A mediocre Dutch artist cast 'the forger's spell' (2008)
1–10 of 27 posts
Re: A mediocre Dutch artist cast 'the forger's spell' (2008)
#2I’m convinced by the article which is so hell bent on casting a poor light on Han van Meegeren it’s hard to care enough to read but if you are interested in forgers and forgery - a fascinating subject - I heartily recommend Orson Welles F for Fake. It’s for most part a documentary about the famous forger Elmyr de Hory and his biographer Clifford Irving, himself somewhat a forger. I say for most part because to serve its point the documentary itself intentionally verges into the forgery territory in an amount which is hard to gauge. It’s an extraordinary brilliant and personal reflection on the place of authenticity in film and the art.
The movie notably includes this brilliant quote by Elmyr de Hory: “Guilty? Of what? Making masterpieces?”.
Re: A mediocre Dutch artist cast 'the forger's spell' (2008)
#3I’m convinced by the article which is so hell bent on casting a poor light on Han van Meegeren it’s hard to care enough to read but if you are interested in forgers and forgery - a fascinating subject - I heartily recommend Orson Welles F for Fake . It’s for most part a documentary about the famous forger Elmyr de Hory and his biographer Clifford Irving, himself somewhat a forger. I say for most part because to serve…
I know a Dutch painter whose main trade is that she can basically copy any style in a way that even trained people have a very hard time telling from the real thing. It's a good thing she's not into forgery.
Re: A mediocre Dutch artist cast 'the forger's spell' (2008)
#4A 'mediocre' artist 'of limited ability', despite pulling off a stroke that required both successfully imitating the style of a master artist and coming up with an advanced (for the time) innovation in the chemical medium (the substrate that holds the pigment).
The art world is not a meritocracy, excellent artists can languish because their ideas are out of fashion or too far ahead of the public's taste (van Gogh being the most famous example). The condescending tone of this article is an irritating distraction from the interesting-sounding book it promotes.
Re: A mediocre Dutch artist cast 'the forger's spell' (2008)
#5I’m convinced by the article which is so hell bent on casting a poor light on Han van Meegeren it’s hard to care enough to read but if you are interested in forgers and forgery - a fascinating subject - I heartily recommend Orson Welles F for Fake . It’s for most part a documentary about the famous forger Elmyr de Hory and his biographer Clifford Irving, himself somewhat a forger. I say for most part because to serve…
> which is so hell bent on casting a poor light on Han van Meegeren
He forged art, made money by selling it to literal Nazis, and blew the money on hookers and palatial houses. Are we supposed to feel sorry for the guy?
I do have complicated thoughts on the same piece of art being valued completely differently depending on if it's signed by person X or person Y, but for better or worse this is very much a thing.
Re: A mediocre Dutch artist cast 'the forger's spell' (2008)
#6I’m convinced by the article which is so hell bent on casting a poor light on Han van Meegeren it’s hard to care enough to read but if you are interested in forgers and forgery - a fascinating subject - I heartily recommend Orson Welles F for Fake . It’s for most part a documentary about the famous forger Elmyr de Hory and his biographer Clifford Irving, himself somewhat a forger. I say for most part because to serve…
> which is so hell bent on casting a poor light on Han van Meegeren He forged art, made money by selling it to literal Nazis, and blew the money on hookers and palatial houses. Are we supposed to feel sorry for the guy? I do have complicated thoughts on the same piece of art being valued completely differently depending on if it's signed by person X or person Y, but for better or worse this is very much a thing.
> He forged art, made money by selling it to literal Nazis, and blew the money on hookers and palatial houses.
Could be re-written as “via deception/trickery, deprived Nazis of monetary resources and increased the wealth of working ladies and tradespersons he associated with.”
Re: A mediocre Dutch artist cast 'the forger's spell' (2008)
#7A 'mediocre' artist 'of limited ability', despite pulling off a stroke that required both successfully imitating the style of a master artist and coming up with an advanced (for the time) innovation in the chemical medium (the substrate that holds the pigment). The art world is not a meritocracy, excellent artists can languish because their ideas are out of fashion or too far ahead of the public's taste (van Gogh bei…
In the book ("The Forger's Spell") this article is based on, the author actually gives Van Meegeren quite a fair analysis. His personal artwork is criticized but he is given a tremendous amount of credit as a forger.
Unfortunately I cannot remember the specifics of the critique of his original paintings but it revolved around him being overly focused on classical technique and applying it to trite contemporary still lifes which were not considered of interest at the time.
I remember a lot more about what was said on his forgeries, which were described as genius on 2 counts:
1. He utilized cutting edge technology (bakelite plastic) to emulate the hardening process of centuries old oil paint. This defeated all the standard tests for aging oil paint.
2. He tapped into the desires of the art historical community. Vermeer's paintings fall into two distinct styles without a clear transition between the two. This was a hot topic at the time and art historians were hoping to find a painting (or paintings) which showed a clear transition between Vermeer's early and late work. Van Meegeren intentionally created paintings to fit this transition phase.
The book also reveals in great detail how the forgeries were not actually executed very well from a technical painting perspective. There are images in the book and they show really badly proportioned figures, broken use of perspective, etc. The quality of the earlier forgeries is definitely better then the later ones but they all have issues.
People wanted these paintings to be real so badly that he didn't need to work hard to trick them.
Re: A mediocre Dutch artist cast 'the forger's spell' (2008)
#8I’m convinced by the article which is so hell bent on casting a poor light on Han van Meegeren it’s hard to care enough to read but if you are interested in forgers and forgery - a fascinating subject - I heartily recommend Orson Welles F for Fake . It’s for most part a documentary about the famous forger Elmyr de Hory and his biographer Clifford Irving, himself somewhat a forger. I say for most part because to serve…
> which is so hell bent on casting a poor light on Han van Meegeren He forged art, made money by selling it to literal Nazis, and blew the money on hookers and palatial houses. Are we supposed to feel sorry for the guy? I do have complicated thoughts on the same piece of art being valued completely differently depending on if it's signed by person X or person Y, but for better or worse this is very much a thing.
> made money by selling it to literal Nazis
He gave Nazis something with zero practical use in exchange for huge amounts of money. This is a bad thing?
Re: A mediocre Dutch artist cast 'the forger's spell' (2008)
#9I’m convinced by the article which is so hell bent on casting a poor light on Han van Meegeren it’s hard to care enough to read but if you are interested in forgers and forgery - a fascinating subject - I heartily recommend Orson Welles F for Fake . It’s for most part a documentary about the famous forger Elmyr de Hory and his biographer Clifford Irving, himself somewhat a forger. I say for most part because to serve…
> which is so hell bent on casting a poor light on Han van Meegeren He forged art, made money by selling it to literal Nazis, and blew the money on hookers and palatial houses. Are we supposed to feel sorry for the guy? I do have complicated thoughts on the same piece of art being valued completely differently depending on if it's signed by person X or person Y, but for better or worse this is very much a thing.
When someone's crimes constitute fraud and doing business with nazis, sometimes two wrongs might make a right.
Re: A mediocre Dutch artist cast 'the forger's spell' (2008)
#10A 'mediocre' artist 'of limited ability', despite pulling off a stroke that required both successfully imitating the style of a master artist and coming up with an advanced (for the time) innovation in the chemical medium (the substrate that holds the pigment). The art world is not a meritocracy, excellent artists can languish because their ideas are out of fashion or too far ahead of the public's taste (van Gogh bei…
In the book ("The Forger's Spell") this article is based on, the author actually gives Van Meegeren quite a fair analysis. His personal artwork is criticized but he is given a tremendous amount of credit as a forger. Unfortunately I cannot remember the specifics of the critique of his original paintings but it revolved around him being overly focused on classical technique and applying it to trite contemporary still…
classical technique and applying it to trite contemporary still lifes which were not considered of interest at the time.
Doesn't that also describe half of the work of "great artists"? When they were painted they were just "some lady I know" or "some guys standing in a room".