Latest news with #artforgery
Wall Street Journal
31-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Wall Street Journal
‘The Devil Wears Rothko' Review: Victimhood and Vanity
One day in 2011, inside the posh Carlyle Hotel on Manhattan's Upper East Side, Pierre Lagrange threatened to set his art dealer's hair on fire. Or so his dealer, Ann Freedman, alleges. Four years earlier, Ms. Freedman had sold Mr. Lagrange, a Belgian financier, a Jackson Pollock painting for $17 million. Except this was no Pollock, Mr. Lagrange argued—it was a forgery, and Mr. Lagrange said he could prove it. When confronted with this evidence, Ms. Freedman apparently offered to help him resell the piece. That's when Mr. Lagrange supposedly made his fiery declaration. As Barry Avrich tells us in his peppery 'The Devil Wears Rothko,' Mr. Lagrange's Pollock was one of the many pieces involved in the most lucrative art-forgery scheme in American history. According to the author, the scheme's mastermind was Jose Carlos Bergantiños Diaz. In the 1980s, the Spaniard fled to Mexico with a bullfighter, then fell in love with a nursing student, Glafira Rosales, before he and Rosales made their way to New York. There, as a newly employed caviar courier, he purchased a secondhand ambulance with a functioning siren, which he made liberal use of to part the city's traffic. Deliveries to Sotheby's and Christie's gave him his first exposure to the New York art world, where he discovered seductive glamour and easy marks. Shortly afterward, we are told, Mr. Bergantiños chanced upon Pei-Shen Qian, a talented street painter. Born in China, Mr. Qian had endured Mao's Cultural Revolution and wasted years painting paeans to the Great Leader before escaping to New York. He had hoped to emulate his Abstract Expressionist idols, but found no success—until Mr. Bergantiños allegedly offered him cash to forge the works of his idols. In addition to Pollock, Mr. Avrich writes, Mr. Qian would create paintings in the style of Robert Motherwell, Clyfford Still and Andy Warhol, among others.
Telegraph
12-07-2025
- Telegraph
‘My father gave me his Picassos – now a court claims they are fakes'
A businessman's claims to have been left genuine Pablo Picasso masterpieces by his father have been rejected by an Italian judge. Roman judge Francesco Patrone threw out claims by Marcello Santelia, a businessman with links to the UK, that he had inherited 51 authentic artworks by Picasso. Instead, Judge Patrone declared the works to be fakes and sentenced the 78-year-old to a suspended sentence of one year and eight months for attempting to pass them off as genuine. He has yet to hand down a written ruling explaining his decision. But Mr Santelia, who told the court he had always believed the works to be genuine, said he planned to appeal against the decision. 'I am not a criminal' Flanked by his two lawyers outside the courtroom, Mr Santelia said he was determined to clear his name and defend the authenticity of his art collection. 'I am not a criminal,' said Mr Santelia, a silver-haired grandfather from the small southern Italian town of Nocera Inferiore who ran a business in the UK for several years. His lawyer, Giuseppe Spagnuolo, said that of the 51 works seized by Italian arts police, only one was being considered by the court to have any potential link to Picasso. He said this was unacceptable. 'We are convinced about the authenticity of the works and we will go ahead with an appeal,' Mr Spagnuolo said outside the court. 'The judge has requested a sentence of one year and eight months. He has eight days to deposit his reasoning with the court and we will appeal.' Mr Santelia, who ran a construction company in Worcester before moving back to his native Italy, has always maintained that his father Giovanni, an art collector, was a friend of Picasso and had obtained the paintings and drawings from the Spanish painter in the 1950s. Mr Santelia has always insisted that they were all genuine Picassos, potentially worth millions of pounds and has fought to have his claims recognised by the Italian government so he could sell them abroad. But Italian police and prosecutors have long argued the collection is fake. The paintings and drawings were seized by Italian police when Mr Santelia tried to sell one of them, purportedly a portrait of Picasso's lover and muse Dora Maar with the title 'Dora Maar con cappello [with hat]', to a buyer in Dubai several years ago. In the final court hearing on Monday, Mr Spagnuolo said the prosecutor had requested a heavier four-year sentence and a fine of €4,000, arguing the works were fake. Four art experts were ordered by the court to examine Pablo Picasso's signature to determine whether the art works, which are said to have been produced between 1943 and 1956, known as the artist's Mediterranean Years period, were forgeries. The experts are understood to have included the Picasso Administration, the Paris-based body which holds the rights to all of the artist's work, but neither their opinions nor their identity have been made publicly available. An expert appointed by Mr Santelia's legal team says he has no doubt the paintings are genuine Picassos. Alberto Bravo, a professor of graphology and handwriting based in Rome, told The Telegraph that although the signature is important in this case, the style of the 16 paintings he saw leaves no doubt that they are by the Spanish artist. Professor Bravo claims that the experts appointed by the court were inappropriate for this case. Mr Santelia said he wanted to get his paintings back and recuperate the large amount of money he had to spend on expert appraisals of the art works. The art works are currently being held by Italy's Carabinieri arts police in a warehouse in Rome. Diary suggests father visited Picasso Mr Santelia's father Giovanni, an art dealer, is said to have brought the works back to the family home in Nocera Inferiore after buying them from Picasso at some point during the 1950s. The diary of one English traveller, Pete Smith, records a visit Giovanni Santelia paid to Picasso's home in Mougins, France, during Christmas 1955. On December 13 that year, Mr Smith wrote in his diary: 'Roger's to collect Santelia Giovanni en-route to meeting Pablo [Picasso] in Mougins for Christmas.' The following day he recorded that Picasso gave his guests some of his work, writing: 'Arrive Mougins with Roger, Santelia Giovanni and Pablo. As always he has pictures for all of us to take home.'
Fox News
17-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Fox News
The Art Of The Fraud
For over a century, the Knoedler Gallery was one of New York's most reputable art institutions, having survived the Civil War, both World Wars, and 9/11. Though seemingly indestructible, three con artists were able to infiltrate the gallery, operating an $80 million forgery ring that led to its downfall. Author and filmmaker Barry Avrich discusses this shocking scandal that rocked the art world, as detailed in his new book, The Devil Wears Rothko. Follow Emily on Instagram: @realemilycompagno If you have a story or topic we should feature on the FOX True Crime Podcast, send us an email at: truecrimepodcast@ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit
