‘Fake and Forgeries: The Art of Deception’ At Bruce Museum

GREENWICH — For its major spring/summer exhibition, Bruce Museum will explore a subject that is topical in today’s art world, “Fakes and Forgeries: The Art of Deception.” The exhibit, which will run from May 12 through September 9, will present 60 examples of Western paintings, works on paper, sculpture, and decorative arts that have been recognized as imposters, including examples of the rarest and most famous deceptive works. Themes of connoisseurship, authentication, and conservation, as well as the evolving scholarship of stylistic development will also be examined.

Since many objects in museum collections worldwide have been exposed as fakes, the subject of artistic fakes and forgeries is one of concern to museums, and it has also captured the popular imagination. The topics cuts to the heart of what museums are about: the presentation of original works of art.

“Fakes and Forgeries: The Art of Deception” will reveal the strategies and techniques of the world’s most successful forgers and will also expose the extraordinary lengths to which they went to produce authentic-looking artworks. It will also address techniques use to expose these deceptions, including X-ray fluorescence, pigment analysis, spectrography, dendrochronology, and carbon dating.

One of the show’s highlights will be Han van Meegeren’s legendary forgery, “Christ and His Disciples at Emmaus,” in the style of Johannes Vermeer, which is considered to be one of the most famous forgeries in the world.

What exactly is a fake or a forgery? Perhaps the biggest problem in this field is the complexity of determining what constitutes an authentic work versus a vast array of faked, forged, copied, attributed, misattributed and replicated work. Throughout the world, investigative teams have been created to combat the problem.

Bruce Museum is at 1 Museum Drive, near I-95 Exit 3, and is a short walk from the Greenwich rail station. Museum hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 10 am to 5 pm; and Sunday, 1 to 5 pm.

Admission is $7 for adults; $6 for seniors and students; free for members and children under five; and free to all on Tuesdays. Groups of eight or more require advance reservations. Museum exhibition tours are held Fridays at 12:30 pm.

Bruce Museum is accessible to individuals with disabilities.

For information, call the museum at 203-869-0376 or visit BruceMuseum.org.