[vc_row type=”in_container” full_screen_row_position=”middle” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” overlay_strength=”0.3″][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_shadow=”none” width=”1/1″ tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default” column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid”][vc_column_text]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![/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]
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.
[vc_row type=”in_container” full_screen_row_position=”middle” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” overlay_strength=”0.3″][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_shadow=”none” width=”1/1″ tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default” column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid”][vc_column_text]The Big League Show’s Call for Art (deadline April 28) said artwork must be framed. My apologies. Framing is nifty, but your artwork does not need to be framed. Correction to the League Call for Art: Artwork must be …
[vc_row type=”in_container” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” overlay_strength=”0.3″][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ width=”1/1″][vc_column_text]A strong relationship between the arts and politics, particularly between various kinds of art and power, occurs across historical epochs and cultures. As they respond to contemporaneous events and politics, the arts take on political as well as social dimensions, becoming themselves a focus of …
[vc_row type=”in_container” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” overlay_strength=”0.3″][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ width=”1/1″][vc_column_text]Aurore de la Morinerie began as a fashion designer in Paris. She then spent two years studying chinese calligraphy, and traveled in Japan, India, China, and Egypt. She says that through calligraphy she learned concentration, strength and rapidity of execution. She now illustrates for clients like …
In 1970-1, Frank Auerbach did a study on Titian’s ‘Bacchus and Ariadne’. Auerbach abstracted the forms but distilled the essential pieces of the composition – a great exercise for any artist. We did some modern interpretations of classical compositions in my classes last quarter. I’ll post some pictures soon. For today, here’s Auerbach’s study of …
Fakes Stolen, Replaced with Fakes Stolen, Replaced
[vc_row type=”in_container” full_screen_row_position=”middle” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” overlay_strength=”0.3″][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_shadow=”none” width=”1/1″ tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default” column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid”][vc_column_text]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![/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]
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.
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In 1970-1, Frank Auerbach did a study on Titian’s ‘Bacchus and Ariadne’. Auerbach abstracted the forms but distilled the essential pieces of the composition – a great exercise for any artist. We did some modern interpretations of classical compositions in my classes last quarter. I’ll post some pictures soon. For today, here’s Auerbach’s study of …