How Not to be Duped... World Printmakers

How Not To Be Duped in
the Fine-Art Print Market

Fakes of Work by Famous Artists
Besides the "soft fraud" discussed in a recent World Printmakers cover story, actual hard-core print fraud abounds around the world, sinister and unscrupulous international organizations falsifying the work of famous artists then passing them off as authentic. Last December Spanish police siezed some 3,000 false prints.

They were copies of work by artists like Miró, Picasso, Tapies, Canogar, Chagall, Liechtenstein, Warhol and, of course the crown prince of art-fraud accomplices, Salvador Dalí.

Many of these fake etchings, lithographs and screen prints, some $12.5 million in sales, according to Spanish police inspector, Andres Sotero, were sold to unsuspecting tourists from two shops in Mallorca, as well as being distributed to the U.S., Germany, Italy and Japan. All of these falsifications were skilfully signed and numbered and accompanied by convincing-looking documentation, all false of course.

Rule One
So, where does this desolate panorama leave you, the innocent print collector? What can you do to avoid being bilked by international print pirates? All the experts agree on the first rule: Only buy prints from a reputable dealer with whom you have an ongoing relationship. That dealer is an expert and he will be an effective filter against fraudulent work.

Leading Spanish art expert, Antonio Ruiz, has run art galleries on both sides of the Atlantic over the past 30 years. He likes to tell the story of the exhibit of the André Malraux collection in the Galerie Maeght in Paris in the sixties. Malraux was the French minister of culture at the time and wanted to include a Goya painting which he found in Bordeaux, the city where Goya spent his final exile. Maeght, well known as a dealer of impeccable integrity, considered the painting of dubious authenticity and did not permit Malraux to hang it in the exhibit, saying, "One single falsification could undo my life's work as a galeriste. I cannot even consider that possibility."

A Self Shot in the Foot?
What is World Printmakers doing running two consecutive cover stories on art fraud? Are we trying to shoot ourselves in the foot? We don't think so. Fraud is a major problem in the fine-art print business and we prefer to meet it head on. We think our clients appreciate this open approach and that it will be good for both collectors and honest artists in the long run. We also feel a responsibility to inform the art-buying public as to the measures they can take to avoid being cheated by print pirates.

Tomorrow's Masters
Another security measure which World Printmakers recommends is to focus your print collection mainly on the work of non-famous or emerging printmakers. Not only do you have the satisfaction of discovering tomorrow's masters for yourself, but you can be assured that the art crooks, busy falsifying Dalí and Warhol and the rest of the big-name, big-bucks artists, won't have the time nor the inclination to pirate the work of artists who are not famous and pricey, no matter how fine their work may be.

Art fraud is a fascinating subject which has given rise to a literature and a folklore all its own. The most-pirated artist of all time is certainly Salvador Dalí, in part because he was a knowing and active accomplice to many shady deals. Experts estimate that Dalí signed some 280,000 sheets of blank paper during his lucrative lifetime. So strenuous were his paper-signing activities, with secretaries on both sides furiously placing and retiring the blank sheets, that his signature deteriorated so much that art experts have serious problems authenticating his signature today.

For readers interested in knowing more about the art-fake phenomenon (know your enemy!) we'll recommend a few websites on the subject.

http://www.pixi.com/~hicatt
This site is called "The Great Dalí Art Fraud." In it author Lee Caterall documents the great surrealist's rocambolesque history of conning and being conned. Such is the level of fraud involved that Caterall sees fit to distinguish between mere fakes and "fake fakes," the former being illicit copies of Dalí's works with or without the connivance of the author, and the latter being works done in the Dalí style and signed with false signatures. According to Caterall the latter are far less numerous than the fakes based on Dalí's actual works.

http://www.auctionwatch.com/awdaily/collectors/spotlight/print/3.html
This Auction Watch website has a section on print frauds which includes a series of precautionary measures that collectors can take and a recommendation for researching the value of fine-art prints: go to the sites of the major auction houses (Sotheby's, Christies, Butterfield & Butterfield...) who all offer their old catalogs online complete with sales price information.

http://www.museum-security.org/forgery1.htm
This is a very complete site centered on all kinds of art scams, from big-time international fraud rings to the expoliation of historic churches. The most interesting part is the biographical rundown on famous art forgers.

http://www.ftc.gov/opa/1995/9508/gabos3.htm
Notes from the United States Federal Trade Commission dedicated to Cornell Gabos, promotor of a Cleveland-based art-fraud operation and the ensuing industry-wide federal investigation dubbed "Operation Bogart" for "Bogus Art." They offer an address where you can write for a free FTC fact sheet entitled "Art Fraud" which offers tips on protecting yourself from counterfeit art dealers.