Page 66 - Studio International - January 1968

Forgeries of based on an etching by Dore, and a fairly close painter they are imitating to the neglect of others.
Reapers from a drawing by Millet, the Prison Yard
All artists eventually become associated in the
modern works copy of a colour-print by the Japanese, Hiroshige. public mind with a particular kind of subject-
One portrait, L' Arlesienne, is closely copied from an
matter characteristically handled, and these are
earlier drawing by Gauguin. Nevertheless, in all usually the paintings which fetch the highest price
these works Van Gogh's hand is plain enough. The in the sale-rooms. The word 'Renoir' to anyone
same could be said for some of Cezanne's paintings but a specialist immediately evokes 'nudes', and
based on the work of artists as far apart as Dela- less often 'children'. Cezanne is associated with the
croix and Sebastian del Piombo. Picasso's work landscapes of the Midi, and Utrillo with paintings
of this kind—his early versions of paintings by of Paris streets. It is in precisely these areas that
Lautrec especially—is well known. forgers operate, because it is here that the prize is
Problems of attribution bedevil art-critics, art- richest and critical faculties the least alert. It must
historians, and art-experts today because so much not be assumed, however, that forgeries are in-
George Savage emphasis is placed on authorship. A number o f variably of this kind. A landscape by Renoir, while
attempts have been made to reduce this problem of it may command less in terms of money, is easier to
identifying style with certainty to manageable imitate and more difficult to detect.
proportions by isolating similar characteristics in a How close, in fact, can the forger come to even
Despite the fact that style is far from being a number of attested works and photographing them the broader aspects of an artist's style? Experience
reliable guide to Old Master painting it is much to enable comparisons to be made when a doubtful suggests that these things are rarely deceptive to an
more trustworthy when the attribution of works work is in question. These range from the minutiae alert eye accustomed to looking at attested work.
done during the last century or so is in question. of brushwork to records of certain features, such as Few forgeries could be less deceptive than the one
The emphasis of taste has increasingly encouraged the ear, which painters tend to treat in a fairly shown here, which purports to belong to Picasso's
originality, and has, in fact, demanded it, while characteristic fashion. Blue Period, as the genuine painting, also repro-
there has been no overriding style peculiar to the This is soundly based. In the case of old furniture duced, makes clear. Picasso's portrait is the
period to which artists have more or less uncon- it is quite possible to identify the work of a particu- original work of a master; the forgery is weak and
sciously conformed. For reasons previously ad- lar cabinet-maker from small details of construction sentimental, depicting a neurotic fugitive from the
vanced style in modern painting is perhaps the and decoration, and even from tool-marks, which psycho-analyst's couch. To anyone reasonably well
most effective guide we have. appear on a whole group of pieces of comparable acquainted with Picasso's work it is obvious that
It was, I think, Samuel Butler who said, 'I never date, even though it is not always possible to the subject of the forgery is one in which he would
knew a writer who took the slightest pains with his assign them to a named maker. In the field of old not only have been completely uninterested, but
style who was at the same time readable.' What he porcelain characteristics of this kind have been which he would have been quite incapable of
meant, of course, was that those who strive to employed as a means of identification for many painting. His styles, for he has had many during
create a particular effect of originality must do so years, and one modeller of figures was traced over his lifetime, are all strongly individual, and are
at the expense of clarity and elegance. The forger more than twenty years through several factories difficult to imitate, apart, perhaps, from minor
of paintings is always striving to create an effect solely on the ground of well-marked peculiarities drawings, and this difficulty is greatest in his early
which is foreign to his own personality, and he very of style, and partial confirmation of these assump- work which is also the most sought after.
rarely succeeds. In the context of modern painting tions from literary sources have since come to light. But if Picasso cannot suppress his natural style,
we realize the force of Buffon's epigram—Le style It is, therefore, obvious that to seek the painter's neither can the forger. His background is entirely
est l'homme mime—the style is the man himself. sign-manual by way of peculiarities in the handling different, and he has to try to think his way into
Our National galleries are full of students copy- of certain small details is as logical as the employ- the mind of the artist he is imitating, and then put
ing the paintings of the past, but even the cleverest ment of the same principles in other fields, from down his version on to canvas in terms of line and
finish with something poles apart from the original furniture to signatures on cheques, and it is a colour in a way which will not arouse suspicion.
which would not deceive an intelligent child. As method capable of considerable extension. Hans Tietze once said that the greatest mistake we
replicas they are worth something less than a good We can, indeed, go further, although more can make is to assume that a forgery looks anything
colour-print. The practiced forger of old paintings hesitatingly, and regard certain gestures and poses like the real thing. At one time I did not entirely
does better, because he adds to the deceptive as indicative of the work of a particular man, and accept this statement, imagining that perhaps
nature of his work by disguising it with a semi- even of a period. I was, I think, the first to point forgeries existed so closely resembling the work of
opaque varnish and a faked craquelure. One of the out that in the Van Meegeren painting of the Last the artist imitated that they could hardly be re-
reasons why forgeries of some modern paintings are Supper one of the disciples lays his hand familiarly cognized, even by the most expert. But experience
less deceptive than those of old ones is because on the hand of Jesus in an affectionate gesture has taught me that Tietze was right. One may
their crudities cannot be disguised in this way. The which was totally foreign to any seventeenth sometimes miss detecting forgeries of the work of
paintings which are likely to remain undetected century concept of the divine nature of the central artists with whom one is not well acquainted, but I
are old forgeries, perhaps done for sale to English- figure. I have observed similar discrepancies in doubt very much if any exist capable of deceiving
men on the Grand Tour, and probably in Italy, forgeries of Renoir's children. We meet slightly everybody. Feelings of unease should always be
where forging in the eighteenth century assumed greater difficulties in questioned landscapes, but heeded, and the very human tendency to try and
the proportions of an industry. These things today the treatment of trees is usually fairly idiosyncratic explain away discrepancies should be resisted. The
are more in the nature of a problem of attribution, from one painter to another. painting should convince the onlooker; he should
and no doubt in a century or two some forgeries of The forger is a man who imitates the work of not have to attempt to convince himself.
modern paintings may present similar problems. others for the purpose of selling it as genuine at an Hitherto I have devoted these pages to work done
They do not do so today. enhanced price. To this end he tries to adopt the before 1939, but forgeries of contemporary work
There can, of course, be no copyright in subject artist's style in its broader aspects, although rarely are beginning to appear, and may be more
or even in its treatment. Artists have always pro- convincingly to a true specialist, or, quite often, numerous than we think. These must be consider-
duced their own versions of the paintings of others, even to a knowledgeable layman who starts with a ably more difficult to detect when traditional
and these are quite legitimate. There are, for in- healthily sceptical attitude. It must be emphasized methods of applying paint to canvas with a brush
stance, many paintings by Van Gogh of which it that even the most successful forgeries have imitated have been discarded in favour of impersonal tech-
may be said that almost the only difference successfully only the more obvious aspects of a niques. Lack of drawing as a foundation for a
between them and the works which inspired them style. Forgers seize on and emphasize those features picture is unhelpful, and non-figurative subjects
is one of technique. As examples we may take the which the average layman associates with the often make it difficult or virtually impossible to
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