(credit: studio360.org)
Is this a Paul Signac?
(credit: newyorktimes.com)
Is this really the painting “Women Seated on Lawn” by Charles Courtney Curran?
Or his “The Violinist” painting?
(both images from ‘Arts & Artists International’)
Is this French painter Stanislas Lépine’s work?
(Arts & Artists International)
Is this a Picasso?
(credit: studio360.org)
No, it’s not a Picasso. Nor all the others.
The image below shows master forger, Mark Landis, painting another one of Picasso’s paintings…
Tonight, since it’s a dreary rainy 4th of July over here, Mr. Basketmaker and I decided to watch a documentary about master art forger, Mark Landis. He’s a peculiar individual with a voice similar to Andy Warhol, but honestly, he’s a brilliant artist, as you could see.
The reason why he was able to do this for decades is because he never sold one of his forgeries. Instead he donated them to dozens of major metropolitan museums around the country. And it’s unfortunate that he grew up believing his only ability was “copying others” and that’s exactly what he ended up doing. He states that his calling from God was to be a philanthropist of rare and expensive art, but to reproduce it, because that was his great talent.
He goes unnoticed for decades until a prominent registrar makes it his mission to discover this forger. Long story short, they find him and an article is written about him and he then becomes famous after nationwide outlets report it.
People learn he’s truly gifted, despite his deception. And they end up having an exhibit entitled “Faux Real” in 2012 at the Dorothy W. and C. Lawson Reed Jr. Gallery, University of Cincinnati. In the end, he’s recognized as a talented artist. I do not condone forgery of any kind. But what I took away from this film is that he lacked the confidence to paint his own stuff. And it’s clearly he has some sort of mental illness and what kept him relatively self-sufficient was copying master painters. And because he always donated the works, it was not a deception devious in nature.
