The Case of the Charitable Forger

A forger is generally portrayed as a greedy figure. He has just enough technical skill to imitate a real artist's creative genius, and then he capitalizes on the success of the original artist for his own financial gain.

Mark Landis presents a rather different figure. First of all, he often poses as a Jesuit Priest. Second, Landis doesn't make any money from these artworks. "Unlike most forgers, he does not seem to be in it for the money, but for a kind of satisfaction at seeing his works accepted as authentic."

His story is a bit like a twisted version of the Thomas Crown Affair, with none of its glamour. Landis forges works, typically by lesser-known artists, and then donates them to museums under fake names and elaborately concocted provenance. In one instance, Landis donated a fake Paul Signac work to the Memphis Brooks Museum. After seven years, word began to circulate about a phony art donor, and the truth of the work became known. Memphis Brooks later displayed the fake out of public interest. According to Helen Stoilas, a reporter for the Art Newspaper, the work was not totally without merit. "You can see his technical skill. The watercolors, especially the Signac, there's a confidence in them."

According to Stoilas, research has uncovered a history of what appear to be fraudulent gifts going back 20 years(read the Art Newspaper piece from 2010 here).