegraph
Opinion & Analysis: The Greenhalghs' artistic grudge
Investigators from the Metropolitan’s Art and Antique unit found half a million pounds in the Greenhalghs’ bank account, concluding that the family’s motivation for forging artwork was not money. Detective Sergeant Vernon Rapley said, “Shaun Greenhalgh felt he was a better artist than he would ever get recognition for and developed a general hatred of the art market and the art establishment.” Despite their wealth, the family lived a basic lifestyle, without even a television or computer in their home.
Source: The BBC
Related Topics: Jackson Pollock forgeries and Elmyr de Hory
The authenticity of 32 alleged Jackson Pollock paintings found by filmmaker Alex Matter is still in dispute. Matter hired James Martin, a forensic scientist in Williamston, to conduct a report but refused to release it, despite urging from the Pollock-Krasner Foundation. Ronald Spencer, lawyer for the Pollock-Krasner Foundation, said, “The foundation's position is we've seen no hard evidence these paintings are by Pollock.”
Source: The Boston Globe
Physicist Richard Taylor of the University of Oregon developed a method for authenticating Jackson Pollock’s work using fractals: geometric structures in which smaller shapes mirror larger ones. Examples of fractal-like shapes are found in nature, in such things as snowflakes, mountain ridges and coastlines. Taylor claims that Pollock paintings are also approximations of fractals and that mathematical calculations can prove the authenticity of a painting. However, Katherine Jones-Smith, a doctoral candidate in astrophysics, attempted to disprove the theory by making some scribbles that shared mathematical qualities with Pollock’s work. Her collaborator, Harsh Mathur said, “Either Taylor is wrong, or Kate's drawings are worth $40 million."
Source: Science News
Vassar professor Don Foster argues that even if the Pollock paintings are forgeries, they are still art. The contemporary critical consensus, Foster argues, is such that the importance of art is no longer aesthetic but rather analytical. He suggests, “If we embrace Pollock's work for its anti-figurative aesthetic—may faux-Pollock not be quintessential Pollock?”
Source: The New York Times
Elmyr de Hory (1906–1976)
As is alleged regarding the Greenhalghs, Elmyr de Hory found a way to settle a personal score through forgery. Periodically in his career as an imitator and conman, de Hory would attempt to find an audience for works created under his own name, but never with much success. Frustrated as an artist, he developed a reputation as a forger, seemingly finding great satisfaction in demonstrating how adeptly he could fool the master critics. He was always adamant that he never copied the signature of another painter, an important omission since imitating the style of a painter isn’t a crime. De Hory was so confident—and so eager for recognition too, perhaps—that he let himself become the subject of a 1975 Orson Welles documentary about forgery, “F for Fake.”
Source: Crime Library
According the Criterion Collection synopsis, Orson Welles’ documentary “F Is for Fake” is a “dizzying cinematic journey that simultaneously exposes and revels in fakery and fakers of all stripes.” The movie follows famous art forger Elmyr de Hory and his biographer Clifford Irving—who himself was accused of forging Howard Hughes’ biography.
Source: The Criterion Collection, "F for Fake"
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