Major Summer Exhibit

Explores ‘Art Of Deception’

2heds provided if you need a sep. hed for 2nd page (2-pp layout)

1½ col   6_ della Francesca Woman

Imitator of Piero della Francesca (Italian, circa 1420–1492), “Portrait of a Woman,” tempera on panel, 123/8 by 10 inches; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Lucy Houghton Eaton Fund. —photo ©2007 Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

 

1½ col  7_Madonna

Icilio Federico Joni (Italian, 1866–1946), in the manner of Neroccio de’ Landi (Italian, circa 1447–1500), “Madonna and Child with Saints Mary Magdalene and Sebastian,” tempera and gold on wood, 431/8  by 28½ inches overall; The Metropolitan Museum of Art Robert Lehman Collection, 1975. —photo ©2004 The Metropolitan Museum of Art

1col   26_Bob

Unknown artist in the manner of Jean-Michel Basquiat (American, 1966–1988), “Portrait of Bob,” oil on panel, 70¾ by 303/8  inches; Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York Office, Major Theft Squad. —Paul Mutino photo

2c  25_de Kooning Untitled

Unknown artist in the manner of Willem de Kooning (American, b The Netherlands, 1904–1997), Untitled oil on canvas, 36¼ by 36 inches; Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York Office, Major Theft Squad. —Paul Mutino photo

2c  15_Corot Landscape

Unknown artist in the manner of Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot (French, 1796–1875), landscape scene, oil on panel, 20½ by 287/8  inches; Conservation Center, Institute of Fine Arts, New York University, gift of Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, 1972. —Paul Mutino photo

MUST RUN 5-11

BRUCE MUSEUM LAUNCHES ‘FAKES AND FORGERIES’ MAY 12 w/5 cuts

avv/gs set 4-30 #697932

GREENWICH, CONN. — For its major spring/summer exhibition, the Bruce Museum explores a subject that is exceptionally topical in today’s art world. “Fake and Forgeries: The Art of Deception,” on view May 12–September 9, presents 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 conservations, as well as the evolving scholarship of stylistic development, will be examined in an exhibition organized by and exclusively on view at the Bruce Museum.

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 the audiences they serve. This type of deception has captured the popular imaginations — from simple trickery and misrepresentation to the most technologically sophisticated forgery. The topic cuts to the heart of what museums are about — the presentation of original works of art.

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

The exhibition will address Western painting and sculpture that has been faked from all periods of art, starting with fakes from antiquity and moving chronologically through the Middle Ages, Renaissance and baroque eras, exposing forgeries ranging from medieval sculpture and quattrocento gold backs to the rare art of Vermeer.

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

Numerous Nineteenth Century artists have been faked, notably Gustave Courbet, Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot and artists from the Impressionist and post-Impressionist movements. Even in his lifetime, the market was flooded with outright forgeries of the work of Courbet, who has been called “a champion in the arena of dubious authenticity.”

Corot was named the most faked artist in history, according to experts surveyed on art forgery by ARTnews; it is often said that “Corot painted 2,000 canvases, 5,000 of which are in America.”

In the Twentieth Century, the biggest names — Henri Matisse, Andy Warhol and Pablo Picasso — were widely faked, as were such early modernists as Amedeo Modigliani and Juan Gris and Surrealists Giorgio de Chiricio, Salvador Dali, Joan Miró and Alberto Giacometti, examples of which are in the exhibition. Among the show’s highlights are forgery loaned by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, including work supposedly by Willem de Kooning, Jean-Michel Basquiat and Andy Warhol.

Among the most interesting choices of artists to be faked is Jean-Michel Basquiat, a white-hot artist who epitomized the booming art market of the 1980s, then died at age 27 of a heroin overdose. The choice of Basquiat showed that, by the end of the Twentieth Century, the forgery market was moving much faster and choosing artists who were not necessarily traditionally blue chip.

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. A fake is a work that replicates an exiting work of art; it may be a deliberate deception or simply not the real thing. A forgery is a work that mimics the style of an artist or replicates his signature in a deliberate attempt to deceive. Paintings in this exhibition that have fake signatures include forgeries of Edouard Manet, Juan Gris and Giorgio de Chiricio; the etching “Le Bain” purportedly by Picasso also bears a forged signature.

Throughout the world, investigative teams have been created to combat the problem. In the United States, the Federal Bureau of Investigation in 2004 created the Rapid Deployment Art Crime Team of 12 agents responsible for investigating art and cultural property crime, including theft, fraud, looting and trafficking across state and international lines, with estimated losses running as high as $6 billion each year. Scotland Yard has started a four-member Art and Antiquities Squad and in Italy, a 300-member investigative squad known as the Command for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage has sequestered more than 60,000 fakes in the last seven years.

“Fakes and Forgeries: The Art of Deception” was organized by Bruce Museum Senior Curator of Art Nancy Hall-Duncan. A full-color comprehensive catalog accompanying the exhibition offers essays by Hall-Duncan, Bruce Museum Executive Director Dr Peter C. Sutton and James Martin, founder of Orion Analytical, a materials analysis and consulting firm that specializes in examination and analysis of cultural property.

The museum will host two afternoon lectures with tea, on May 22 and June 12, in conjunction with the exhibition. The tea reception and a docent tour follow the lecture. Advance reservations are required; send check or credit card information (card #, expiration date and name on card) to: Art Teas, Bruce Museum, 1 Museum Drive, Greenwich CT 06830. Members $15, nonmembers $25, per person, per program. Include your phone number and specify dates. Sorry no phones reservations or refunds.

On Tuesday, May 22, at 1:30 pm a lecture and tea, “The Spanish Forger: Master of Manuscript Chicanery,” William Voelkle, curator of medieval and Renaissance manuscripts and department head, The Pierpont Morgan Library, New York, will reveal the methods used to expose one of the most skilled and prolific forgers of Fifteenth and early Sixteenth Century panels and manuscripts.

On Tuesday, June 12, at 1:30 pm a lecture and tea, “The Master Forger: Han van Meegeren,” Ivan MacDonald, lecturer, historian and performing artist will tell the story of Han van Meegeren, a Dutch artist driven by disappointment and no recognition, so desperate to prove his talent that he forged the likes of Vermeer, Hals and de Hoogh. Only a fluke exposed him — upsetting the art world with one of the most sensational forgery cases in history.

The museum will also host a series of three lectures by experts in the areas of art authentication, forgery and the law. Cocktails followed by dinner and the presentation. Advance reservations are required; $60 members, $75 nonmembers, per person for each dinner-lecture. The reservation deadline is the Friday preceding the lecture date. Send check or credit card information (card #, exp. date, and name on card) to: Dinner Lectures, Bruce Museum, 1 Museum Drive, Greenwich CT 06830. Sorry no phone reservations or refunds. Please include a phone number and specify dates.

The schedule includes: Wednesday, June 6, 6:30 pm dinner lecture. “Alexander Calder, Egon Shiele and Georges Braque Go to Court: Determining Authenticity in Modern Art.” Ronald Spencer, counsel, Carter Ledyard & Millburn, New York, and editor of The Expert Versus the Object: Judging Fakes and False Attributions in the Visual Arts, speaks on art authenticity and the law.

Wednesday, June 20, at 6:30 pm dinner lecture. “From an Art Forger’s Perspective.” John Myatt, master artist for Genuine Fakes, a company specializing in commissioned copies, will discuss his personal experiences as a former art forger.

Wednesday, June 27, at 6:30 pm dinner lecture. “The FBI Agent: The FBI’s Art Theft and Art Forgery Division.” James Wynne, Special Agent, Federal Bureau of Investigation, talks about how the FBI tracks forgers and cracks cases.

The Bruce Museum is at 1 Museum Drive. For information, www.brucemuseum.org or 203-869-0376.

6/15

‘DREAMING OF A SPEECH WITHOUT WORDS’ EYES EARLY WORKS BY H.C. WESTERMANN, 2 CUTS

#695179

SET APRIL 5 WD –EMAILED

PHILADELPHIA, PENN. — At the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, the first in-depth examination of highly influential but often underappreciated artist H.C. Westermann’s (American, 1922–1981) early works, “Dreaming of a Speech Without Words: the Paintings and Early Objects of H.C. Westermann,” seeks to present through his art what Westermann often struggled to verbalize. Comprising about 70 objects and curated by Michael Rooks, curator of The Contemporary Museum, Honolulu, the exhibition will be on view June 30–September 16 in the academy’s Samuel M.V. Hamilton Building.

“H.C. Westermann, who has received much critical attention in the past few years, but is still relatively unknown, has had an major influence on many young artists working today,” said Alex Baker, curator of contemporary art at the academy, who will be installing the exhibition. “With wide-ranging associations, such as Surrealism, the Monster Roster — the first generation of Chicago postwar artists — Pop, Conceptual and folk art fused with his individual approach, Westermann often defies historical classification as an artist.

“His personal experiences in war, from which he drew heavily for his art, create a visual language that can be seen as dark and pessimistic, but it is immediately bolstered by the biting humor found throughout his work.”

Despite his original ambition to become a painter, Westermann is best recognized for his sculptures, prints and drawings. In his paintings, however, Westermann exhibits extraordinary technical skill gleaned from his occupation as a carpenter and a variety of artistic styles, including portraits, landscapes, still lifes and even religious and historical paintings. The artist’s paintings herald many of the central themes in his work, which explore the foolishness of war, his misanthropic view of man as myopic brute and his claustrophobic view of urban life.

The paintings included in the exhibition also trace the relationship between Westermann’s formal training at the Art Institute of Chicago, the importance of Modernism in the city and the evolution of the sculptures he would produce later in life. The last exhibition of these early paintings was in 1954 at the defunct Mandel Brothers department store in Chicago.

The drawings, prints and sculptures included in “Dreaming of a Speech Without Words” have rarely been exhibited. Together with the paintings, they create a dialogue surrounding the implications that led him as an artist to the wooden sculptures for which he is best known.

Born and raised in Hollywood, Calif., Horace Clifford Westermann began creating imaginative objects from scavenged materials when he was young. Before enlisting in the US Marine Corps in 1942 and again in 1950, serving first as a gunner aboard the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise during World War II in the Pacific Theater and then as an infantryman in the Korean War, Westermann pursued a wide range of activities, including masonry, woodcutting and acrobatics (he served as an acrobat in the United States Organization after World War II).

Between the two wars, Westermann studied at the Art Institute on the GI Bill upon the recommendation of an Enterprise shipmate. During this time, he studied applied arts, such as drafting, composition and graphic design. His education was interrupted by the Korean War, but upon his return to the Art Institute, Westermann changed his field of study from applied to fine art.

Older than many of his fellow students and profoundly affected by the horrors he had witnessed during his military service (including the devastation in 1944 of the USS Franklin by Japanese suicide aircraft), Westermann’s artwork revealed a mind’s eye that set him apart from his peers by its intense connection with the psychological exigencies of postwar life in the United States. Westermann was a truly unique American artist and a bit of an oxymoron — both a tough talking tattooed veteran and deeply sensitive man who used art as a release valve to confront the horrors of his time. Like no other American artist, his work is defined and shaped by the greatest event of his generation, World War II.

The exhibition is accompanied by a full-color catalog.

The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts is at 118 North Broad Street. For information, www.pafa.org or 215-972-7600.