Employees of the State Tretyakov Gallery, alarmed by the growing number of counterfeit works of art, as well as the appearance of books which are giving these fakes for the originals, turned for help to the Russian government

Employees of the State Tretyakov Gallery, alarmed by the growing number of counterfeit works of art, as well as the appearance of books which are giving these fakes for the originals, turned for help to the Russian government.

April 26, the Russian information agency "RIA Novosti" held in Moscow, an unusual press conference. It was not devoted to actual news of the day today, and the publication of two books in the West about the work of artist Natalia S. Natalia Goncharova , who died almost 50 years ago.

Books written, respectively, an English art historian Anthony Parton and a specialist in cataloging Frenchwoman Denise Bazetu, caused outrage among experts on the Russian avant-garde, particularly in Russia, and mainly in the Tretyakov Gallery staff, curators and academics which consider it their duty to uphold the legacy of Goncharova. Experts months complained about the number of fake paintings have appeared in books and Bazetu Parton, that was the occasion for a press conference organized for the public coverage of this issue.

financier and collector Peter Aven told the crowd that "criminal gang" based in Switzerland and France, flooding the market with forged pictures, and encouraged to initiate criminal proceedings against the fraudsters.

Acting Chief Rosokhrankultura Viktor Petrakov said resource ARTnews: «After the press conference we decided to ask the French authorities as well as a directory-Raisonné Bazetu goes beyond all boundaries. She not only included in his numerous questionable paintings, attributing them Goncharova, but takzheopublikovala without permission from the collections of Russian museums ».

Petrakov said that his department has prepared a letter signed by the Minister of Culture Alexander Avdeev French Minister of Interior for the French authorities to take appropriate action on the case. Petrakov did not disclose details, but another source told ARTnews, that in a letter to the French side are asked to investigate the case, which the Russian side considers a criminal conspiracy, orchestrated with a view to selling fake paintings.

Among the speakers at the press conference were Director of the Tretyakov Gallery Irina Lebedeva and senior researcher at the Department of Painting of the first half of the twentieth century, Irina Vakar, art critic and publisher Andrew Sarabyanov, and James Butterwick, a London art dealer, specializing in Russian art. All the experts agree on one thing: on the market today are much more counterfeit works of Russian avant-garde than the original (ARTnews refers to an article published in the summer of 2009 under the title "Forgery of works of Russian avant-garde» /«The Faking of the Russian Avant-Garde») . When the price of the product Goncharova risen, the number of imitations of her work also has soared. Goncharova was the most expensive painter in the world when her painting "Spanish flu" (circa 1916) was sold for a record $ 10 million on the London auction at Christie's in February 2010. At the same time, the allegations of experts, Goncharova and Alexandra Alexandra Exter today among the leading artists in the number of forged works attributed to them; .

Hosts Tretyakov Gallery counted the number of forgeries in the book Parton "Goncharov: art and design Natalia Goncharova» («Goncharova: The Art and Design of Natalia Goncharova»), published last year published by Antique Collectors' Club, and they estimated it was somewhere around 150 works from six published. But experts led to the action of the Tretyakov Gallery Denise Bazetu book "Natalia Goncharova: art between tradition and modernity» («Natalia Gontcharova: son oeuvre entre tradition et modernité»), published in Brussels Arteprint March this year. They claim that 60-70 percent of the approximately 1500 papers published in her book - a fake.

Bazetu living in the suburbs of Paris, in an e-mail portal ARTnews noted that it already responded to the claims of the experts of the Tretyakov Gallery to its catalog through the International Chamber of Russian Modernism (International Chamber of Russian Modernism (InCoRM)), an organization located in Paris, whose members are she and Professor Parton, "as well as a lawyer, who responded to the attacks letter directed specifically to the Tretyakov Gallery. " "To this I have nothing more to add," - said in the letter.

Online InCoRM (incorm.org /forum) published an article "A malicious attack on the critics' claim that in Russia there is no "highly qualified art historians and experts, conducting research on creativity ... Natalia Goncharova, Anthony and Denise Bazetu Parton, who devoted more than a dozen years studying the works of Russian artists, are now the most skilled and respected in scientific circles, authors and experts on the works of Natalia Goncharova."

But Russian critics say that in Moscow there are scientists whose opinions deserve much more credible than the opinions of Parton and Bazetu. In 1993, Parton has written a major monograph on the work of , wife Natalia Goncharova, but in recent years, as some experts say, he was engaged in that gave numerous certificates of dubious pseudo-Goncharova. Experts also say that Denise Bazetu was not until recently known as an expert on the works of Natalia Goncharova. Her previous publications - catalogs Maximilien Luce French artists, Henri and Georges Lebaska Valmera.

President InCoRM Reiling, Patricia, an American art historian who lives near London, defended Parton and Bazetu, calling them "respectable" scientists. In response to a question about the professionalism Bazetu Reiling called it "an expert on cataloging-Raisonné».

Parton, a professor at Durham University, sent a statement ARTnewsobemnoe in defense of his book. In it he writes: "I took the decision to include works in the book very carefully, based on their style, I conducted a scientific analysis and provenance in the cases where it was available».

However, the director of the State Tretyakov Gallery, Irina Lebedeva said ARTnewssleduyuschee : «Publication of papers and Bazetu Parton was a real shock for our museum. It was a very unfortunate event for us - the artist and the first series inestimable significance for the Russian avant-garde deserves better to be treated ».

appearance of books has become particularly unpleasant surprise, said Lebedev, as the museum for some preparing a comprehensive exhibition Goncharova, this exhibition should finally build the artist in their proper place in the history of Russian art. Output of books and Parton Bazetu "created an unpleasant atmosphere of scandal that will not benefit the artist's reputation," - added Lebedev.

Director of the Tretyakov Gallery, both also described the book as "an incredibly raw from a scientific point of view. " TG has published all the works by Goncharova, in the collection galleries, Lebedev stressed, and stressed: "I remember how difficult this job was stressful, as we have had discussions about each of the canvas." According to Lebedeva, "unfortunately, there is no such a serious approach" to the above two books. In the State Tretyakov Gallery is located 411 paintings by Goncharova and several thousand works on paper.

Tretyakov Gallery published a letter to the publisher Antique Collectors' Club, who published a book Parton. The letter signed by Lebedeva, sums up all the flaws in both books, which have already drawn the attention of the curators of THG and other scientists. Most of the illustrations in them - no one until recently known works from an unnamed private collections, "without provenance, exhibition history, without a detailed catalog descriptions." The vast majority of the reproductions have never been published before. "Moreover, we were very surprised that Professor Parton, introducing these new pictures of the scientific community does not explain their origin. Attribution of these works Goncharova not supported by any documents and is not based on the facts ».

And Bazetu, and Parton refer to the fact that they are on guard the anonymity of collectors who do not like public announcement of their names. In a statement ARTnews Parton says that "many collectors do not want their names made public." "I had to respect that desire," - he adds. Moreover, Parton says: "I did not bring in his work provenance of works, as my book - a critical monograph, and not directory-Raisonné." According to Parton, provenance and exhibition history of the work "are not related to writing a critical book».

TG Curators say that almost all the fakes were motivated by a similar way: the script is redrawn many times as counterfeit copies, versions, sketches in various media. But experts say that Goncharov never made copies of their works.

Petrakov said about talking to Bazetu ARTnews: «Her tactics are very simple. For example, in one of the pages it publishes "cleaners" of the Russian Museum, surrounded by their many variants, of which the experts had never even heard of. Pardon the pun, but Bazetu turned its catalog in this laundry ».

« Goncharov never created watercolor versions of works painted in oil ", - said Petr Aven, the owner of one of the best in the world collections of Russian art in the late XIX - early XX century. However, the crooks, he said, "are reproductions of previously published material, including those that are currently in my collection, and doing watercolors psevdoversii».

Experts add that Both books are no standard catalog descriptions, such descriptions speed paintings, which works against Goncharova can be a source of important information. In the catalog of about three hundred Bazetu such "dark" works, say the curators of the Tretyakov Gallery, and they date back to the first decade of the XX century and signed by the Latin alphabet, which the artist is rarely enjoyed before his departure to the West in 1915.

Fake work is often accompanied by fake history, experts say. Sellers' invent mythical counterfeits provenance "- told Aven at a news conference. "Usually, in such mysterious provenance featured some generals of the NKVD. Once I checked out several similar provenance, and found that these generals had never existed. Their names were invented. Everything from beginning to end, it was a fake ».

In advance of the upcoming exhibition at the Tretyakov Gallery Natalia Goncharova spent a lot of scientific work, but Parton, according to the curators did not address the meeting TG while working on his book, so that all new information passed him.

As for Bazetu, the curators argue that it never appealed to the Tretyakov Gallery and the "not familiar with either the originals of paintings, located in the meeting, nor the archive Goncharova. " In his acquittal statement issued InCoRM, Bazetu writes that she tried to get in touch with someone from the staff THG, but she was unable to do so. According to her, she drew information from a vast archive of Goncharova, Kandinsky owned by the Company in Paris.

«Book of Professor Parton and Denise Bazetu from a scientific point of view, useless and false, they can not be regarded as a serious research and create a completely false picture of the work of one of the largest representatives of the Russian avant-garde "- make a conclusion in his letter to the curators of the Tretyakov Gallery.

Goncharova and Larionov settled in Paris in 1915, and here his wife began to work closely with Sergei Diaghilev. They are made with Igor Stravinsky works are particularly important for the history of European ballet. In 1923, Natalia Goncharova became famous creating sets and costumes for the cantata "Les Noces," Stravinsky's music and choreography of Bronislava Nijinsky. Goncharov died in 1962, Larionov and two years later - in 1964, leaving its archive and an archive of his second wife, Natalia Goncharova, Alexandra Tomilina. After her death in 1985 by order of the Russian government archives were evacuated from France and handed over to the Tretyakov Gallery (ARTnews article refers to "the country illegally moving Larionov, Goncharova Archive", published in March 1997 /«The Strange, Illegal Journey of the Larionov- Goncharova Archive »). Tretyakov Gallery curators believe that their moral duty - to protect the heritage Goncharova. Moreover, in another letter sent to employees of the State Tretyakov Gallery in the Ministry of Culture, the text of which was made available ARTnews, they claim that their "moral duty" - to ask the ministry to intervene in this matter "on the national level».

Not everyone welcomed relate to the position of the Tretyakov Gallery, which began a crusade against counterfeiters Russian avant-garde works. According to a source, who asked to remain anonymous, until 2006, when it ceased to be a common practice, TG gave out certificates of authenticity "on a commercial basis." The same source says: "Well, the problem of forgery, receiving certificates in the West, finally openly discussed. But this whole story reminds me of an old Russian proverb: "A thief a thief stole his hat "».

Hosts Tretyakov Gallery and other experts say that many previously unknown works that have appeared in recent years market and attributed Goncharova have certificates of authenticity signed by Parton, Bazetu, as well as the French art dealer Jean Shovlena. Shovlen to which ARTnews asked for comment, has ignored this appeal.

As the curators of the State Tretyakov Gallery, in a letter to the Ministry of Culture, a huge number of new fraud refers to the "large-scale, criminal in its essence machination having a clear business purpose. " The real threat is that they write that "like clogging of the creative heritage of the artist, what is happening, when belonging to her work mixed with lots of coarse, clumsy, inept forgery, causing damage to the reputation of the great master».

" Publications such as books and Bazetu Parton, "concluded the curators of the State Tretyakov Gallery, aim to" prevent the promotion of Russian art in the West and the convergence of our cultures ».

Pyotr Aven told ARTnews that "time is of scientific debate was over - it's time for trial." According to him, many of the fraudulent work of Goncharova were purchased by Russian collectors.

«In the near future - said Aven - these" masterpieces "will be subjected to rigorous scientific analysis, and its results action is taken. " Ebenezer did not say what specific measures we have in mind.

Sylvia Hohfild and Konstantin Akinsha, ARTnews
Translation Estrovoy Mary, AI

Source : artnews.com