I love a good heist movie. Here’s a news article that would make a great movie: one where the librarian steals the paintings by replacing them with fakes, and then those paintings get stolen, replaced by worse fakes. Get the popcorn!
Chinese Librarian Switched Out $17M in Paintings…With Fakes He Painted Himself
But the thief claims this practice is rampant in China
The chief librarian of the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts in China admitted in court yesterday that he had lifted 143 works by famous Chinese painters and replaced them with fakes he painted himself.
Xiao Yuan replaced landscapes and calligraphies from the 17th to 20th centuries with his own, but said that this practice is so rampant in China that he later saw his fakes replaced with other, more poorly executed fakes. He said his first day on the job at the library, he noticed that fakes were already on display, passing for originals.
Mr. Xiao sold 125 of the paintings at auction for more $6 million. The prosecution claimed the remaining 18 paintings are worth $11 million.
Among the paintings Mr. Xiao looted were watercolors by Qi Baishi and “Rock and Birds” by Zhu Da, a Chinese painter born in 1625.
The defendant, who worked at the library from 2004 to 2006, said he regrets his actions and plead guilty to a corruption charge.
Another collection of favorites from the personal inspiration files of Carlos San Millan. At first glance, this looks like a figurative study with the figure divided into abstracted patches of flat color. For some of the areas, paint has been scraped away, so that the color underneath can be seen through the top layer. San …
After the election I experienced a reality shift. It was something I found neither productive nor pleasant, but it happened. I’m not sure if it affected my pictures, or if it would have affected them if I was painting them, but I wasn’t. What it did effect was how I viewed the the school. While a …
Day 27 of our 30 day January Creative Challenge was inadvertently a cruel one. Komorebi is a Japanese word for sunlight filtering through the trees. In Seattle, January 27th supplied artists with neither leaves nor sun. Somehow, these innovative artists found their ways.
“I was incredibly sad about Notre-Dame because it’s such a beautiful building,” Mr Géant said in an interview with CNN. “But to hear there is life when it comes to the bees, that’s just wonderful.” “Thank goodness the flames didn’t touch them,” he added. “It’s a miracle!”
Fakes Stolen, Replaced with Fakes Stolen, Replaced
I love a good heist movie. Here’s a news article that would make a great movie: one where the librarian steals the paintings by replacing them with fakes, and then those paintings get stolen, replaced by worse fakes. Get the popcorn!
Chinese Librarian Switched Out $17M in Paintings…With Fakes He Painted Himself
But the thief claims this practice is rampant in China
A Qi Baishi watercolor.
The chief librarian of the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts in China admitted in court yesterday that he had lifted 143 works by famous Chinese painters and replaced them with fakes he painted himself.
Xiao Yuan replaced landscapes and calligraphies from the 17th to 20th centuries with his own, but said that this practice is so rampant in China that he later saw his fakes replaced with other, more poorly executed fakes. He said his first day on the job at the library, he noticed that fakes were already on display, passing for originals.
Mr. Xiao sold 125 of the paintings at auction for more $6 million. The prosecution claimed the remaining 18 paintings are worth $11 million.
Among the paintings Mr. Xiao looted were watercolors by Qi Baishi and “Rock and Birds” by Zhu Da, a Chinese painter born in 1625.
The defendant, who worked at the library from 2004 to 2006, said he regrets his actions and plead guilty to a corruption charge.
Related Posts
Sterling Shaw
Another collection of favorites from the personal inspiration files of Carlos San Millan. At first glance, this looks like a figurative study with the figure divided into abstracted patches of flat color. For some of the areas, paint has been scraped away, so that the color underneath can be seen through the top layer. San …
Art in Times that Suck
After the election I experienced a reality shift. It was something I found neither productive nor pleasant, but it happened. I’m not sure if it affected my pictures, or if it would have affected them if I was painting them, but I wasn’t. What it did effect was how I viewed the the school. While a …
30SAL Faves: Komorebi
Day 27 of our 30 day January Creative Challenge was inadvertently a cruel one. Komorebi is a Japanese word for sunlight filtering through the trees. In Seattle, January 27th supplied artists with neither leaves nor sun. Somehow, these innovative artists found their ways.
Notre Dame bees survive blaze
“I was incredibly sad about Notre-Dame because it’s such a beautiful building,” Mr Géant said in an interview with CNN. “But to hear there is life when it comes to the bees, that’s just wonderful.” “Thank goodness the flames didn’t touch them,” he added. “It’s a miracle!”