Faking Fine Art
Monday, October 5th, 2009
This was a fascinating OnPoint show interviewing the author of a book on one of the biggest art frauds of the 20th century. A con-man hires a painter to reproduce period paintings and then passes them into the art world by forging provenance papers and more.
The piece I found most interesting was the discussion of what separates an original painting from a forgery and if you can’t see the difference, how is value of the original challenged. The art world is full of hype even without forgeries undermining things and this case shakes the foundation of the art auction and appraisal world.
