Quote:

Mana's happy meal - buy a burger get a print?



I was never a Dali fan but I remember when I was growing up hearing about tons of fake Dali prints on the market. Can you imagine two British lawyers "investing" in art while on a cruise ship?

Here is an excerpt from the web:

Why are there so many fake Dal?s?

?The Perfect Storm? of the Salvador Dal? print market in the 1980?s resulted in the publication and sale of many thousands of fake Dal? prints.

In 1980, Salvador Dal? and his wife Gala got sick and returned to their home in Cadaques, Spain. From that time until his death in 1989, the artist was an almost total recluse. His health was in constant decline, he was said to have Parkinson?s disease, and two cataclysmic events caused his further decline. In 1982, Gala--his muse and constant companion on whom he depended heavily?died. In 1984, he was badly burned by a fire at the Chateau of Pubol (Gala?s former home). The few visitors allowed to see Dal? during the years from 1980 to 1989 reported that he was in wretched condition with a severe palsy that made it impossible for him to create art or sign his name.

In 1983, Dal? emerged from seclusion just long enough to attend an exhibition of his work and the public was shocked by his appearance and condition. All of these reports worked to the advantage of the forgers and the crooked publishers and dealers. They produced many thousands of unauthorized reprints, reproductions, copies and just plain fake prints on paper that bore forged Dal? signatures. Their explanation was that the prints were genuine and had been printed on paper the Master signed prior to his illness and decline.

With the promise that Dal? would soon die and the value of all of his artworks would increase dramatically, the prints were sold in the great print boom of the 1980?s as good investments. First time buyers and unsophisticated collectors bought in the expectation that at some future time they could resell for handsome profits. After all, they believed they were buying limited edition original prints created and signed by one of the greatest artists of the Twentieth Century.

Salvador Dal? himself was unable to do anything about what developed into the greatest art fraud of all time and it is entirely possible that if he had known about the thousands of fakes attributed to him and sold in his name, he would have been flattered.

http://www.bernardewell.com/salvador_ ... so_many_fake_dal%EDs.html

Quote:

New Documentary Exposes Half Million Dollar Art Fraud

January 6th, 2009 12:03am by: fineartregistry

(OPENPRESS) January 6, 2009 -- The documentary entitled Divine Comedy? Divine Tragedy? Or Divine Farce? The Great Park West Dali Half Million Dollar Swindle, a 30 minute version and a 10 minute short summary of which can be viewed on the www.FineArtRegistry.com website is a running record of an investigation organized and filmed by Fine Art Registry and financed by Sharon Day and Julian Howard (Fine Art Registry members and customers of Park West Gallery who bought the Divine Comedy set).

The experts who came together in the warehouse environment of Mana Fine Arts storage facility in Jersey City, New Jersey were Nicolas Descharnes, Paris based expert in Dal? originals who is, after his father Robert, the most respected expert on Dali originals in the world today; Frank Hunter, Director of the Salvador Dali Archives, Ltd. of New York, world recognized expert on Salvador Dal??s graphic works who assisted Albert Field in the compilation of the definitive Official Catalog of the Graphic Works of Salvador Dal?; and Joseph Barabe, an expert in microscopy and scientific examination specializing in art with McCrone Group of Westmont, IL. Sharon Day, owner of the prints, Shaul Shemesh, Operations Manager of Mana Fine Arts in Jersey City, NJ., Teri Franks, CEO of Fine Art Registry, and a video team were also present.

The crate containing the prints, previously unopened except for a brief verification of contents by Shaul Shemesh on its arrival at Mana Fine Arts from Park West Gallery in Southfield, Michigan, was opened and the contents examined by the experts.

The microscope revealed that the prints were woodcuts on Rives paper, as described, and conformed with all requirements of the popular and common sets of Dal? prints published by Les Heures Claires, Paris.

However, Nicolas Descharnes and Frank Hunter were adamant and unanimous in their opinion that the penciled signatures attributed to Dal? were definite forgeries, not by the hand of the Spanish master.

They found additional anomalies in the set: it contains a mixture of prints with block signatures and prints without (the sets of Dal??s illustrations of Dante?s Divine Comedy were issued in book form without any signature in the block) showing that the set had been compiled from different sources and was not, as the documentation claimed, ?as issued?; two tirage sheets, listing the details of the edition, were missing from the set.

In their opinions, these combined factors but above all the forged signatures, rendered the print set of no value at all. Frank Hunter?s opinion was that, without the fake signatures it might be worth $10,000. If the signatures were genuine, estimates of its value ranged between $30,000 and $80,000. A far cry from the $483,828 which Sharon Day and Julian Howard paid to Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. on behalf of Park West for them, under Park West?s representations that the prints and signatures were valid and that the set, at the price they were asking, was an excellent investment opportunity.

Since Sharon Day and Julian Howard?s offer to return the prints for full refund was refused by Park West, they have filed suit in Michigan against Park West Gallery, its owner Albert Scaglione, gallery director Morris Shapiro, and Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., (who declined to offer any help in righting the matter with Park West, even though they were directly involved in the sale and were the named beneficiaries of close to half a million dollars wired by Julian Howard to pay for the art).

?Even if we do not get our full refund, we hope that this documentary will help to prevent others from falling for the same tricks and will help bring some order to the world of Salvador Dal??s amazing graphic works,? said Sharon Day.

In addition to the documentary, Fine Art Registry is publishing a full length article covering the investigation. There are still a number of questions to be answered and Fine Art Registry is following up with the Director of Les Heures Claires, Daniel David, to try to get to the bottom of the facts surrounding this set of prints.

?This documentary is a step forward in our ongoing efforts to expose fraud and misrepresentation in the art world, wherever we find it,? said Fine Art Registry CEO, Teri Franks. ?We hope that it will help save others from being duped and will play a part in restoring honesty and fair play in the unregulated art market.?

http://www.fineartregistry.com

PO Box 3431 West Thunderbird, #200
Phoenix, AZ 85053