manufacturers of counterfeit works of art collectors and historians are deceiving since time immemorial ( about the history of forgeries can be read on the forum ARTinvestment.RU ). But there is hope that advances in computer technology will help put an end to this dishonest business, and also give collectors of world-renowned artists the confidence that their purchase is actually worth the pretty penny that they have spread. Eric Postma (Eric Postma), professor of artificial intelligence at the University of Tilburg (Netherlands) and an expert on computer analysis of works by Vincent van Gogh (Vincent van Gogh), said in an interview with New York Times, than a well-developed under his leadership, technology, and why museums and private collectors should give computer scientists access to its collection.

New York Times : According to estimates of experts of art-business, are forged from 10 to 50 per cent of the works appearing on the market. Which figure do you think is closer to the truth?

Eric Postma : Of course, in my opinion could not affect the fact that for many years, people came to me, confident that they have the originals Wang Gogh, and 99 per cent of these works proved false or incorrectly attributed.

I have a great suspicion that all those fake, which each year to "expose" and publish only the tip of the iceberg, with a very even rather big. In museums, there are two kinds of pictures: having a solid reputation and questionable. Among the first fakes are very few - maybe one percent. But with all the dubious works as much sadder: the number of fakes and mistakenly attributed the work usually ranges between 50 and 80 per cent. These figures do not change with age.

NYT: The first bastion, which is required to take the forgers, who wants to sell fake, most often is the auction house or gallery. What is being done in order to prevent the appearance of selling counterfeit works, and whether it can be considered sufficient?

EP : Independent art historians are doing everything in their power to guarantee the authenticity of a work. But when the price - a motivating factor, the subjective judgments could easily be questioned, attacked. I very much convinced that if the auction houses will welcome the use of new methods for determining the authenticity of works, they will be able to protect the interests of customers more effectively.

NYT: Your method is based on the recognition of counterfeit computer technology. How can I use them to identify counterfeit product or not?

EP : Recognize the style of an artist can be on the configuration of smears. With our software you can "isolate" these smears and discover a complicated structure that is unique for each artist. This is just one of many algorithms that we use. We also analyze the colorful pigments and weaving cloth.

analyzed [digital images of paintings] from the collections of such museums in the Netherlands as the Van Gogh Museum and the Museum of Helena Kreller-Muller, we were able to demonstrate how effective our method. For example, "Seascape, St.-Marie-de-la-Mer", thrown on the market by German art dealer [ and well-known seller of fakes . - Ed .] Otto Wacker (Otto Wacker), have long been considered a creation of Van Gogh. But our analysis found that the work is suspect: too many "wrong" smears.

About our method was described in the American television show Nova Science, where we easily were able to show which of the six works of Van Gogh is a fake.

NYT: Would it be possible to analyze other pictures in this way?

EP : Now we are engaged in research works of Rubens, Monet and Gauguin. If we have a large database of pictures, then we, of course, we will work with the works of old masters, and with more modern paintings.

Recently I was asked, could we distinguish a false picture of Jackson Pollock (Jackson Pollock), created by "throwing" on this. ëÏÎÅÞÎÏ ÖÅ, ÔÁÍ ÎÅÔ ÎÉËÁËÉÈ ÍÁÚËÏ×, ÎÏ òÉÞÁÒÄÕ ôÅÊÌÏÒÕ (Richard Taylor) ÉÚ õÎÉ×ÅÒÓÉÔÅÔÁ ïÒÅÇÏÎÁ ÕÄÁÌÏÓØ ÏÓÕÝÅÓÔ×ÉÔØ ÆÒÁËÔÁÌØÎÙÊ ÁÎÁÌÉÚ ËÁÒÔÉÎ ðÏÌÌÏËÁ Ó ÉÓÐÏÌØÚÏ×ÁÎÉÅÍ ËÏÍÐØÀÔÅÒÎÙÈ ÁÌÇÏÒÉÔÍÏ× É ÐÒÏÄÅÍÏÎÓÔÒÉÒÏ×ÁÔØ, ËÁË Ó ÐÏÍÏÝØÀ ÜÔÉÈ ÁÌÇÏÒÉÔÍÏ× ÍÏÖÎÏ ÒÁÓÐÏÚÎÁÔØ «ÐÏÄÄÅÌØÎÏÇÏ» ðÏÌÌÏËÁ.

With some artists to work harder than the rest. We started to analyze the painting in 2000, and the most difficult to determine the authenticity of Rembrandt's work: his paintings are dark, because what is difficult to "isolate" smears. Now the technology is much more developed, and digital images that we use, much better.

Eventually we would like to devise an algorithm that analyzes not only the strokes, but also the visual structure of the canvases. One historian says "visual rhythm" Van Gogh. If we could collect "visual rhythms" and others are specific to a particular artist features in one software package, it would greatly facilitate the life historians.

NYT: Despite all the advantages of computer analysis, this method has not yet gained wide acceptance in the art world. What obstacles do you face and how, in your opinion, can they be overcome?

EP : We support the museums in the Netherlands and the United States, but many art historians are still wary of our methods. It is clear why: the work of our algorithms is still far from complete. We can not solve all problems - but if historians and developers of computer technologies will work together, it would be a great team.

order for our work was the most effective, we also need to expand our database. I would like to work with the works of modernist artists such as Picasso, but many collectors do not want someone to analyze paintings for which they laid out huge sums. Until we can convince the collectors need to create a database with information about real and fake paintings, forgers will always be ahead of us.

article prepared by Julia Maksimova, AI

Source: nytimes.com