Fakes Russian Avant-Garde

[Glasha]

Сообщение от fross

auction house? Would be called then - flea

Indeed, name then it differently. There bespretenzionny hammer, and no claim to it ...
And by giving penny .. there's nothing on the mirror pingyang ..

[fross]

The defeat of the avant-garde
Part 2

Nina Kogan - the sister of Lieutenant Kije
"The avant-garde fever" sometimes takes grotesque, proving that the hunters to trade "dead souls" is not extinct in Russia, and beyond.
In the mid-80's in the museum displays in New York, Frankfurt and Geneva, suddenly a large number of early works by Mikhail Larionov - made abstract pastels and ink drawings of animals, landscapes and views of Moscow. The legend that accompanied them, said: drawings Larionov left in Moscow, where in 1917 went to Paris with his first wife Natalia Goncharova.

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All this time, someone unknown kept these works, and only recently they were transferred to the West. The owner of most of the drawings is the Paris expert on avant-garde of Bulgarian origin Andrei Nakov.
However, the sudden appearance of so many Larionov alerted museums. Several studies have found expertise in the paint pigment, which went on sale only in 1942, investigators could not establish if he knew about the falsification Nakov "larionovskih" works. Their whereabouts are unknown.
Members of the artist's family of Lazarus Khidekel were quite surprised when they learned that the Paris collectors Claude and Renee Boulet own large collection of watercolor works of this talented pupil of Malevich. The fact that Khidekel, who later became a famous architect and educator, was little known as an artist. Over a lifetime, this author has not had a solo exhibition, moreover, neither Khidekel nor his family would not sell anyone its work.
According to the artist's son Mark and his sister Regina, a collection of the works of Boulez Khidekel has nothing to do - it is either fake, or the work of another author. However, the collection continues to exhibit in museums and reproductions of paintings are published in catalogs and albums in the history of avant-garde as watercolors Khidekel. The most offensive to the heirs of that as proof of the authenticity of the collection is ... "The view of the family of the artist.
However, the most incredible metamorphosis occurred to the artist by the name of Nina Kogan. In the 80 years that among the dealers and specialists in the vanguard there has been great interest in the psalms, as if by order, on the western market in large numbers appeared suprematistskie work, sponsored by the meaning of this artist. Western admirers hitherto unknown artist had to explain, where did all these beautiful watercolors and gouaches. In issued in 1985 in Zurich Schlögl gallery catalog, which was listed among the authors already familiar Andrei Nakov, curricula vitae hitherto almost unknown artist. According to the authors, she finished her days in the gulag, and the only true friends were able to maintain her work for posterity.
"Nina Kogan had strange friends, they are completely unaware of her biography", - says Alexander Shatskikh from the Moscow Institute of History of Art, the author of the artists Vitebsk circle. Yes, Nina Kogan really comes to the environment Malevich, was a member of UNOVIS, but all other data do not correspond to reality, from the place of birth and ending with the circumstances of death. The artist was not born in Vitebsk, the authors catalog, and in St. Petersburg, her life actually ended tragically - but not in Magadan, and in besieged Leningrad. It tells Shatskih, Nina Kogan was not a particularly gifted artist, her passion Suprematism did not last long, Shatskikh found in the archives, only three suprematistskih work, the author of which was Nina. Accordingly, all the rest of her "creativity" - pure fraud that makes definitive conclusion Russia expert.
Poor Nina Kogan and suspect could not, that she was "life after death" and dubious "glory". Like tynyanovskomu Lieutenant Kije, existed only on paper, but was promoted to general, a modest student of Malevich worked hard over the augmentation of Fame and income of the Western galleries and dealers.

Collection Koreckij: miraculous salvation or scam century?
In 1922, Gallery van Diemen on the fashionable Unter den Linden in Berlin held an exhibition of contemporary Russian art, beginning with the work of the World of Art "1890 and ending with the latest achievements of constructivism. Works of Malevich, Tatlin, Chagall, Lisitsky, Rodchenko, Popova, Exter, and many other revolutionary artists were first presented to the West here. "The first Russian exhibition" heralded the return of Russia to the European cultural scene after a period of isolation, which began with the outbreak in 1914, World War II.
Some of the work was taken from the exposition, others belonged to the artists, a large group of paintings was the property of the Museum Bureau of the People's Commissariat of Education. The latter category of works intended for sale in Europe - was needed hard currency for famine relief.
The exhibition was a resounding success with critics, but failed from a commercial point of view: it was sold a few paintings. From Berlin exhibition moved to Amsterdam, then returned to Moscow.
And in 1988, the Berlin art gallery is organizing the largest display of contemporary art, including the reconstruction of the exposition in 1922, consisting of unknown works from the collection of a secretly stored in the West.
The owner of a mysterious meeting were a family collector Wally Koretsky of Munich. As told, this old woman, a collection of previously owned organizer "of the first Russian exhibition" Curt Benedict, co-owner of Gallery van Diemen. According to Wally Koretsky, Benedict had bought a large number of exhibitions of works in 1922 and subsequently acquired a number of paintings directly from artists starving Russia, partly in exchange for humanitarian aid, food and clothing.
After the Nazis came to power Benedict fled to France, leaving the collection in wooden boxes in the basement of their Berlin home, where she lay until the end of the war. Koretsky met distressed collector in Switzerland in the late 40's, and the transaction took place. In the basement, where the collections were very wet, and therefore confirming the authenticity of the documents were killed.
However, Russia experts cast doubt on this version. Based on documents from local archives, they claim that the pictures from the collection Koretsky, including those listed in the "second Berlin exhibition" in 1988, either did not appear in the list of the exhibition in 1922, or returned to Russia, but their originals are stored in Russian museums. Such doubts, in particular, voiced on the "Color of the dynamic composition" Exter, sold at auction Christie in 1990 for $ 824,800. Attributed Aristarkh Lentulov "Self-Portrait," sold in the same auction house in 1989 for $ 83000, the artist's daughter Marianne, who was present at the auction, acknowledged the forgery, which, however, did not affect the opinion of specialists Christie.
Differences of opinion between Russia's and Germanic experts appeared in the exhibition of contemporary art of Germanic and Russia's "Berlin - Moscow", with great success of last year in the two capitals. Organizers of the exhibition were the Berlin gallery and the Moscow Museum. Pushkin, with the largest collection of Russian avant-garde. Despite the entreaties of his German colleagues Jørn Merkerta, director Irina Antonova, the Pushkin Museum in Moscow has refused to include the exposure of five paintings from the collection Koretsky, who had previously been exhibited in Berlin.

Samovars twins and suitcases Khardzhiev
It would be nice if the country exported only a forgery. Unfortunately, in the West are removed and the original works of art that make up the national heritage of Russia. The sources of "leaks" are becoming as private collections and museum funds.
Since the beginning of the restructuring of the young critics have rushed to study store-provincial museums, often containing a rich collection of avant-garde. In 1987, Svetlana Jafarova, expert-Art-Union Production Association of them. Vucetic, began to explore fund art museum in Yaroslavl. Vanguard in the local assembly of its attention was attracted by three paintings, which the authors stated: Malevich, Popova and Rozanova. Dated 1913 "Samovar" Malevich and the "abstract composition" Popov stood out faded colors, extremely low level of technology and were not like the work of famous masters.
Jafarova doubted that Malevich and Popova can send in a provincial museum knowingly "hack", and made inquiries. It turned out that the original "abstract compositions" Popov in the 60 years was bought Kostakisom. In the same collection is a duplicate of the picture "The Green Ribbon" Rozanova, listed in the collections of the Museum of Yaroslavl, but here the situation was reversed: the canvas from Yaroslavl are far superior to belonging Kostakisu. Jafarova concluded that copies of the paintings were executed in 60-ies of the first wave of interest in the vanguard of someone who had access to the collections of the museum, and then there was a substitution, in the case of Rozanova "left" left no script, and a copy .
There were traces of Yaroslavl and "Samovar". This painting by Malevich is now in the exposition of the New York Museum of Modern Art, where it got the gift of the museum collection "Mc Corey Corporation. As the canvas was in America, is unknown, but a number will be to establish that it is original.
End the biggest "brain" works of contemporary art abroad with the name of Nicholas Khardzhiev, former curator of the Museum of Mayakovsky. This legendary man was a living embodiment of the avant-garde. Coeval century, he participated in the Futurist movement, together with Mayakovsky was a close friend of Malevich and Khlebnikov. Khardzhiev was the owner of the rare works of art, as well as unique archives, which included many documents, letters, sketches and manuscripts relating to the history of avant-garde.
Three years ago, a 94-th year of life, Khardzhiev emigrated to the Netherlands. At the customs at Sheremetyevo were confiscated three suitcases, in which his archive. Despite this, Khardzhiev able to withdraw part of his collection. Six suprematistskih Malevich's paintings were sold to Christine Gmurzhinskoy, owner of the well-known Cologne gallery for $ 2.5 million One of these paintings was sold Gmurzhinskoy unknown bidder, and the other acquired cosmetics empire heir and director of the New York Museum of Modern Art Ronald Lauder. It is believed that the price of each of the paintings was $ 5 - 7 million

"Yellow Cross" orange
As one might have noticed, often good intentions of Russia's - heirs and art - hampered by a lack of understanding of Western art establishment represented by auction houses and galleries.
Alexander Lavrentiev, the grandson of Alexander Rodchenko and Varvara Stepanova, was struck by the number of fake "works" of his grandfather, who he saw on the walls of museums in the West.

The first unpleasant discovery he made in 1982, when Lavrent'ev and his mother visited the Museum director William Lembruka in Duisburg, to show them a new exhibition catalogs Rodchenko. There are two subjects of sculpture, one of which depicted an owl, could not belong Rodchenko. All the heirs of the assurances that Rodchenko kept records of their work, and nowhere is there mention of the Body, not fired at the Germans nor the slightest impression. After the sculpture was taken from the collection of very respectable Düsseldorf collector. Since Lavrentiev can recall many such cases related exhibits, catalogs and auctions. His opinion has always been a voice crying in the wilderness.
Regina Khidekel recalls how several years ago when she and her husband have lived in Russia, they came a man from Sotheby's and showed slides of paintings "Yellow Cross" Lazarus Khidekel, put up for auction. "Yellow Cross" was orange, and Regina realized why: in a book published in the GDR was on the forefront of a reproduction of this painting, the poor quality of printing led to a distortion of color, and someone painstakingly copied the "bad reproduction. Despite everything, the picture was put up for auction.
We do not know what is more - a professional snobbery, concern for the "esprit de corps" or subconscious reluctance to upset the competitive bidding process. The important thing - in the vanguard there are no well-established methods of examination.
Part of the problem lies in the fact that the West did not have enough material for a true comparison, and therefore bogus easily pass for an original, said Eugen Ordonez, restorer of the New York Museum of Modern Art, which is already ten years studying the technique of Russian avant-garde and defended her dissertation on this topic. She said that, despite the apparent ease forge suprematistskuyu or constructivist work is surprisingly difficult. However, the required knowledge of technology is very rare, and counterfeiters rescues unsophisticated buyers.
In other areas the situation is more safely, such as Matisse or Goya's work is well studied, a large body of knowledge about their technique. In the case of Russian avant-garde things differently, and this provides room for counterfeits.
Cooperation is needed specialists in various fields in order to accumulate a critical mass of knowledge about the Russian Avant-garde, according to Ordonez. Milda Vikturina, expert of the Tretyakov Gallery, agrees with this: the focus should be compared to the originals and fakes, the study of engineering masters and tricks counterfeiters. Useful would be to create a special fund, similar to the Company Kandinsky, coordinating this work. Only then can we learn Russian avant-garde in the present.
Counterfeits may cause incomparable damage to the reputation of magnificent artists, Ordonez says: "Only after visiting Russia, I realized that much of what is brought to us on the West - just an insult to their names."

A copy of this article provided OlgaVhttp://forum.artinvestment.ru/showth...575&page=6

[Glasha]

She found more on this topic, including more detailed description of the events of the article provided OlgaV (Berlin Exhibition 1922)
Interesting and significant history of Valery Dudakova ...
The magazine "Itogi" on Oct. 1, 1996, to become even more early. Sorry, the first page no-case-a long-standing: confused:

[artcol]

Serebryakov: eek:
Not avant-garde, of course, but a fake for sure.

[Vladimir]

Сообщение от artcol

Serebryakova
Not avant-garde, of course, but just a fake.

And at this very clumsy. Why do such things?

[artcol]

Сообщение от fross

... In your same edition it looks already as a center of an organized network of manufacturing and selling fakes.

So it is: (

Сообщение от Vladimir

And at this very clumsy. Why do such things?

"The fool does not need a knife," sung in a well-known children's song ...
That's what the pike in the lake ...

[SergeiSK]

About! Again, "Bureau Narkomprossa! How many counterfeit labels with the country wanders!

[artcol]

Сообщение от SergeiSK

Oh! Again, "Bureau Narkomprossa! How many counterfeit labels with the country wanders!

And how many other labels and without! : confused:
Ulyanovsk, Mordovia, Samara ... Oh-ho, there's a lot of things counterfeited: icons, utensils, coins, etc.
Antique and Art Market - Why is a paradise for crooks! Paradise with nepugannymi Pinocchio, klyuyuschimi addressed and the ratio of offer price and the value of counterfeits of original works! I want to fish in troubled waters abound, well, and if there is demand - that the laws of the market, will offer ...
Nature of the art market (namely, the art market, not against the buyer artist) - purely speculative ... think more to think out for yourself ...

[uriart]

So a mother giving birth to them!
Everywhere the same print. Samara was a hotbed of these works. I saw them there pieces 40-50. And that somewhere in 2002. Well can in the third.
And Bakst. And Serebryakov. And priests. And El Lissitzky. But all and can not remember. There have been many. A print of these so truly looked. And plus everything laid paper.

[artcol]

Сообщение от uriart

Samara was a hotbed of these works.

Samara city rich and provincial. Now the situation is slightly corrected.

Сообщение от uriart

A print of these so truly looked.

For particularly curious is certified and documented (in a monograph) prerequisites for these works in large quantities in the Middle Volga region. Although he did not read the book never looked - and so all was clear: D