Would you believe that more than half of the works in the art market are forgeries? A forgery is an intentional copy made from an original work of art that is not authorized by the artist. It is believed that forged artworks are very common. Some art dealers find talented artists to reproduce the work of masters flawlessly. These dealers manage to convince buyers to pay thousands of dollars, sometimes even millions of dollars for rare works that are actually fakes. For nearly 30 years, art forger Mark Landis duped dozens of museums into accepting fakes into their collections but Mark Landis never asked for money so he never went to jail. Now his paintings and drawings are in a touring exhibition called Intent to Deceive , and he’s the subject of a new documentary called Art & Craft .
Often, these artists don’t feel like they are committing a crime or unethical behavior since it has been common practice for centuries to reproduce the work of the masters. The artists feel that it is the dealers that are committing the crime. Read about Pei-Shen Qian, the painter at the center of an $80 million art forgery case here . There was even one forger who Became a National Hero, read about Han van Meegeren here .
Engraving of Rembrandt Forgery is not a new phenomenon. There have been forgers for ages and many forged works are actually still in circulation. Throughout history, some artists learned by copying others. Forgers often use as defense the idea that they give us works that great artists simply didn’t get around to making and many great artists like Rembrandt used assistants to were executed partly or even mostly, read more about this defense in this New York Times article .
man thinking Is this forgery? What negative effects does forgery have on art and society? Since buying and selling art is big business, what impact does forgery have on the art business? Are there any positive effects of forgery on the art world? When is it acceptable to copy work made by another artist? What can students learn by copying works made by accomplished artists?
Should forging of art be discouraged, and if so what steps could be taken (and by whom) to reduce the amount of copying or forgery? Or, should the practice of copying art be encouraged, and if so, how can that be accomplished ethically?
