A Plethora of Fakes and a Series of Thoughts: Where Has All The Real “Art” Gone?

OP ED by Hanoch Sheps, J.D.*

With the New Year only days away, it is only natural to reflect on the year that is coming to an end. With that, a string of fake artworks exposed in reputable institutions as part of sales or extensive exhibitions brings pause.

As recently as December 23, 2013, a piece of Chinese calligraphy attributed to a poet who lived over a thousand years ago was flagged as a possible 19th century copy. [NYT] This discovery is just one of many in 2013, soon to be dubbed the “Year of the Fake,” which seems appropriate given that the Chinese year’s presiding animal zodiac was the snake.  However, the exposure of the fake calligraphy that was consigned to Sotheby’s and sold for $8.2 million at a September auction in New York is not the first (not even the first this week), and assuredly not the last. A gallery in Turkey cited the discovery of fakes as a reason for the premature closing of an exhibit of 60 works by the Spanish surrealist painter, Joan Miró, that were initially expected to be displayed until January 19, 2014. And of course, little more than the name Knoedler is needed to rehash the story of the famous and now defunct gallery exposed for selling fakes, a hackneyed story nearly impossible to escape this year.