forgery

New Museum Exhibit Takes A Closer Look at Fakes

Filed under: Art

When a fake is discovered the reaction of most museums is to quietly remove it from display and hope nobody notices, and although historically the National Gallery has done just that it's now offering all of its fakes up in a full-on display along with an education on the cutting edge technology used to uncover them. Infrared reflectography, x-rays, pigment analysis, and dendrochronology (a means of dating wood by looking at its rings) all make it more difficult than ever for fakes to get by, but even some experts admit that the work and skill needed to make some of the forgeries is impressive. One of the gallery's researchers, Rachel Billinge, says "Sometimes the faker has gone to such lengths you can respect their techniques – much more so than the originals, churned out in a workshop by some bored apprentice."

The exhibit will be open at the National Gallery from June 30th - September 12th.

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Tags: art, exhibit, fake, forgery, gallery, museum, national gallery

Van Gogh Painting is a Fake

by Sandy Maple (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Art

When Rupert Murdoch's father, Keith Murdoch, staged a contemporary art exhibit in Australia in 1939, Vincent Van Gogh's "Head of a Man" was on display. It was later purchased by Australia's National Gallery of Victoria for $3,500 and has been a part of their collection ever since. However, last August, when the painting was shown at the Dean Gallery in Edinburgh, Scotland, critics noticed something wasn't right. The work, dated 1886, appeared to be of a different style than other Van Gogh paintings during the same period. What's more, the painting was never mentioned in the artist's letters.

"Head of a Man" was then sent to the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam where experts have now declared it to be a fake. Gerard Vaughan, director of the National Gallery of Victoria, says the painting was most likely the work of a Van Gogh contemporary and makes clear that the painting was simply misattributed, not a deliberate forgery. Had the painting been authentic, it would have been valued at around $21 million.

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Tags: art, australia national gallery of victoria, AustraliaNationalGalleryOfVictoria, dean gallery, DeanGallery, fake, forgery, head of a man, HeadOfAMan, painting, rupert murdoch, RupertMurdoch, van gogh, VanGogh, vincent van gogh, VincentVanGogh

Shanghai Knockoffs Get Knocked Off

by Nicole Weston (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Events

Shanghai's most famous street market, Xiangyang Road Fashion and Gift Market, was shut down this week. The market was famous for its cheap, designer knock-offs and was hugely popular with locals, as well as tourists for many years. More recently, the government began to crack-down on forgeries on behalf of the foreign investors and businesses that they were trying to attract to the country, and the market crowds dwindled somewhat. Immediately after the close, some vendors moved to neighboring buildings and streets, but the area will never be the same again. The Chinese government plans to redevelop the area to have a metro line and, possibly, ultimately turn it into a residential sector instead of a commercial one.