FAKES!: Fooling the Art Experts for Fun and Profit

The word “FAKE,” when attached to a work of art suggests duplicity, or even worse, outright fraud. Many works of art, however, while not by the famous artists whose styles they evoke, do not deserve this ignominious designation. This lecture will separate those works created solely to deceive from legitimate copies, student works, and school pieces. There’s some great art to be found among these “hangers-on.” Who, for instance, would hustle the extraordinary painting of The Man with the Golden Helmet to the basement, just because Rembrandt’s name can no longer be found on its museum label?

With the acuity of hindsight, fakes now stand out like a red dress at a funeral, but something about each imposter made it initially appear legitimate. What is the story behind its creation? Were there victims? How was the deception finally uncovered? This lecture, featuring tales worthy of a Hollywood script, will attempt to provide some clarity to the sticky wicket known as art fakes.

Dr. Arbitman received both an MA and Ph.D. in art history from the University of Pittsburgh with a specialization in seventeenth-century Dutch art. After serving as the first curator-in-charge of The Frick Art Museum in 1985, she went on to become the director of the Palmer Museum of Art at Penn State University and the Executive Director of the Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens in Florida.