The exploration of art forgery reveals a dramatic rise in counterfeit paintings alongside soaring art prices. This book delves into innovative scientific techniques for detecting forgeries, providing insights for both laypeople and experts. It examines notorious cases and the psychology behind both viewers' perceptions and forgers' motivations. Additionally, it highlights contemporary challenges in the art world, advocating for a blend of skilled connoisseurship and scientific rigor to ensure accurate authenticity assessments.
Exploring the intersection of art and science, the narrative delves into notable case studies featuring renowned artists like Botticelli, Pollock, and Chagall. It highlights the dynamic nature of the art world influenced by rapid trends and the challenges of forgery and authenticity. Readers are engaged in a compelling examination of efforts to protect an art market facing significant threats, revealing the complexities of an industry grappling with both creativity and deception.
In The Scientist and the Forger: Probing a Turbulent Art World the author draws upon an enthralling range of case studies, from Botticelli to Leonardo, Campendonk to Pollock and Chagall to Freud, equipping the reader with a holistic understanding of an art world shaped by fast-moving trends, and increasingly permeated by science. We are taken on a gripping journey, becoming witness to the attempts currently being made to safeguard a partly complicit art market virtually under siege.How can we determine whether it was Leonardo's hand that created Salvator Mundi? How can we prove that a suspected Pollock is a forgery? And how can Man in a Black Cravat be seemingly incontrovertibly attributed to Lucian Freud, despite this artist's adamant refusal to recognize it as one of his own? This book reveals how art historians and scientists collaborate conclusively to authenticate paintings or demonstrate that they are forgeries, and as the enigma of La Bella Principessa continues to baffle, the question remains: do we have enough reason to hope that we shall one day know her true story? Building on the first edition, a more in depth look is taken at some of the greatest scandals to date -- with an interpretation of the psychological behavior of Ann Freedman the former president and director of the Knoedler Gallery.
