Art forgery involves selling a work of art with false information to increase its perceived value. It can include falsely attributing the work to a famous artist or misrepresenting a print as original. Buyers should conduct thorough research before purchasing to combat art counterfeiting. Elmyr de Hory was a famous art forger who eventually faced legal problems and ended his life in 1976.
Art forgery is a particular type of forgery which involves selling a work of art to a buyer with some false implication about a particular feature of the work. Generally, people who commit art forgery make the false claim in order to increase the perceived value of the work. Therefore, historically the most common form of art forgery is the false attribution of the artwork to a more famous artist than its true creator. However, the attribution of the work to a false artist is not the only way in which an art forgery is committed.
Forgery is defined as the making of objects or documents to contain false information with the intent to deceive on the part of the creator of those objects or documents. In the context of art counterfeiting, it generally means that someone selling a work of art will falsely attribute the work to a well-known artist in order to raise the sale price. Furthermore, art forgery can simply involve misrepresenting a print or copy of an artwork as original. This can be done for any type of art, including paintings and photographs, and still constitutes a fake.
The nature of art counterfeiting as a crime, which generally requires a specific intent to defraud a buyer, makes it very difficult to prosecute. Therefore, the best way to combat art counterfeiting is for the buyer to conduct thorough research before purchasing an artwork and to ensure that the reason for the artwork’s price appreciation is legitimate. For example, an art forger may claim that a painting for sale is an original work by famed 20th-century Spanish painter Salvador Dalí. Before the prospective buyer closes the deal, he should research the painter and the painting, with the help of an art history expert if necessary, and ensure that the work is genuine.
Probably the most famous author of art forgeries is Elmyr de Hory, who recreated several famous works by painters and passed them off as originals to consumers. De Hory spent much of the 1950s and 1960s fooling art connoisseurs with his detailed copies of works originally created by more famous artists. While de Hory had success selling his forged works for several years, his crimes eventually caught up with him. Facing legal problems related to his defrauding in Spain and France, he ended his life in 1976.
Protect your devices with Threat Protection by NordVPN
