Democratic messenger. [volume] (Snow Hill, Md.) 1869-1973, 1922-08-26

About Art Than They Used to, and
Therefore No Longer Rely Upon
Their Own Judgment-Even the
Newly Rich Are Not cauohk by Fakes.
Most Of Europe's industries are rap.
idly regaining their pre-war strength.
but there Is one which shows b ten.
dency to languish indefinitely. That
In The business Of manufacturing old
masters To sell to American collectors.
II isn't being successfully done This
season.
Since the war so many genuine mas.
terpieces have been placed on the mar.
ket by the impoverished nobility Of
Europe that Americans have learned
to be fastidious. A painting has to
have exceptional merit before they
will show any interest In 1t. At the
same time. such tremendous food Of
fake paintings and other art objects
has been let loose In Europe that they
have learned to be cautious. They are
extremely loath to buy unless the
goods have been guaranteed by jury
Of experts.
Thus, the reports recently circulated
about Paris that Americans were buy
Ing fake Boticellis by the dozen is
characterized as absurd by New
York art dealer
III this were So" he declared ''our
firm would have heard of 1t, and not
/ Ian tri.f IN.
our attention. No freshly painted
Eotlcellis are being sold anywhere. The
! appearance of aye cannot he copied,
| ana fakes OF such a description could
hardly be palmed OF on the sheercAt
novice. Until recently many copies
and fakes have been offered here Us
! genuine old masters. but they We're
nearly all ancient copies, or old pie
4 lures wrongly attributed To famous
/ painters Most of them were offered
In sood faith. There is no market for
| tnem Corots nave been faxed by the
/ hundred, but purchasers are very rare
/ IN this country Today, for art works Of
| dubious value"
Victims Mostly Europeans.
This Is pnrtly because Americans
! know more about art than they used
4 - and therefore no longer rely upon
! their own judgment Even our newly
! rich have heard so much about their
| own guliblity that they will not make
a purchase without being assured by
! the best possible evidence that pie
| ture Is genuine. The new millionaire
class of Europe. on the other hand. Is
! not So lacking in confidence. and IL Is
| from this domestic source that the
| E.lrOpean dealers In fake objects of
art are now reaping their best profits.
During the war this was especially
nniicriblr Everybody who made
cool million or two out Of Il war con
tract Immediately went in for art. But
M soon us the conflict was over. many
who had spent their money as fast
as they made Ii, were anxious Ia real
ice on what they believed To he their
art treasures They sent them over
to this country. Upon expert exam
nation such collections usually turned
out to be OF little value. so that the
dealers were kept busy lodging spu-
rious works of art. For awhile the
entire trade was thrown into panic,
and II was almost impossible to dis
pose Of genuine, as no American col
lector or art dealer was willing TO take
q chance.
10 make the situation worse. II was
found that paintings which were sent
over here by some of the most dis.
tipgulshed families of Europe were
fakes. Most OF these had been in the
possession Of n single family for gen
erations and had been assigned by ira
dltior 10 great artists. Their anthem
ticity was so taken for granted that
they probably had never been submit
ted to experts. But when they came
TO be examined over here II was dis
covered than many supposed Rem
brnndts. valasqueZes and Titians were
merely early copies Of those painters
or works by contemporaries which
had been Incorrectly attributed to the
great artists.
While this heavy bombardmcnt OF
fakes was going on. American dealers
were over In Europe attending auction
sales and quietly buying up some of
'hc worlds greatest art treasures.
They had to pay enormous prices, II
Is true. hut they paid them for the
real thing
Americans Wiser Now.
"Your American collectors have
learned" remarked Il prominent mem
Der OF a British art society recently.
They are now very astute collectors,
who know precisely what they want.
and can afford to pay the price They
are vastly different from those who
used to come to buy our pictures just
/ to decorate The blank spaces on their
walls
In fact. American collectors and art
dealers have become so very cautious
that they will sacrifice real art treas
| 49,, ..,flt taka "A ahnnet1 al.