82 out of 134 paintings were fake and at least some of the sellers may be part of a large forgery ring.
You know, I started out thinking “that is some dedication to the tourist trade,” like my mind immediately went to the idea that the entire town was in on it, compiling a collection that was impressive enough to draw people in. I kind of prefer my version to just “Forgers knew where to sell this shit.” 😀
But I think this is a really good illustration of how art forgery is not a victimless crime – more than half of the catalog of this artist was fake, which not only impacted the town and the people who donated to help buy these forgeries, but the scholarship surrounding the artist.
Oh my God I want a movie where an entire town conspires to expand the scholarship around an obscure artist just to bring in tourism
Well, damn, now I do too. Or even better, just invent one.
“Well, Mick’s handy with a paintbrush, he can do the paintings, and Beverly just finished her degree in Art History so she can do up the scholarship, and Shady Ralph can probably forge some documents for us.”
“We don’t need to give the fake artist a fake driver’s license.”
“Hey! I don’t JUST do fake driver’s licenses.”
“Ralph – “
“I do fake green cards too!”
“….so he’s an immigrant, okay, that’s a good start.”
“What can I do?”
“Bobby, you own a hamburger joint. I don’t think you have much to contribute.”
“Okay, but…but what if our artist was discovered from paintings that have been hanging in the hamburger joint?”
“I feel like a plan is coming together, fellas.”
my first thought on reading the headline was GODDAMMIT NEAL and i blame you.
French Museum Discovers More Than Half Its Collection Is Forged
tora42's nonsensne 