Russian Art Fakes Becoming More and More Common

John Varoli of Bloomberg has a good article on the Russian art and how more and more are being determined to be fakes by the Russian government. This includes items sold over the past few years by both Sotheby's and Christies. Many experts are stating fakes comprise the majority of Russian works they are asked to evaluate and authenticate. As appraiser, many Russian artwork needs to be viewed with suspicion prior to authentication by the proper experts. The Russians have a catalog of nearly 900 fakes, with 100 recently being added to the list including a $3 million work by Boris Kustodiev sold at Christies (see image). Christies has a 5 year authenticity guarantee.

Varoli states For the past 18 months, Russia’s art market has faced its worst crisis of confidence in the post-Soviet era as five volumes of “The Catalog of Fraudulent Art Works” were published, said dealers. Some experts say that fakes now comprise the majority of artworks they are asked to evaluate.

“Every month I’m asked to look at 10 paintings and nine are fakes,” said London-based Russian art dealer James Butterwick. “Many Russian collectors buy without asking competent experts. If a work is credible then it has a provenance that can be easily checked out.”

Varoli continues Many of the works listed in the fakes catalog are 19th- century Western European paintings doctored by criminals to look like 19th-century Russian artworks. Over the past decade, the latter have been fetching much higher prices as Russian collectors snap up items from their national heritage.

The frauds in these volumes were compiled by Vladimir Petrov, who admitted in 2005 to having inadvertently authenticated 20 fraudulent paintings. He called on his colleagues to admit their mistakes.

If you are appraising Russian art, be very, very careful, as even the experts can be wrong. To read the full Bloomberg article, click HERE.