Fakes and forgeries

A tangled mess: Canadian forgery scandal comes into full public view

An exhibition at the Vancouver Art Gallery grapples with how the museum ended up with ten fake works previously attributed to J.E.H. MacDonald, a member of the famous Group of Seven

Washington State man sentenced to two years in prison for passing off more than $1m worth of fakes as Alaska Native art

He even hired Alaska Natives as clerks in his stores as part of the ruse, and will serve the longest sentence on record for violating the Indian Arts and Crafts Act

Auctioneer, who admitted he helped make fake Basquiats seized by the FBI, avoids jail time

Michael Barzman will pay a fine, do community service and be on probation for his role in the forgery scandal

Orlando Museum of Art sues its former director over Basquiat forgery scandal

According to the lawsuit, Aaron De Groft stood to benefit from the eventual sale of the fake Basquiats—and planned subsequent shows of works purportedly by Titian and Pollock

Artist who falsely claimed Native American heritage sentenced to 18 months’ probation

The Seattle-based artist had pleaded guilty to violating the federal Indian Arts and Crafts Act

A series of recent lawsuits could change the way UK museums acquire works for their collections

Disputed attribution claims rarely play out in court, but two recent legal cases could provide valuable lessons for acquisitions teams at cultural institutions across the UK

Palm Beach art dealer pleads guilty to selling counterfeit blue-chip art

Daniel Elie Bouaziz was accused of selling fake works by Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein and Jean-Michel Basquiat

Genesis of Phil Collins’s collection of Alamo artefacts questioned ahead of museum opening

A new public exhibition hall is mired in controversy over the provenance of the musician’s collection of relics related to the Alamo in Texas

Crime news

Following his arrest in Italy, Old Master forgery suspect Giuliano Ruffini is turned over to French authorities

After seven years of investigations, Ruffini has been handed over to French authorities, likely setting the stage for a trial in Paris

Suspected Old Master forger Giuliano Ruffini is arrested in Italy after turning himself in

The 77-year-old, wanted by French police for "fraud, money laundering and forgery of works of art", was released after ten days in custody

Crime news

Suspected Old Master forger Giuliano Ruffini—wanted by French police—cannot be found

The French dealer, who is under investigation for selling a series of allegedly forged paintings, has had a warrant out for his arrest since 2019

Former trustees of Florida museum claim they were kept unaware of FBI’s interest in allegedly fake Basquiats

Trustees who say they were summarily dismissed over email as retaliation claim that the board chair concealed information about an FBI subpoena months before the Basquiat exhibition opened

Tests reveal secrets of four Vermeer paintings—including their authenticity—in Washington, DC show

The National Gallery of Art has carried out scientific tests on the works, finding fascinating discoveries beneath the paint

Indigenous Canadian artists pressure government to curtail sales of counterfeit First Nations art

Imports of artworks manufactured abroad to replicate Indigenous Canadian styles are not currently regulated

What’s with dictators and bad art?

Imelda Marcos is just one of a series of despots with appalling taste

Russians are selling art to fund the war in Ukraine—and not all of it appears to be real

An allegedly fake Kandinsky and NFTs of Ukrainian cities' coats of arms are among the works being offered to support Putin's aggression

When an art forger becomes an artist

More than a decade after his unusual forgery scheme came to light, Mark Landis discusses his artistic origins and Manhattan solo exhibition

NFTnews

Counterfeit NFTs are creating major problems for digital platforms—but new tools to spot fakes are on the rise

Image recognition and data scraping technology are increasingly being used by the NFT community to protect intellectual property online

Two artists face federal charges for faking Indigenous heritage

The Washington-based artists have been charged with claiming enrollment in Indigenous tribes, violating the Indian Arts and Crafts Act

Facebook profits by aiding scammers as they mimic and rip off artists' work

Fraudsters are using Facebook to dupe people into buying artists’ works at bargain-bucket prices while supplying cheap knock-offs

Hundreds of Andy Warhol fakes, and one original drawing worth $20k, sold for $250 each

The art collective MSCHF has shuffled an original Warhol with 1,000 identical works, with any record of the original piece destroyed

Secrets and lies: the role of restorers in art crime

Regulation of the conservation profession may be a start, but can it quash the “ego” that often motivates restorers-turned-forgers?

Tate’s Tahitian Gauguin is suspected fake

Catalogue raisonné rejects unusual part-painting, part-sketch, as expert says the “colonial” nature of the composition is not the artist’s style

California man admits to selling over $1m in forged art, purportedly by Richard Hambleton and Barkley Hendricks

Jason Harrington pleaded guilty to selling phony paintings to at least 15 galleries and individuals between 2018 and 2020

'Cranach' painting of Venus at centre of Old Masters fakes scandal must be returned to Prince of Liechtenstein, court rules

Seized as part of a forgery investigation, the work has been fully studied and must no longer be kept as evidence

Hermitage director responds to accusations of fakery in Fabergé exhibition

Mikhail Piotrovsky addresses London dealer Andre Ruzhnikov’s claims that the Russian exhibition includes ‘tawdry fakes’

Podcastspodcast

Old Masters meet Brutalism: inside Frick Madison in New York

Plus, the story of a notorious forger and artist Collier Schorr on August Sander

Hosted by Ben Luke. with guest speaker Vincent Noce. Produced by Julia Michalska, David Clack, Aimee Dawson and Henrietta Bentall

Surrealist collection of Man Ray's assistant sells out at Christie's despite 'serious concerns about ownership' of most of the works

Ahead of yesterday's sale in Paris, the Man Ray Trust called for a delay claiming that Lucien Treillard “stole a substantial number of Man Ray’s works and possessions"

NFTcomment

The NFT craze encapsulates the absurdity of the art world—and its obsession with authenticity

Why would someone buy a non-fungible token of a rainbow-toting cat, which already exists in millions of identical copies?