Strange Story of Walter Chrysler Jr. Art Scandal Colossal Collection Hegossip That Has Been Haunting the Art World Has Now Erupted Into an International Scandal

THE DANGER-FILLED EEK OF DECISION .

IN BRILLIANT COLOR The Great Council in Rome

U.S. NAVY OFF CUBA Strange Story of Walter Chrysler Jr. Art Scandal Colossal Collection hegossip that has been haunting the art world has now erupted into an international scandal. The scandal involves a gigantic cache of fakes which the celebrated collector, Walter P. ChryslerJr., recently put on exhibition at Canada's ational Gallery in Ottawa. Of the 187 Chrysler paintings dis- played, nearly half are flagrant phonies mas- querading as works by such masters as Ce- zanne, Renoir, Van Gogh, Degas. Some of the fakes arc deli berate forgeries. Others are bad-to-mediocre works on which some- one has put false signatures. All have been repudiated by experts. Chrysler-who i not connectedwith the auto company which his father founded- unveiled this phenomenal cargo of fakes in a show entitled "The Controversial Cen- tury: 1850-1950" which hung during the summer in his own art museum in Province- town, Mass. There they were spotted by New York Lawyer Ralph F. Colin, a know- ing collector of art. Colinsounded the alarm to museum directors. scholars and dealers. On these pages LIFE compare the fakes with authentic paintings and reveals the assort- ment of strange elcmen ts behindthe scandal.

A t preview of his show in the National Gallcr~- A t openingChryslcr (below left) listens to Gal in Ottawa, Walter .lr. (aborc) sstandsands be- lery DirectorC. F. Comfort (with beard) whostan side two paintings of doubtful authcnticit!. lle ucar real Picasso (left) Comfort declared theshow claimspicturesare by Braque (lcji) and Klcc (right). was onehich wil be remembered many years. FAKE f Fakes MATISSE Nude (left), falsely labeled H. Matis e," was hung in Ottawa show with an authentic Matisse called La Danse (below), which Chry ler bought in 1939. The fake, acquired from New York llartert Gal- leries in 1961, was done in slapdash manner to s ug gest Matisse's Fauve style of the early 1900s. But, says John Rewald, leading authority on impression- ist and postimpressionist art, "thehaphazard use of a few bright colors which are absolutely unrelated to each other is totally un- like Matis e's true Fauve canvases in which even strong oppositions of col- or are subtly balanced. In contrast to the fake's chaotic strokes La Danse shows Matisse's sure, con- trolled lines, his emphatic use of contrasting colors.

REAL MATISSE

CONTINUED ART CONTINUED FAKE VAN GOGH REAL VAN GOGH

Comparison of one of Chrysler'sfake Van Goghs Harry B. Yotnakparian in '1962, makes use of thick, ment of differentiated colors and his sharp delin- -four out of fivein his Ottawa show are phony- pasty colors, laid on with messy irregularity like eation of features. According to John Rewald, "The with a well-known original by the Dutch artist re- icing on a cake. The authentic portrait of Van colors, composition and execution of the Chrysler veals remarkable differences in painting techniques. Gogh's friend, Pere Tanguy (detail above, right), canvas are utterly alien to Van Gogh who drew inci- The portrait of an unknown woman (detail above, owned by the Greek shipping magnate Stavros sively with his brushes instead of modeling features left), which Chryslergot from New York Art Dealer Niarchos, demonstrates Van Gogh's careful place- heavily and academically as has been done here."

FAKE BONNARD REAL BONNARD

A still life of fish (above, left), which Chrysler no resemblance to the familiar style of Bonnard the fake remains a mystery for, in the exhibition says is the work of the late French painter Pierre who built up his forms with small strokes of subtle catalogue, no dealer, collector, or any other source is Bonnard, presents a curious contrast to an authen- color. ''It is probable," says Rewald, "that the au- listed to indicate who owned it before him. (Experts tic Bonnard still life (detail above, right) which thor of this still life did not even think of Bonnard are amused by the fact that this fake Bonnard shows is in a private New York collection. The loose, when he painted it and that the clumsy signature no similarity whatsoever to another fake Bonnard broad brush strokes of the Chrysler painting bear was added by a later hand." How Chrysler came by which Chrysler also put on view in the exhibition.) Shadowquartersof Hartert Galleries. now closed because building is to he demolished. display a modest portrait in the window. Hartert's lawyer describes himasa dealer with no pretensions. He guarantees nothing." Dealers Who Sold Suspect Goods

evenly of the suspect pain Lings w ere acquired by Chry ler in the past twoo yearsfrom two dealers, Joly Hartert whosold 56 and H. B. Yotnakparia w ho sold 14. Both specialize in w orks which they cagil) declare Lo be at- tributed to'' rather than painted by noted masters. Where they gettheir waresis not easily discovered. When Chrysler's catalogue gives more tha11 the name of Harter! or Yotnakparian as sources, it haabituallt=y lists collec- tors the arl w orld has never known and sales of w hich no records exist. Harterl has had trouble w ith source material before. In 1958 his son Jack wasarrested in Paris for sending his father some paintings done aIa Ma- tisse and other famous moderns. Young Harlert said he got them at the Flea Market and had no intention of selling them as originals. Police let him go, confiden l no connoisseur w ould give the pain Lings a . econd glance. The Collector's Puzzling Pat

by WILLIAM J. GILL The committee wouldhe said, take June Chrysler launched his exhibition when she sent their two all of the pictures or none. The tion at his museum in Province- and two daughter off on Lours commitlee took none. town. It quickly drew an enthu the art museums and galleries. 'tle art world got its first whiff Most members of the small circle siastic review from John Canaday, At ] 4, Walter wassent to a of the scandal la t spring when of art insiders whoknewof this lit- art critic of the ew York Times, necticut prep school which he left Walter P. Chrysler Jr. offered to tle byplay were inclined to feel a bit who praised Chrysler for including a year later following a di pu lend a half-dozen of his Picassosto sorry for Chrysler. After all, he was "atypical" w orks by well-known with a master who objected to is the artist's 80th birthday exhib- stuck with two worthless fakes. artists. In the ensuing weeks thou- hanging in his room a small Re- tion in New York. When photo Aside from that depressing fact, sands of visitors, quite a few of noir showing a nude in a land- graphs of these paintings were few attached much ignificance to them professional artist , threaded scape. At Dartmouth a few hown to Picasso in France, he the incident. But Attorney Ralph F. through the museum's galleries, ad- later he founded an art magazine immediately picked out two and, Colin wa one of the few whodid. miring the far-ranging show. In hi freshman year, which by with a gesture of disgust, wrote Colin is the administrative vice After the unsuspecting art pil- his own choice wasLo be his next (false) across both of them. president of the Art Dealers Ass0- grims and tourists had departed to la t at college, he launched the The committee, embarrassed and ciation of America, which was Provincetown, the pain Lings w ere first of everal short-lived busi- somewhatapologetic, a ked Chrys- formed to uphold ethical standards packed off to the ational Gallery nes s venLures, a publishing house ler to withdraw the two paintings in the art market. in Ottawawhos e staff wasanything de' oted to turning out expensive Picasso had declared to be fakes. Colin's suspicions, however, but unsuspecting. In August. at the illustrated edition of such clas- Indignant, the collector refused. were still somewhat vague when in instigation of the Art Dealer Asso- sics as Dante's Inferno (It later ciation, a Montreal museum official sw itched to whodunits and then had warned the Talional Gallery's quietly expired.) At ease by the fireplace in his New York home in 1940,Chrys- director, Charles Comfort, of the ler sat in compan} of Cezanne's Portrait of Mme. Cezanne Three year ago he auctioned the picture in London for $112,000 fakes in the collection. Member of the Ottawa staff advised against Walter took little interest in his hanging the dubious paintings. But father's work, candidly admitting with dogged cheer and official fan- that he w a better fitted for the arts fare, Comfort unveiled the how. "than say, the automobile busi- After turning up to take a bow, ness." His father tried to lure him Chrysler retired to the peace of into industrybymaking him presi- Provincetown. dent of the Chrysler Corporation's Elsewhere in the art w orld things new air-conditioning subsidiary werefar from peaceful The Art but his interest did not last long. Dealers Association had been busi- ".. . There i a quirk in hi ly alerting U.S. Custom officials nature that rebels from the ac- the Internal Revenue Service fel- cepted,"observed Go, e Hambidge low dealer and art experts. Colin in a New York Herald Tribune sto- also broke the news to Critic Cana- ry 30yearsago; "andthere is a pe- day that the "atypical.. w orks culiar inten ity and force and a which had charmed him werepho- headstrong stubbornness .... ny. After a hurry-up visit to Otta- Young Chrysler willfully turns his wa, Canaday drastically revised his back on the broad road and wan- first judgment and the scandal hit ders into a bypath of his own ... the front pages. clean off the main highroad. Eventually he became president of New York's Chrysler Building, Thedebasement of the Chrysler where he still maintains an office collection is particularly incongru- though he lost his corporate title ous whenviewedagainst the back- in 1953 w hen the building wassold. ground of a life devoted to t h Meanwhile through the 1930 arts. Although he has dabbled in and '40s, Chrysler had his other many things in his 53 years, Walter interests. Soon after Dartmouth PercyChrysler Jr. has given most he popped up on Broadwaya back of his energies to the field he cho e er of a number of shows, many of while still a youth. A prolific but them turkeys. After his father died not alwaysselective collector, he is in 1940, leaving him a quarter reputed to own more than four share of an $8,854,000 estate, he thousand paintings and pieces of purchased an old Virginia planta- sculpture, many of them stacked tion and began building a stable of awayin eew York warehouses. race horses. Chrysler's pursuits were always The warinterrupted his bucolic far removed from those of hi fa- plans, but only briefly. He entered ther, a big, burly man out of Wa- the Navy a a lieutenant in 1942 mego, Kan., who was too preoccu- and w as based at the naval air sta- pied with building his auto empire tion at Key W esl. In December to bother with art. But he suf- 1944 he quietly resigned his com- fered his wife'sjnclination to hang mission. A few months later he expensive paintings around the married his second (and present) walls of the mansion on their Long w ife, a wartime gym teacher at Island estate and made no objec- Virginia's College of William and

CONTINUED ART CONTINUED to $20,000 But Chrysler is con- scientious about money when it Mary, and settled down on his Vir- comes to his Provincetown mu- ginia estate. seum. He is often found seated While assuming the role of a beside the front desk tending to country squire, keeping his hand admission tickets and catalogue in as an angel of Broadway plays, sales. producing at least one movie (The On Cape Cod, Chrysler lives .foe Louis Story) and serving as a quite simply, driving a black Plym- director of the Madison Square ou th station wagon and staying in Garden CorporationChrysler nev- a rented bungalow in nearby North er lost his devotion to art. He built Truro. His mode of living frank- up a fine collection of 16th and ly puzzles his fellow townsmen 17th Centurypaintings as well as "Heacts like a millionaire,says worksby impressionists and more one old timer, "buthe sure doesn't modern masters. He would spend as live like one." much as five or six hours a day with a dealer, relying completely on his own eye and taste. "Hewas S till unanswered is the question most independent,says one New that gnawsthe innards of art lovers York dealer. "Itwas horribly diffi- everywhere: how could a collector cult to tell him anythingThough of Chrysler' international repu- he often exploited "thesoft spots Lation permit such a wholesalepol- in the market"-salonpaintings of lution of his collection? the 19th Century or huge canvases Only Chryslercan gi ve the full which most buyers shun-he was answer. Dealer Harry Yotnakparian not just looking for bargains. But declares, "Whatever he done, he if he wanteda picture, "hewould didn't do on purpose."But Ralph try to make it a good buy, like ev- Colinhas his owntheory. "Nocol erybody. He was a pretty good bar- lector of Walter Chrysler"longex- gainer.'' Going the rounds of stu-- perience could possibly be caught dios in ProvincetownChryslerof- unawares withso many fakes from ten bought paintings in quantity, such unreliable sources," Colin offering a cut-rate price for the lot. stales. "Any collector can make a In 1959, to help finance his newly few mistakes. But to make that founded museum in Provincetown many mistakes innocently in the he put 29 of his finest works of brief period he has been buying art on the block in London and from these dealers is unthinkable:' collected $613,256. Amid the hullabaloo Chrysler Curiously for a person of his blandly defends his art: "I'msatis- standing, Chryslerhas earned a rep- fied with all the pictures. I don't utation as a collector from whom make any claim for their being the it is extremely difficult to collect. greatest examples of each artist, From 1955 to 1961 he was a de- but we can't look at masterpieces fendant in at least 40 lawsuits all the time. I think that wouldbe ranging in amounts from $40.50 rather dull."

Ina huddle over the Chrysler case, directors of the Art Dealers Association of America are shown photographs of the fakes by association president, Alex- andre Rosenberg (seated, third from left), and Ralph F. Colin (next to Rosen- berg). The organization, formed to protect the art market from fakes and mis- representation, alertedU.S.Customs officials who may seize Chrysler paintings at the Canadian border on grounds that they are not what they purport to be. Churchly Headquarters for Chrysler's Art

A proud proprietor, Walter P. Chrysler Jr. stands in front of the century old Provincetown Methodist church which he bought for $40,000in 1958 and converted into the Chrysler Art Museum. Beside him is a fountain figure by Italian Sculptor Roberto Ranieri-a bizarre work but an authentic one.