Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1922-07-04
The HQSkin Letter 50 , + Rs:.a
DECLINE OF FAKE PAINTINGS.

extremely loath to buy unless the
goods has been guaranteed by a 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 a New York
art dealer.
IF this were So" he declared. "our
firm would have heard of it. and not
one such instance has been brought to
our attention. No freshly painted
Boticellis are being sold anywhere.
The appearance of age cannot be
copied. and fakes of such q descrip-
ton could hardly be palmed off on the
sheerest novice. Until recently many
copies and fakes have been offered
here as genuine old masters, but they
were nearly all ancient copies or old
pictures wrongly attributed to famous
painters. Most Of them were offered
in good faith. There was no market
for them here. Corots have been
faxed BY the hundred, but purchasers
are very rare in this country today
for art works of dubious value
This is partly because Americans
know more about art than they used
to. and therefore no longer rely upon
their own judgment. Even our newly
rich have heard so much about their
own supposed guillibility that they
will not make a purchase without be-
ing assured by the best possible evil
dence that a picture is genuine. The
new millionaire class of Europe. on
the other hand. is not so lacking in
confidence. and it is from this domestic
source that the European dealers in
fake objects of art are now reaping
their best profits.
During the war. this was especially
noticeable. Everybody who made a
cool million or two out Of a wal CON
tract Immediately went in for art.
But as soon as the conflict was over.
many who had spent their money as
fast AS they made it. were anxious to
realize on what they believed to be
their art treasures. Thew sent them
! over to this country. Upon expert
examination such collections usually
turned out to be of little value. so
that the dealers were kept busy dodg-
ing spurious works of art. For awhile
the entire trade was thrown into a
panic. and it was almost impossible TO
dispose Of a genuine. as no Ameri-
can collector or art dealer was will
ing TO take a chance.
Old Families Deceived
70 make the situation worse it was
found that paintings which were salt
| over here by some most dis
tinguished families of Europe were
fakes. Most of these had been in the
| possession of a single family for gene
rations and had been assigned by ira
dition to great artists. Their au-
thenticity was so taken for granted
| that they had probably never been sub
mitted to experts But when they
| came to be examined over here it was
discovered that many supposed Rem
brandts. Velasquezes 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 bombardment OF
fakes was going on. American dealers
were over in Europe attending auction
sales and quietly buying up some OF the
worlds greatest art treasures. Ihey
had to pay enormous prices. II is true.
but they paid them for the real thing.
"Your American collectors have
learned" remarked a 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
urcs before they will take a chance on
them. One New York art dealer, for
example. will tell you with tears in his
eyes of an opportunity he missed Of
securing a genuine Rubens in London
not long ago. 1t vas one Of several