False provenances are needed to insert art forgeries into the historical record.
Where there is forgery there is false provenance.
Dealers who sell forgeries are great sources of false provenances. A special kind of writing is involved in the creation of false provenances. A talent for making things that are not true seem at least plausible.
Question: Do dealers of forgeries also sell looted art?
Some, like Knoedler, are known to have sold both at one time or another. Knoedler's prestige and power enables it to insert lies into the historical record without being challenged for a very long time.
What about the others? How to find out?
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One approach would be to list dealers known to have forgeries and to list dealers known to have sold looted art and compare. Do any names appear on both lists?
Forgers
Wikipedia offers a quick list of a few known forgers and dealers of forgeries:
Known art forgers and dealers of forged art (Wikipedia English)
- Giovanni Bastianini (1838–1868), Italian forger of renaissance sculptures
- Wolfgang Beltracchi (born 1951), German forger
- William Blundell (born 1947), forged Australian painters
- Yves Chaudron, France - forged Mona Lisa (1911)
- Zhang Daqian (1899–1993), forged Chinese art
- Alceo Dossena (1878–1937), Italian sculptor
- John Drewe (born 1948), sold the work of John Myatt
- Shaun Greenhalgh (born 1960), British forger
- Guy Hain (living), forged Rodin bronzes
- Eric Hebborn (1934–1996), British-born forger of old master drawings
- Elmyr de Hory (1906–1976), Hungarian-born painter of Picassos
- Geert Jan Jansen (born 1943), Dutch painter Karel Appel recognized one of Jansen's forgeries as his own work.
- Tom Keating (1917–1984), British art restorer and forger who claimed to have faked more than 2,000 paintings by over 100 different artists
- Mark A. Landis (born 1955), American forger who donated his works to many American museums
- Fernand Legros (1919–1983), purveyor of forged art
- Han van Meegeren (1889–1947), Dutchman who painted Vermeers
- John Myatt (born 1945), British painter, created forgeries for John Drewe
- Ken Perenyi (born 1947), American, forged works of American masters
- Ely Sakhai (born 1952), who twice sold Gauguin's Vase de Fleurs
- Jean-Pierre Schecroun (active 1950s), forged Picasso
- Émile Schuffenecker (1851–1934), French forger with Otto Wacker
- David Stein (1935–1999), U.S. art dealer and painter
- Tony Tetro (born 1950), prolific U.S. forger
- The Spanish Forger (early 20th Century), French forger of medieval miniatures
- William J. Toye (1931-2018), forged and sold the work of Clementine Hunter
- Eduardo de Valfierno (ca. 1850–ca. 1931), art dealer who worked with forger Yves Chaudron
- Otto Wacker (1898–1970), German purveyor of fake Van Goghs
- Kenneth Walton (living), prosecuted for selling forged paintings on eBay
- Earl Washington (born 1962), forger of prints that he attributed to a grandfather, allegedly named "E[arl] M[ack] Washington".
Faussaires et complices (French Wikipedia)
Wolfgang Beltracchi
- Zhang Daqian
- Alceo Dossena
- Joseph Duveen, marchand d'art britannique, faisant passer pour faux des œuvres authentiques
- Le Faussaire espagnol
- Alfredo Fioravanti, sculpteur italien
- Shaun Greenhalgh
- Guy Hain, faussaire français qui écoula de faux bronzes
- Eric Hebborn, dessinateur faussaire britannique
- Elmyr de Hory, faussaire d'origine hongroise
- Affaire Knoedler, une vingtaine de toiles contemporaines vendues comme vraies
- Mark A. Landis
- Fernand Legros, receleur de faux
- André Mailfert, faussaire en mobilier
- Lothar Malskat, peintre allemand auteur de fausses fresques
- Han van Meegeren, artiste néerlandais qui peignit de nombreux Vermeer
- John Myatt, faussaire britannique arrêté en 1995
- Guy Ribes, faussaire français (peinture début xxe siècle)
- Émile Schuffenecker, probable auteur de faux Van Gogh
- David Stein
- Icilio Federico Joni, faussaire de peintures siennoises
- En littérature et bibliophilie
- William Henry Ireland, auteur de faux Shakespeare à la fin du xviiie siècle
- Justin Bonaventure Pranaitis, prêtre et auteur lituanien du Talmud démasqué à la fin du xixe siècle
A Wikidata Query provides a list of people whose Occupation is "Art Forger" (run April 25, 2022)
(Try it! https://w.wiki/55xD )
DBpedia has a category: Art Forgers with links to individuals.
A lot of names are missing. But it's a start.
To market an art forgery to a client, someone has to invent a story about the creation and ownership history of the artwork. This can be the artist-forger. But often another person is involved. This other person is often an art dealer or an art historian.
Dealers of looted art (or art sold under duress)
Wikipedia does not offer us a simple list. It needs to be created.
To be continued...
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