Russain Art Forgeries

Heidi Brown writes on fakes and forgeries in Russian fine art in the February 2 edition of Forbes magazine. It is a very interesting and enlightening article, entitled, Scamsky, Inc., When it Comes to Expensive Bogus Art, No Noe Can Touch the Russians.

Russian fine art has become so popular that all appraisers need to be aware of the growing number of fakes and forgeries being produced and marketed through galleries and auctions, even those with existing provenance and approval from authentication boards. So even if there is an expert authentication, according to the article, there still is a real chance the painting could have issues.

Brown reports The entrenched network of fraud makes nearly everything with a Russian connection questionable.

Russians love 19th-century depictions of their countryside, so a $250,000 forgery can start off as a landscape by a little-known Danish artist, procured at a small European auction house for $2,000. A forger signs the name of a famous artist and "Russifies" a few details: a Danish maiden becomes a Russian peasant; a farmhouse becomes an Orthodox church.

She continues Even prestigious institutions have been compromised. In 1991 the Museum of Modern Art's show of Lyubov Popova, a Malevich contemporary, may have included at least two forgeries. In order to borrow an important collection of the early-20th- century artist, the museum agreed to show paintings that lab tests determined had been made with materials that moma found to be too recent. The museum declined to comment, saying no one associated with the exhibit works there anymore.

Getting authentic material isn't a problem. A 100-year-old canvas can be procured at a Moscow bazaar; scrape off the old paint and voila. "You read about the kind of paint that was used and prepare it yourself," says Ivan Lobanov, a Moscow mural painter who used to copy icons. Thirty years ago paint from the 1920s was still on the market. Forgers can "age" a work by moving it between a hot oven and the cold. Cracks form after the painting is wrapped around a tube or pressed down on a table edge. Old varnish glows under ultraviolet light, so authenticators can be tricked by a new luminescent varnish that also glows.

Making unsigned copies is not illegal in Russia unless the artist admits he intends to sell it later as a forgery.

If you are appraising Russian art, appraiser beware, even with museum provenance an expert authentication.

To read the Forbes article online click HERE.