I've been seeing this trend more and more lately online. Established auction houses who sell obvious amateur copies as real works. They don't write "after" as they should but just list the work for sale. I felt sorry for whoever spent $2,200 on a copy. I know it won't fool most art collectors but it obviously does fool some people at least.
Maxfrost, I totally sympathize with your annoyance. The montrous dogs in the fake John Emms should not be around that poor mentally handicapped girl. And the Dupré is really a very clumsy imitation of the larger 'La Prairie' sold at Rehs Gallery some time ago: https://rehs.com/Julien_Dupr%C3%A9_La_Prairie.html
I myself try to explain all that away with the growing commerciallity of the trade. The Russian and Asian markets are up, ours are down. The money comes from people without the slightest cultural baggage. And many auction houses tend to go along with that, diamonds, vintage cars, watches and the like becoming their core business. Art expertise is no longer their priority.
what's shocking is that fake John Emms brought $5,938. My God, people really are that dumb. I thought these were established auctions that have been around for decades. I have no idea why they would want to destroy their credibility selling this crap. More people should call them out for this.
Auctions selling amateur copies as real?
Posted - Sep 18 2020 : 13:44:18
