INTENT TO DECEIVE: Fakes and Forgeries in the Art World

Dr. Christopher Jones, Assistant Curator of Exhibitions

This spring The Ringling will do something that every museum professional goes to great lengths to avoid: we will hang forged works of art in our galleries. Rest assured, we have not fallen victim to a nefarious hoax or criminal plot. Rather, we will be hosting Intent to Deceive: Fakes and Forgeries in the Art World. This exhibition, curated by noted art fraud expert Colette Loll Marvin and organized by International Arts and Artists, will present an informative look into the fraudulent underside of the art world through an investigation of the careers of five of the 20th century’s most successful art forgers.

The biographies of accomplished forgers Han van Meegeren, Elmyr de Hory, Eric Hebborn, John Myatt, and Mark Landis, are often as fascinating as the lives of the legitimate artists they sought to emulate. As a group they were eminently skilled; most had formal art training and all had pursued careers as artists in their own right. Yet each of these individuals made the pivotal decision to devote their talents to deception. Intent to Deceive explores the motivation behind these forgers and shows that although some worked primarily for financial gain, most were driven by the need to see their works accepted by the art world, either as an act of embittered revenge engendered by rejection, or to satisfy a frustrated artistic ambition.

What is particularly engaging about this exhibition is that visitors will also be able to learn about the techniques and tools that these master deceivers used to execute their forgeries and discover how they duped curators and art dealers. We will also learn about the forensic methods that museum professionals and art experts use to investigate and ultimately expose frauds. Intent to Deceive will display forgeries alongside authentic works by famous artists, including Pablo Picasso, Honoré Daumier, Henri Matisse, and Amedeo Modigliani, inviting visitors to test their connoisseurship and powers of perception to discriminate between the fake and the factual. Intent to Deceive also provokes some challenging questions about the connection between our idea of authenticity and our understanding of the work of art.

Elmyr de Hory, Odalisque, 1974, oil on canvas, in the style of Henri Matisse. Collection of Mark Forgy, photo by Robert Fogt.

Elmyr de Hory, Fauve Landscape, 1968, oil on canvas, in the style of Maurice de Viaminck.

Intent To Deceive: Fakes and Forgeries in the Art World, is organized by International Arts & Artists, Washington, DC.