Art Forgeries
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Art Forgeries Preprints of the Contributions to the Nordic Group 16th Congress 4-7th June 2003, Reykjavik, Iceland Art Forgeries IIC Nordic Group 16th Congress “Art Forgeries” 1 4-7th June 2003, Reykjavik, Iceland © IIC NORDIC GROUP 16TH CONGRESS JUNE 4-7 TH 2003, REYKJAVIK, ICELAND Compilers: Jannie Amsgaard Ebsen, Nathalie Jacqueminet with the help of Halldóra Ásgeirsdóttir. Layout, typography, cover: Robert Guillemette. Printed at the University Press, Reykjavik, Iceland, May 2003. IIC Nordic Group 16th Congress “Art Forgeries” 2 4-7th June 2003, Reykjavik, Iceland Art Forgeries IIC NORDIC GROUP 16th CONGRESS 4-7th JUNE 2003, REYKJAVIK, ICELAND PREPRINTS IIC Nordic Group 16th Congress “Art Forgeries” 3 4-7th June 2003, Reykjavik, Iceland IIC Nordic Group 16th Congress “Art Forgeries” 4 4-7th June 2003, Reykjavik, Iceland INTRODUCTION Art forgeries have been a growing concern in the Scandinavian Art world for the last decades, affecting all forms of art as well as archaeological and historical objects. Iceland had almost escaped this plague until the 1990s when a private painting restorer, Ólafur Ingi Jónsson, first raised attention to suspicious paintings allegedly by Icelandic Masters, which had been brought to his work- shop by collectors. As the number of suspicious works was increasing, preliminary research indicated that the same gallery had sold most of them. In this case, the historical common background of the Nordic countries, especially the strong links between Iceland and Denmark appeared rapidly to have played a key role in the process of forgery, especially for the late 19th century and Modern art period. Since then many Icelandic conservators and art historians, as well as European experts have been called upon to participate into an inquiry on art forgery of the widest scope ever conducted in this country. The latest event related to this affair being a several weeks’ trial in April and May 2003. Therefore, when it came to the Icelandic section of the Nordic group of IIC to organize the 16th triennial congress, its members agreed on the choice of the topic Art Forgeries, hoping to create a unique opportunity of gathering specialists in various fields of conservation to share their experience, confront processes and discuss their own methods of dealing with art forgeries. We are very glad to welcome lecturers coming from all of the Nordic countries as well as from the United States and Great Britain. By offering a large range of lectures issued from different fields of conservation, we hope to strengthen our knowledge and possibly create the basis for an international network of cooperation in the matter of art forgeries. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS As the smallest section of The Nordic Group and the most geographically isolated, The Icelandic association of conservators needed a lot of support, both financial and moral, to be able to organize this event. We wish to express our deepest gratitude to the institutions and persons who showed us trust and interest and made it possible to welcome the 16th Nordic IIC Congress in Iceland: Our warmest thanks go to: Margrét Hallgrímsdóttir, State Antiquarian, the National Museum of Iceland Sigrún Klara Hannesdóttir, Director of the National Library of Iceland, University library Guðný Gerður Gunnarsdóttir, Director of The Reykjavik Museum, Árbæjarsafn The Nordic Culture Fund The Icelandic Ministry of Culture The City of Reykjavik Letterstedska Föreningen Art Innovation I wish to thank especially my colleagues Halldóra Ásgeirsdóttir and Jannie Amsgaard Ebsen for an enthusiastic teamwork and for their patience and efficiency; Camilla Tvingmark and Kristjana Magnusdóttir from Iceland Travel who assisted us through the whole preparation with kindness and professionalism. Last but not least Robert Guillemette’s sharp eyes were a most precious help in the realization of the preprints. Reykjavik, May 18th 2003 Nathalie Jacqueminet, Painting conservator at the National Museum of Iceland, Chairperson of the organizing committee. IIC Nordic Group 16th Congress “Art Forgeries” 5 4-7th June 2003, Reykjavik, Iceland TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction. Acknowledgements. 5 Table of Contents. 6 LEIF EINAR PLAHTER, Retired Chief Conservator from the National Gallery, Oslo, Norway SWINDLE WITH PICTORIAL ART IN NORWAY. 9 TUULIKKI KILPINEN, Senior Conservator, National Gallery of Finland, Helsinki. TECHNICAL ART HISTORY IN PRACTICE. CASE STUDIES OF THE IDENTIFICATION OF FORGED PAINTINGS CARRIED OUT IN THE CONSERVATION DEPARTMENT OF THE FINNISH NATIONAL GALLERY. 15 JOHANNES RØD, Painting Conservator/Art Historian, Freelance, Norway. VINCENT VAN GOGH’S SELF-PORTRAIT IN THE NATIONAL GALLERY OF NORWAY, OSLO: GENUINE OR FAKE? 22 JÚLÍANA GOTTSKÁLKSDÓTTIR, Art Historian, Director of Einar Jónsson Museum, Iceland. ART-HISTORICAL ANALYSIS OF SUSPICIOUS PAINTINGS. 31 VIKTOR SMÁRI SÆMUNDSSON, Painting Conservator, National Gallery of Iceland, Reykjavik. FORGERY OF PICTORIAL ART IN ICELAND: THE FIRST INVESTIGATION. 36 SIGURÐUR JAKOBSSON, Chemist at the Science Institute, University of Iceland, Reykjavik. USE OF INFRARED SPECTROSCOPY IN ART CONSERVATION. 41 DR. AVIVA BURNSTOCK, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Conservation and Technology at the Courtauld Institute of Art, England. DISCOVERING MASTERPIECES AND DETECTING FORGERIES: CAN SCIENCE HELP? 44 JOHANNES RØD, Painting Conservator/Art Historian, Freelance, Norway. FAKE FAKES IN THE FORGER’S OEUVRE. ONE MORE STORY ABOUT ELMYR DE HORY. 53 TOMAS MARKEVICIUS, Painting Conservator, Fulbright and Getty Fellow, Intermuseum Laboratory, Intermuseum Conservation Association, U.S.A DECEPTIVE FLUORESCENT VARNISHES: A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THE UV LUMINESCENCE OF A FRESH APPLIED VARNISH COATINGS PRODUCED USING AGED NATURAL RESINS AND FOSSIL RESINS. 58 ANETTE THORÉN, Painting Conservator, Head of the paintings conservation Jönköpings läns museum, Sweden. THE SWEDISH WAY FROM TRUE ART: THE COLLECTION AT A POLICE STATION AS REFERENCE MATERIAL TO FURTHER UNVEILING CASE. 65 IIC Nordic Group 16th Congress “Art Forgeries” 6 4-7th June 2003, Reykjavik, Iceland TABLE OF CONTENTS HELENA NIKKANEN, Head Conservator, Painting Conservator, The Valamo Art Conservation Institute, Finland. FORGED ICONS: COMMERCIAL FALSIFICATIONS OR EFFORTS TO CONSERVE THE TRADITION? 71 INGALILL NYSTRÖM, Painting Conservator, Head of the Painting Conservation, SVK, Studio of the Western Sweden Conservators Trust, Sweden. MANIPULATED PAINTED WALL-HANGINGS. 78 LIZOU FENYVESI, Textile Conservator, US Holocaust Memorial Museum, U.S.A. DEALING WITH FORGERIES AT THE UNITED STATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM. 83 ARNE JOUTTIJÄRVI, Material Scientist, Heimdal-archaeometry, Virum, Denmark METALLURGICAL AND ANALYTICAL METHODS IN THE REVEALING OF ART FALSIFICATION. 90 MARIA FRANZON, Object Conservator, National Museum of Fine Arts, Sweden AN ANALYTICAL APPROACH TO THE AUTHENTICITY PROBLEMS OF PAINTED LIMOGES 96 ENAMELS. KARI GREVE, Paper Conservator, National Gallery of Norway, Oslo. DRAWING WITH LIGHT. PHOTOGRAVURE AND THE ART OF FORGERY. 105 ANNA-GRETHE RISCHEL, Paper Conservator, Conservation Dept, National Museum of Denmark ANALYSIS OF THE PAPER MATERIAL ITSELF. A NON-DESTRUCTIVE METHOD TO DISTINGUISH GENUINE DOCUMENTS FROM FORGERIES 111 JENS GOLD, Conservator of Photographs, Private Practice, Norway AUTHENTIC AND ALTERED ELEMENTS IN PHOTOGRAPHS. 119 KAREN BRYNJOLF PEDERSEN, Photography Conservator, National Museum of Denmark FORGERIES IN PHOTOGRAPHY. 127 LUCIA BURGIO, Scientist, Conservation Dept, Science Section, Victoria & Albert Museum RAMAN MICROSCOPY AND THE IDENTIFICATION OF ART FORGERIES. 136 JON BRÆNNE, Scientific Researcher/Painting Conservator, NIKU, Norwegian Institute for Cultural Heritage Research, Norway, and TONE MARIE OLSTAD, Painting Conservator, NIKU. OPEN AIR MUSEUM BUILDINGS. FAKES – OR TELLING A TRUE STORY? 140 ARE BJÆRKE, Paper Conservator, cand.philol., Norway AUTHENTICITY AND ART FORGERIES. 151 IIC Nordic Group 16th Congress “Art Forgeries” 7 4-7th June 2003, Reykjavik, Iceland IIC Nordic Group 16th Congress “Art Forgeries” 8 4-7th June 2003, Reykjavik, Iceland SWINDLE WITH PICTORIAL ART IN NORWAY LEIF EINAR PLAHTER ABSTRACT SAMMENDRAG The paper is based on the author's experience during more Artikkelen bygger på forfatterens erfaring gjennom mer than forty years as leader of the conservation department enn førti år som leder av Nasjonalgalleriets konserverings- of the National Gallery, Oslo. Among the responsibilities of avdeling. Blant avdelingens oppgaver har vært å gjennom- the department has been scrutinizing the gallery collection gå samlingene for å identifisere mulige forfalskninger og to detect possible counterfeits and assisting the police and å bistå politiet og rettsvesenet i kunstbedragerisaker. courts in cases of art fraud. Different categories of coun- Forskjellige kategorier forfalskninger blir diskutert. De terfeits will be discussed – "hard core fakes", pastiches, fleste forfalskninger er teknisk grove og kunstnerisk pri- copies, spurious signatures etc. Most counterfeits are mitive, og mange kan avsløres uten tekniske hjelpemidler. technically crude and artistically poor and can be detected Vanligvis vil et binokularmikroskop og en kvartslampe by evaluation of style and quality. Generally this examina- være uunnværlige hjelpemidler. Av og til kan infrarødt tion includes the use of simple technical equipment such reflektografi og røntgenfotografering gi vesentlige opplys- as binocular microscope and ultra-violet lamp. More rarely, ninger. Pigmentanalyser kan i enkelte