Copyists and fraudsters
So I wrote about Master studies and left a bunch of fun stuff out. Also, no spoilers, but I read a relevant book and it reminded me to do this. And I put my various posts about art together.
There's copying as in child development. Fundamentally, copying is how we learn. Which Austin Kleon wrote about. Austin Kleon of course is big on the "Good artists copy, great artists steal."
Copying paintings also had a commercial function. Copies could be commissioned or sold but distinct from forgery. Some of the earliest copyright laws protected engravings. There's a whole system for this: copies have to be smaller and the gallery will stamp the canvas etc. For example, the copyist code of practice from the National Gallery.
I feel like I've seen lots of documentaries about art fraud but I can only remember Made You Look: A True Story About Fake Art by Barry Evrich which is mostly about the Knoedler gallery. Not quite relatedly there's great stuff about wine fraud.
Why is art fraud kind of sexy? That's definitely not just me. That story always ought to be the fraudster and the establishment in a game of cat and mouse. But I would write it the legit copyist and the art historian or curator-type teaming up to chase down the actual fraudster. No twist, it's not the legit copyist or the curator. Zero conflict. And then they fall in love.
More links! I genuinely tried to weed these out more but I couldn't. There's good stuff.
- Art forgery at Wikipedia
- How Skilled Copyists Leave the Louvre with a Masterpiece Every Year
- Master Class Like generations of painters before them, artists from around the globe go to Paris to copy the masterpieces at the Louvre
- The Louvre Invited 100 Contemporary Artists to Copy—and Reinterpret—Its Masterpieces. Here’s What They Made
- Artists inspiring artists Who were the art copyists at the National Gallery?
- The Copyist's Copy on The Met's copyist program
- Maya Valladares helps artists copy famous works at The Metropolitan Museum of Art
- The Art of the Copyist video from The Met
- What’s With the People With Easels in Art Museums? Inside the longest-running program at the MET
- How Artists Are Copying Masterpieces at World-Renowned Museums
- I Make Thousands Copying Famous Works of Art
- David Henty art forger
- Susie Ray 'pioneer of the copyist art movement'