Art forgery refers to creating and, in particular, selling works of
artArt is the process or product of deliberately arranging elements in a way that appeals to the senses or emotions. It encompasses a diverse range of human activities, creations, and modes of expression, including music, literature, film, sculpture, and paintings...
that are falsely attributed to be work of another, usually more famous, artist. Art forgery is extremely lucrative, but modern dating and analysis techniques have made the identification of forged artwork much simpler.
History
Art forgery dates back more than two-thousand years.
RomanAncient Rome was a civilization that grew out of a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 10th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea, it became one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
sculptors produced copies of
GreekAncient Greek is the historical stage in the development of the Greek language spanning across the Archaic , Classical , and Hellenistic periods of ancient Greece and the ancient world. It is predated in the 2nd millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek...
sculptures. Presumably the contemporary buyers knew that they were not genuine. During the classical period art was generally created for historical reference, religious inspiration, or simply aesthetic enjoyment. The identity of the artist was often of little importance to the buyer.
During the
RenaissanceThe Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Florence in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe...
, many painters took on apprentices who studied painting techniques by copying the works and style of the master. As a payment for the training, the master would then sell these works. This practice was generally considered a tribute, not forgery, although some of these copies have later erroneously been attributed to the master.
Following the Renaissance, a redistribution of the world’s wealth created a fierce demand for art by a newly prosperous middle class. Near the end of the 14th century, Roman statues were unearthed in Italy, intensifying the populace’s interest in
antiquitiesAntiquities, nearly always used in the plural in this sense, is a term for objects from Antiquity, especially the civilizations of the Mediterranean: the Classical antiquity of Greece and Rome, Ancient Egypt and the other Ancient Near Eastern cultures...
, and leading to sharp increases in the value of these objects. This upsurge soon extended to
contemporaryContemporary art can be defined variously as art produced at this present point in time or art produced since World War II. The definition of the word contemporary would support the first view, but museums of contemporary art commonly define their collections as consisting of art produced since...
and recently deceased artists. Art had become a commercial
commodityA commodity is some good for which there is demand, but which is supplied without qualitative differentiation across a market. It is a product that is the same no matter who produces it, such as petroleum, notebook paper, or milk. In other words, copper is copper. The price of copper is universal,...
, and the monetary value of the artwork came to depend on the identity of the artist. To identify their works, painters began to mark them, these marks later evolved in to signatures. As the demand for certain artwork began to exceed the supply, fraudulent marks and signatures began to appear on the open market.
During the 16th century imitators of
Albrecht DürerAlbrecht Dürer was a German painter, printmaker and theorist from Nuremberg. His prints established his reputation across Europe when he was still in his twenties, and he has been conventionally regarded as the greatest artist of the Northern Renaissance ever since...
's style of printmaking added signatures to them to increase the value of their prints. In his engraving of the Virgin, Durer added the inscription "Be cursed, plunderers and imitators of the work and talent of others". Even extremely famous artists created forgeries.
MichelangeloMichelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni , commonly known as Michelangelo, was an Italian Renaissance painter, sculptor, architect, poet, and engineer...
forged a marble cupid for his patron,
Lorenzo di Piero de' MediciLorenzo di Piero de' Medici may refer to:*Lorenzo de' Medici , also known as il Magnifico*Lorenzo II de' Medici , his grandson, the Duke of Urbino, to whom Machiavelli dedicated The Prince...
.
The 20th century art market has favored artists such as
Salvador DalíSalvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dalí i Domènech, 1st Marquis of Púbol was a Spanish Catalan surrealist painter born in Figueres....
,
Pablo PicassoPablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso was a Spanish painter, draughtsman, and sculptor. Commonly known simply as Picasso, he is one of the most recognized figures in 20th-century art...
,
KleePaul Klee was a Swiss painter of German nationality. His highly individual style was influenced by movements in art that included expressionism, cubism, and surrealism. He was, as well, a student of orientalism. Klee was a natural draftsman who experimented with and eventually mastered color...
and Matisse and works by these artists have commonly been targets of forgery. These forgeries are typically sold to
art galleriesAn art gallery or art museum is a space for the exhibition of art, usually visual art.Museum can be public or private but what distinguishes a Museum is the ownership of a collection. Paintings are the most commonly displayed art objects; however, sculpture, photographs, illustrations,...
and
auctionAn auction is a process of buying and selling goods or services by offering them up for bid, taking bids, and then selling the item to the highest bidder...
houses who cater to the tastes of art and antiquities
collectorsThe hobby of collecting includes seeking, locating, acquiring, organizing, cataloging, displaying, storing, and maintaining whatever items are of interest to the individual collector. Some collectors are generalists, accumulating merchandise, or stamps from all countries of the world...
.
Forgers
There are essentially three varieties of art forger. The person who actually creates the fraudulent piece, the person who discovers a piece and attempts to pass it off as something it is not, in order to increase the piece’s value, and the third who discovers that a work is a fake, but sells it as an original anyway.
Copies, replicas, reproductions and
pasticheA pastiche is a literary or other artistic genre that is a "hodge-podge" or an imitation. The word is also a linguistic term used to describe an early stage in the development of a pidgin language.-Hodge-podge:...
s are often legitimate works, and the distinction between a legitimate reproduction and deliberate forgery is blurred. For example,
Guy HainGuy Hain is a French art forger who produced number of fake bronze sculptures.Guy Hain begun as a seller of veterinary products. In his job he met a number of veterinarians who had antique bronze sculptures of animals and developed an interest of them. In 1962 he spent 550,000 contemporary francs...
used original molds to reproduce several of
Auguste RodinAuguste Rodin[p] was a French sculptor. Although Rodin is generally considered the progenitor of modern sculpture, he did not set out to rebel against the past...
's sculptures. However, when Hain then signed the reproductions with the name of Rodin's original
foundryA foundry is a factory that produces metal castings from either ferrous or non-ferrous alloys. Metals are turned into parts by melting them into a liquid, pouring the metal in a mold, and removing the mold material or casting after the metal has solidified as it cools. The most common metal...
, the works became deliberate forgeries.
Artists
An art forger must be at least somewhat proficient in the type of art he is trying to imitate. Many forgers were once fledging artists who tried, unsuccessfully, to break into the market, eventually resorting to forgery. Sometimes, an original item is borrowed or stolen from the owner in order to create a copy. Forgers will then return the copy to the owner, keeping the original for himself. In 1799, a self portrait by
Albrecht DürerAlbrecht Dürer was a German painter, printmaker and theorist from Nuremberg. His prints established his reputation across Europe when he was still in his twenties, and he has been conventionally regarded as the greatest artist of the Northern Renaissance ever since...
which had hung in the
NurembergNuremberg is a city in the German state of Bavaria, in the administrative region of Middle Franconia. It is situated on the Pegnitz river and the Rhine-Main-Danube Canal and is Franconia's largest city. It is located about 170 kilometres north of Munich, at 49.27° N 11.5° E. The population is...
Town Hall since the sixteenth century, was loaned to Abraham Küffner. The painter made a copy of the original and returned the copy in place of the original. The forgery was discovered in 1805, when the original came up for auction and was purchased for the royal collection.
Although many art forgers reproduce works solely for money, some have claimed that they have created forgeries to expose the credulity and snobbishness of the art world. Essentially the artists claim, usually after they have been caught, that they have performed only "
hoaxA hoax is a deliberate attempt to deceive or trick an audience into believing, or accepting, that something is real, when the hoaxer knows it is not; or that something is true, when it is false...
es of exposure".
Some exposed forgers have later sold their reproductions honestly, by attributing them as copies, and some have actually gained enough notoriety to become famous in their own right. Forgeries painted by the late
Elmyr de HoryElmyr de Hory was a Hungarian-born painter and art forger who claimed to have sold over a thousand forgeries to reputable art galleries all over the world...
, featured in the film
F for FakeF for Fake is the last major film completed by Orson Welles. Initially released in 1974, it focuses on Elmyr de Hory's recounting of his career as a professional art forger; de Hory's story serves as the backdrop for a fast-paced, meandering investigation of the natures of authorship and...
directed by
Orson WellesGeorge Orson Welles was an American film director, writer, actor and producer, who worked extensively in film, theatre, television, and radio. Welles was also an accomplished magician, starring in troop variety spectacles in the war years...
, have become so valuable that forged de Horys have appeared on the market.
A peculiar case was that of the artist
Han van MeegerenHan van Meegeren , born Henricus Antonius van Meegeren, was a Dutch painter and portraitist, and is considered to be one of the most ingenious art forgers of the 20th century....
who became famous by creating "the finest Vermeer ever" and exposing that feat eight years later in 1945. His own work became valuable as well, which fact in turn attracted other forgers. One of these forgers was his son
Jacques van MeegerenJacques van Meegeren , born Jacques Henri Emil van Meegeren, was a Dutch Illustrator and painter.He is also considered to be a forger of the work of his father Han van Meegeren...
who was in the unique position to write certificates stating that a particular piece of art that he was offering "was created by his father, Han van Meegeren" .
Forgers usually copy works by deceased artists, but a small number imitate living artists. In May 2004, Norwegian painter Kjell Nupen noticed that the
KristianstadKristianstad is a city and the seat of Kristianstad Municipality, Skåne County, Sweden with 33,083 inhabitants in 2005.-History:...
gallery was selling unauthorized, signed copies of his work.
Dealers
Claims have surfaced recently, alleging that
art dealerAn art dealer is a person or company that buys and sells works of art. Art dealers' professional associations serve to set high standards for accreditation or membership and to support art exhibitions and shows.-Role:...
s and auction houses have been overly eager, by accepting forgeries as genuine, and selling them quickly, to turn a profit. If a dealer finds the work is a forgery, he may quietly withdraw the piece and return it to its previous owner—giving the forger an opportunity to sell it elsewhere.
Some forgers have created false paper trails relating to a piece, in order to make the work appear genuine. British art dealer
John DreweJohn Drewe is a British purveyor of art forgeries who commissioned artist John Myatt to paint them. Drewe earned about £1.8 million executing these art crimes.-Early life:...
created false documents of
provenanceProvenance, from the French provenir, "to come from", means the origin, or the source, of something, or the history of the ownership or location of an object, The term was originally mostly used of works of art, but is now used in similar senses in a wide range of fields, including science and...
for works forged by his partner
John MyattJohn Myatt, , is a British artist and convicted forger who, with John Drewe, perpetrated what has been described as "the biggest art fraud of the 20th century".-Early life:...
, and even inserted pictures of forgeries into the archives of prominent art institutions. Experts and institutions may also be reluctant to admit their own fallibility. Art historian Thomas Hoving estimates that various types of forged art comprise up to 40% of the art market.
Methods of detection
The most obvious forgeries are revealed as clumsy copies of previous art. A forger may try to create a "new" work by combining the elements of more than one work. The forger may omit details typical to the artist they are trying to imitate, or add
anachronismAn anachronism—from the Greek ανά and χρόνος —is an error in chronology, especially a chronological misplacing of persons, events, objects, or customs in regard to each other...
s, in an attempt to claim that the forged work is a slightly different copy, or a previous version of a more famous work. To detect the work of a skilled forger, investigators must rely on other methods.
Technique of examination
Often a thorough examination (sometimes referred to as Morellian Analysis.) of the piece is enough to determine authenticity. For example, a sculpture may have been created obviously with modern methods and tools. Some forgers have used artistic methods inconsistent with those of the original artists, such as incorrect characteristic brushwork, perspective, preferred themes or techniques, or have used colors that were not available during the artist’s lifetime to create the painting. Some forgers have dipped pieces in chemicals to "age" them and some have even tried to imitate worm marks by drilling holes into objects (See image, right).
While attempting to authenticate artwork, experts will also determine the piece’s
provenanceProvenance, from the French provenir, "to come from", means the origin, or the source, of something, or the history of the ownership or location of an object, The term was originally mostly used of works of art, but is now used in similar senses in a wide range of fields, including science and...
. If the item has no paper trail, it is more likely to be a forgery. Other techniques forgers use which might indicate that a painting is not authentic include:
- Frames, either new or old, that have been altered in order to make forged paintings look more genuine.
- To hide inconsistencies or manipulations, forgers will sometimes glue paper, either new or old, to a painting's back, or cut a forged painting from its original size.
- Recently added labels or artist listings, onto unsigned works of art, unless these labels are as old as the art itself, suspicion should be aroused.
- While art restorers legitimately use new stretcher bars when the old bars have worn, new stretcher bars on old canvases might be an indication that a forger is attempting to alter the painting’s identity.
- Old nail holes or mounting marks on the back of a piece, might indicate that a painting has been removed from its frame, doctored and then replaced into either its original frame or different frame.
- Signatures, on paintings or graphics, that look inconsistent with the art itself (either fresher, bolder, etc.).
- Unsigned work that a dealer has "heard" is by a particular artist.
More recently, magnetic signatures used in the
inkAn ink is a liquid containing various pigments and/or dyes used for coloring a surface to produce an image, text, or design. Ink is used for drawing and/or writing with a pen, brush or quill...
of bank notes are becoming popular for authentication of artworks.
Forensic authentication
If examination of a piece fails to reveal whether it is authentic or forged, investigators may attempt to authenticate the object using some, or all, of the forensic methods below:
- Carbon dating is used to measure the age of an object up to 10,000 years old.
- "White Lead
Cerussite is a mineral consisting of lead carbonate , and an important ore of lead. The name is from the Latin cerussa, white lead. Cerussa nativa was mentioned by Conrad Gessner in 1565, and in 1832 F. S. Beudant applied the name cruse to the mineral, whilst the present form, cerussite, is due to W...
" Dating is used to pinpoint the age of an object up to 1,600 years old.
- Conventional X-ray
X-radiation is a form of electromagnetic radiation. X-rays have a wavelength in the range of 10 to 0.01 nanometers, corresponding to frequencies in the range 30 petahertz to 30 exahertz and energies in the range 120 eV to 120 keV. They are shorter in wavelength than UV rays...
can be used to detect earlier work present under the surface of a painting (see image, right). Sometimes artists will legitimately re-use their own canvasses, but if the painting on top is supposed to be from the 17th century, but the one underneath shows people in 19th century dress, the scientist will assume the top painting is not authentic. Also x-rays can be used to view inside an object to determine if the object has been altered or repaired.
- X-ray diffraction (the object bends X-rays) is used to analyze the components that make up the paint an artist used, and to detect pentimenti
A pentimento is an alteration in a painting, evidenced by traces of previous work, showing that the artist has changed his mind as to the composition during the process of painting...
(see image, right).
- X-ray fluorescence
X-ray fluorescence is the emission of characteristic "secondary" X-rays from a material that has been excited by bombarding with high-energy X-rays or gamma rays...
(bathing the object with radiation causes it to emit X-rays) can reveal if the metals in a metal sculpture or if the composition of pigments is too pure, or newer than their supposed age. Or reveal the artist’s (or forger’s) fingerprints.
- Ultraviolet fluorescence
Spectroscopy was originally the study of the interaction between radiation and matter as a function of wavelength . In fact, historically, spectroscopy referred to the use of visible light dispersed according to its wavelength, e.g. by a prism. Later the concept was expanded greatly to comprise...
and infraredInfrared radiation is electromagnetic radiation whose wavelength is longer than that of visible light , but shorter than that of terahertz radiation and microwaves...
analysis are used to detect repairs or earlier painting present on canvasses.
- Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometry (AAS) and Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry(ICP-MS
ICP-MS is a type of mass spectrometry that is highly sensitive and capable of the determination of a range of metals and several non-metals at concentrations below one part in 10
12...
) are used to detect anomalies in paintings and materials. If an element is present that the investigators know was not used historically in objects of this type, then the object is not authentic.
- Dendrochronology
Dendrochronology or tree-ring dating is the scientific method of dating based on the analysis of patterns of tree-rings. Dendrochronology can date the time at which tree rings were formed, in many types of wood, to the exact calendar year...
is used to date a wooden object by counting the number of tree rings present in the object. This is of limited use, though, as to date the piece accurately the wood needs to have about 100 rings.
- Stable isotope
Stable isotopes are chemical isotopes that are not radioactive . By this definition, there are 256 known stable isotopes of the 80 elements which have one or more stable isotopes. A list of these is given at the end of this article...
analysis can be used to determine where the marble used in a sculpture was quarried.
- Thermoluminescence
Thermoluminescence is a form of luminescence when absorbed light is re-emitted on heating.Some mineral substances such as fluorite store energy when exposed to ultraviolet or other ionising radiation...
(TL) is used to date pottery. TL is the light produced by heat, older pottery produces more TL when heated than a newer piece.
- A feature of genuine paintings sometimes used to detect forgery is craquelure
In art, craquelure is the fine pattern of cracks formed on old paintings. It is sometimes used to detect forged art, as craquelure is a hard-to-forge signature of authenticity.The precise pattern of craquelure depends upon where the picture was painted...
.
Digital authentication
Statistical analysisStatistics is a branch of mathematics concerned with collecting and interpreting data. According to other definitions, it is a mathematical science pertaining to the collection, analysis, interpretation or explanation, and presentation of data. Statisticians improve the quality of data with the...
of
digital imageA digital image is a representation of a two-dimensional image using ones and zeros . Depending on whether or not the image resolution is fixed, it may be of vector or raster type...
s of paintings is a new method that that has recently been used to detect forgeries. Using a technique called
waveletLoosely speaking, a wavelet is a wave-like oscillation with an amplitude that starts out at zero, increases, and then decreases back to zero. It can typically be visualized as a "brief oscillation" like one might see recorded by a seismograph or heart monitor. Generally, wavelets are purposefully...
decomposition, a picture is broken down into a collection of more basic images called sub-bands. These sub-bands are analyzed to determine textures, assigning a
frequencyFrequency is the number of occurrences of a repeating event per unit time. It is also referred to as temporal frequency.The period is the duration of one cycle in a repeating event, so the period is the reciprocal of the frequency....
to each sub-band. The broad strokes of a surface such as a blue sky would show up as mostly low frequency sub-bands whereas the fine strokes in blades of grass would produce high frequency sub-bands.
A group of thirteen drawings attributed to
Pieter Brueghel the ElderPieter Bruegel the Elder was a Netherlandish Renaissance painter and printmaker known for his landscapes and peasant scenes . He is nicknamed "Peasant Bruegel" to distinguish him from other members of the Brueghel dynasty, but is also the one generally meant when the context does not make clear...
was tested using the wavelet decomposition method. Five of the drawings were known to be imitations. The analysis was able to correctly identify the five forged paintings. The method was also used on the painting
Virgin and Child with Saints, created in the studios of
Pietro PeruginoPietro Perugino was the leading painter of the Umbrian school, who developed some of the qualities that found classic expression in the High Renaissance.-Early years:...
. Historians have long suspected that Perugino painted only a portion of the work. The wavelet decomposition method identified that at least four different artists had worked on the painting.
Problems with authentication
Art specialists, whom we now refer to as experts, began to surface in the art world during the late 1850s. At that time they were usually historians or museum
curatorCurator , means manager, overseer.Traditionally, a curator or keeper of a cultural heritage institution is a content specialist responsible for an institution's collections...
s, writing books about paintings, sculpture, and other art forms. Communication amongst the different specialties was poor, and they often made mistakes when authenticating pieces. While many books and art catalogues were published prior to 1900, many were not widely circulated, and often did not contain information about contemporary artwork. In addition, these specialists lacked many of the important technological means that experts use to authenticate art today.
The fact that experts do not always agree on the authenticity of a particular item makes the matter of
provenanceProvenance, from the French provenir, "to come from", means the origin, or the source, of something, or the history of the ownership or location of an object, The term was originally mostly used of works of art, but is now used in similar senses in a wide range of fields, including science and...
more complex. Some artists have even accepted copies as their own work - Picasso once said that he "would sign a very good forgery". Jean Corot painted over 700 works, but also signed copies made by others in his name, because he felt honored to be copied. Occasionally work that has previously been declared a forgery is later accepted as genuine; Vermeer's
Young Woman Seated at the Virginals had been regarded as a forgery from 1947 until March, 2004, when it was finally declared genuine, although some experts still disagree.
At times
restorationArt restoration is related to art conservation. Restoration is a process that attempts to return the work of art to some previous state that restorer imagines to be "original". This was commonly done in the past...
of a piece is so extensive that the original is essentially replaced when new materials are used to supplement older ones. An art restorer may also add or remove details on a painting, in an attempt to make the painting more saleable on the contemporary art market. This, however, is not a modern phenomenon - historical painters often "retouched" other artist's works by repainting some of the background or details.
Many forgeries still escape detection;
Han van MeegerenHan van Meegeren , born Henricus Antonius van Meegeren, was a Dutch painter and portraitist, and is considered to be one of the most ingenious art forgers of the 20th century....
, possibly the most famous forger of the 20th century, used historical
canvasCanvas is an extremely heavy-duty plain-woven fabric used for making sails, tents, marquees, backpacks, and other functions where sturdiness is required...
ses for his Vermeer forgeries and created his own pigments to ensure that they were authentic. He confessed to creating the forgeries only after he was charged with
treasonIn law, treason is the crime that covers some of the more serious acts of disloyalty to one's sovereign or nation. Historically, treason also covered the murder of specific social superiors, such as the murder of a husband by his wife...
, an offense which carried the death penalty. So masterful were his forgeries that van Meegeren was forced to create another "Vermeer" while under police guard, to prove himself innocent of the treason charges.
A recent, thought-provoking instance of potential art forgery involves the
Getty kourosThe Getty kouros is an over-life-sized dolomitic marble statue in the form of a late archaic Greek kouros. The sculpture was bought by the J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu, California, in 1985 for $7 million and first exhibited there in October 1986...
, the authenticity of which has not been resolved. The Getty Kouros was offered, along with seven other pieces, to The
J. Paul Getty MuseumThe J. Paul Getty Museum, a program of the J. Paul Getty Trust, is an art museum. It has two locations, one at the Getty Center in Los Angeles, California and one at the Getty Villa in Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles, California...
in
Malibu, CaliforniaMalibu is an incorporated city in western Los Angeles County, California, United States. As of the 2000 census, the city population is 12,575....
in the spring of 1983. For the next twelve years art historians, conservators, and archeologists studied the Kouros, scientific tests were performed and showed that the surface could not have been created artificially. However, when several of the other pieces offered with the Kouros were shown to be forgeries, its authenticity was again questioned. In May 1992, the Kouros was displayed in Athens, Greece, at an international conference, called to determine its authenticity. The conference failed to solve the problem; while most art historians and archeologists denounced it, the scientists present believed the statue to be authentic. To this day, the Getty Kouros' authenticity remains a mystery and the statue is displayed with the date: "Greek, 530 B.C. or modern forgery".
Photographic forgery
Recently, photographs have become the target of forgers, and as the market value of these works increase, so will forgery continue. Following their deaths, works by
Man RayMan Ray, born Emmanuel Radnitzky , was an American artist who spent most of his career in Paris, France. Perhaps best described simply as a modernist, he was a significant contributor to both the Dada and Surrealist movements, although his ties to each were informal...
and
Ansel AdamsAnsel Easton Adams was an American photographer and environmentalist, best known for his black-and-white photographs of the American West and primarily Yosemite National Park....
became frequent targets of forgery. The detection of forged photography is particularly difficult, as experts must be able to tell the difference between originals and reprints.
In the case of photographer Man Ray print production was often poorly managed during his lifetime, and many of his negatives were stolen by people who had access to his studio. The possession of the photo-negatives would allow a forger to print an unlimited number of fake prints, which he could then pass off as original. Fake prints would be nearly indistinguishable from originals, if the same photographic paper was used. Since unused photographic paper has a short (2–5 years) useful life, and the composition of photographic paper was frequently changed, the fakes would have had to be produced not long after the originals.
Further complicating matters, following Man Ray's death, control of printing copyrights fell to his widow, Juliet Man Ray, and her brother, who approved production of a large number of prints that Man Ray himself had earlier rejected. While these reprints are of limited value, the originals, printed during Man Ray's lifetime, have skyrocketed in value, leading many forgers to alter the reprints, so that they appear to be original.
Legal Issues
In the United States, criminal prosecutions of art forgers are possible under federal, state and/or local laws.
For example, federal prosecutions have been successful using generalized criminal statutes, including the
Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations ActThe Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act is a United States federal law that provides for extended criminal penalties and a civil cause of action for acts performed as part of an ongoing criminal organization. RICO was enacted by section 901 of the Organized Crime Control Act of 1970...
("RICO"). A successful RICO charge was brought against a family which had sold counterfeit prints purportedly by Chagall, Miro, and Dali. The defendants were also found guilty of other federal crimes including conspiracy to defraud,
money launderingMoney laundering is the process of creating the appearance that large amounts of money obtained from serious crimes, such as drug trafficking or terrorist activity, originated from a legitimate source. It is a crime in many jurisdictions with varying definitions...
, and postal fraud. Federal prosecutors are also able to prosecute forgers using the federal
wire fraudWire fraud, in the United States Code, is any criminally fraudulent activity that has been determined to have involved electronic communications of any kind, at any phase of the event...
or
mail fraudMail fraud is an offence under US federal law, which refers to any scheme which attempts to unlawfully obtain money or valuables in which the postal system is used at any point in the commission of a criminal offense. Mail fraud is covered by Title 18 of the United States Code, Chapter 63...
statutes where the defendants used such communications.
However, federal criminal prosecutions against art forgers are seldom brought due in part to high evidentiary burdens and competing law enforcement priorities.
Prosecution is also possible under state criminal laws, such as prohibitions against criminal fraud, or against the simulation of personal signatures. However, in order to trigger criminal liability under states’ laws, the government must prove that the defendant had intent to defraud. The evidentiary burden, as in all criminal prosecutions, is high.
Art forgery may also be subject to civil sanctions. The
Federal Trade CommissionThe Federal Trade Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, established in 1914 by the Federal Trade Commission Act...
, for example, has used the FTC Act to combat an array of unfair trade practices in the art market. An FTC Act case was successfully brought against a purveyor of fake Dali prints in FTC v. Magui Publishers, Inc., who was permanently enjoined from fraudulent activity and ordered to restore their illegal profits. In that case, the defendant had collected millions of dollars from his sale of forged prints.
At the state level, art forgery may constitute a species of fraud, material misrepresentation, or breach of contract. The Uniform Commercial Code provides contractually-based relief to duped buyers based on warranties of authenticity. The predominant civil theory to address art forgery remains civil fraud. When substantiating a civil fraud claim, the plaintiff is generally required to prove that the defendant falsely represented a material fact, that this representation was made with intent to deceive, that the plaintiff reasonably relied on the representation, and the representation resulted in damages to the plaintiff.
Some legal experts have recommended strengthening existing intellectual property laws to address the growing problem of art forgeries proliferating in the mass market. They argue that the existing legal regime is ineffective in combating this growing trend.
Art Crime Education
In summer 2009, ARCA - the Association for Research into Crimes against Art - began offering the first postgraduate program dedicated to the study of art crime. The
International Art Crime Studies Masters ProgramARCA's International Art Crime Studies Masters Program is the first post-graduate program to specialize in the study of art crime and cultural property protection...
includes coursework in art fakes and forgery.
See also
- Forgery
Forgery is the process of making, adapting, or imitating objects, statistics, or documents , with the intent to deceive. The similar crime of fraud is the crime of deceiving another, including through the use of objects obtained through forgery...
- Archaeological forgery
Archaeological forgery is the manufacture of supposedly ancient items that are sold to the antiquities market and may even end up in the collections of museums. It is related to art forgery....
- Works of Art with Contested Provenance
Famous forgeries
Known art forgers and dealers of forged art
Further reading