Lincoln in Dalivision
Once again we turn to Reynolds Morse's ca. 1989-1990 Memorandum For Prosecutors, Judges and Juries Involved in Dali Art Fraud Cases and find him discussing the Dali print that would end up being faked more than any other image (even Persistence of Memory). Yes, that would be the image released in 1976 in edition of 1,240 mixed media prints as Lincoln in Dalivision. The publisher was Levine & Levine in New York and one of the major distributors was Martin Lawrence Limited Editions in Van Nuys, California. Just a few year later Martin Lawrence would claim to have no records of the publication and sales.
The original image was Salvador Dali's original oil painting Gala Looking At The Mediterranean Sea Which at a Distance of Twenty Meters is Transformed Into The Portrait of Abraham Lincoln (Homage to Rothko). The prints were originally described as original lithographs. Morse wrote in his memorandum, "When I pointed out to Dali it was not a lithograph but a reproduction of his painting, he produced a small "original" etching (or drawing) of a small head which was printed in red at the lower right of this limited edition so that the word "original" could be left in the literature."
I heard Ren tell this story many times, but he was never able to confirm that Dali created the small Picassoesque head with extended tongue as an etching--something I very much doubt. If Dali had created the image on a plate, it would have been a drypoint. When examining the prints with the remarque printed on them, I have never been convinced that it was printed from an original plate. It appears rather to be an embossed reproduction of the original image. None the less, it was accepted by all and indeed the prices paid did rise.
Many fake versions of the image quickly appeared; most with forged signatures. How many bogus editions are in circulation? Who knows. I have tracked at least eight and, at one time, had samples of six of them together in a single location--Upstairs Gallery's warehouse in Huntington Beach, California. I had been hired by the gallery's parent company--Forest Lawn Corporation--to examine prints of many Dali images that were returned by collectors after the Los Angeles District Attorney busted four Upstairs locations. Some examples from the fake editions were sold by various galleries for up to $25,000, as original prints by Salvador Dali, of course.
The Lincoln in Dalivision image was also used for bogus stamped brass bas reliefs, 4,500 solid metal castings with precious metal patinas (silver, gold and platinum) and a "tapestry". This last was actually a printed serigraph on fabric and the design was not woven as it must be for a tapestry. Dali had nothing to do with these efforts to capitalize on the popularity of his imagery.
I continue to see examples from every edition with regularity. Yes, I also see "good" prints from the Levine & Levine edition. I'm always happy to check them out for collectors and dealers and give them all of the information known.
The edition was released at an initial price of $750 and sold out very quickly. In fact, the whirlwind sales caused the vendors to start announcing that the value would quickly climb to as high as $30,000. My files are full of the high hype mailings. Some of the fakes were sold for $25,000 and it is clear from current EBay listings that there are still owners who have note learned anything beyond the sales pitch they heard in the late 1970s and 1980s.
Showing posts with label Dali print authenticity. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dali print authenticity. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Friday, September 17, 2010
VALUING SALVADOR DALI PRINTS
VALUING SALVADOR DALI PRINTS: Part One
This is the topic that brought me into the world of Salvador Dali in 1980 and has assured that all other professional appraisers have avoided it as much as possible ever since. It is a service that I perform almost daily, not only for print owners internationally, but for a great many of my appraiser colleagues who encounter prints attributed to Dali in the course of doing appraisals of collections. Since they have only one fully informed and dependable source of information, they call me and I introduce them to my service which has supplied credible information to appraisers for many years. The same service is available to anyone who needs it, and they don't have to send me the print. Just go to www.bernardewell.com
HOW DO I DO IT?
It is possible for me to give opinions of authenticity and value for Dali prints because I have been collecting information for thirty years and because I have so many contacts in the market. Perhaps even more important is that I know who knows what they are talking about and who doesn't and I know who those driven by self-interest are. Of course, it doesn't hurt that I have seen more Dali prints and originals than anyone else.
My opinions of authenticity are based on the information in my files accumulated during the examination and appraisal of over 55,000 prints attributed to the Spanish master. Mediums, edition numbers, sizes, appearance of signatures, blind chops, identity of paper and other clues help me place a subject print into the framework of all editions about which I have such details.
When I was serving as the court expert for a long list of Federal and state regulatory and law enforcement agencies I frequently had access to the files of dealers and distributors selling fakes and publishers both legitimate and illegitimate. This body of documentation is unsurpassed. It is also incomplete. As anyone who knows much about Dali prints will tell you, we learn more all the time and know that we shall never know everything we need to or wish to know.
While I would always prefer to personally examine a questioned print, my files let me make legitimate decisions about authenticity without doing so and I have never had one challenged, except in court where I have always prevailed.
My value research is based on a variety of sources and since the results are so varied, I have to extrapolate an on-going sense of what people are willing to pay for Dali prints. There is no single and reliable source of information that one can check for a quick value. While we have tracked both the prices and the values (don't confuse the two terms--more later) of Dali prints for thirty years, it is very difficult to make generalizations about pricing or value trends.
WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO VALUES?
Prices paid, collector interest, saleability, availability and the attitudes of people in the market often change in reaction to specific events, court cases, investigations, market gossip and even lies which are posted in profusion on the Internet. Thus, if it was possible to place Dali print values over the years on a graph, it would be very confusing. I will say that after the bottom fell out of the Dali print market in the late 1980s through the mid-1990s following the Federal prosecutions, there has been a steady, though not dramatic, rise in prices asked and paid for Dali prints. This has meant a slow increase in appraiser opinions of Replacement Value (for insurance) and Fair Market Value (for resale or donation).
There have also been a great many flawed appraisals written because the appraiser used bogus information sources. We'll talk more about these later in this series.
Every appraisal must take into account the relevant market. That is the market in which a property most often changes hands. There are many markets. For instance, if the works of a particular artist are available only from his studio, that is where their value is established--by sales. If he has a gallery presence and that's where his works are sold, that's the relevant market. These are both examples of the primary market, that in which the art changes hands for the first time. Resales at auction, through galleries or privately, constitute the secondary Market.
Sometimes, availability and the resulting relevant market are restricted. This is important to know because art sold in a restricted market must be valued in that market using sales information from that market. For instance, Park West Galleries contracted with the Albaretto Collection of Turin, Italy to purchase the Salvador Dali prints still held by the collecting and publishing family of Giuseppe Albaretto. Those prints were then sold exclusively by Park West and, because they had direct and unsurpassed provenance and guarantee of genuineness, the prices paid at Park West auctions on land and sea were considered by some to be high. They weren't because the only other sales to which they could rightfully be compared are other sales of similar art with similar provenance sold by Park West. Never mind that an identical image without the provenance, probably without a signature and without the guaranteed authenticity of the Park West material was floating around in the general market. It's price and value would be set by the general market. The Park West prints had to be valued within the restricted market in which they were offered where thousands of collectors bought them.
Every day I speak with Dali print owners who bought their treasure in the print boom of the 1980s and were told at that time that it would appreciate in value every year--especially after the artist's expected death. That event occurred in 1989. My clients have believed all of these years that their print was becoming more and more valuable.
If their print is genuine--either fully original or authorized and signed--then I must explain why the values have not increased as much as they were told they would. If their print is bogus, then I must explain how I know that and tell them that, in spite of what they paid for it, it has never had any legitimate market value. I always share all of the information that goes into my opinions of authenticity.
WHERE TO FROM HERE?
This is the topic that brought me into the world of Salvador Dali in 1980 and has assured that all other professional appraisers have avoided it as much as possible ever since. It is a service that I perform almost daily, not only for print owners internationally, but for a great many of my appraiser colleagues who encounter prints attributed to Dali in the course of doing appraisals of collections. Since they have only one fully informed and dependable source of information, they call me and I introduce them to my service which has supplied credible information to appraisers for many years. The same service is available to anyone who needs it, and they don't have to send me the print. Just go to www.bernardewell.com
HOW DO I DO IT?
It is possible for me to give opinions of authenticity and value for Dali prints because I have been collecting information for thirty years and because I have so many contacts in the market. Perhaps even more important is that I know who knows what they are talking about and who doesn't and I know who those driven by self-interest are. Of course, it doesn't hurt that I have seen more Dali prints and originals than anyone else.
My opinions of authenticity are based on the information in my files accumulated during the examination and appraisal of over 55,000 prints attributed to the Spanish master. Mediums, edition numbers, sizes, appearance of signatures, blind chops, identity of paper and other clues help me place a subject print into the framework of all editions about which I have such details.
When I was serving as the court expert for a long list of Federal and state regulatory and law enforcement agencies I frequently had access to the files of dealers and distributors selling fakes and publishers both legitimate and illegitimate. This body of documentation is unsurpassed. It is also incomplete. As anyone who knows much about Dali prints will tell you, we learn more all the time and know that we shall never know everything we need to or wish to know.
While I would always prefer to personally examine a questioned print, my files let me make legitimate decisions about authenticity without doing so and I have never had one challenged, except in court where I have always prevailed.
My value research is based on a variety of sources and since the results are so varied, I have to extrapolate an on-going sense of what people are willing to pay for Dali prints. There is no single and reliable source of information that one can check for a quick value. While we have tracked both the prices and the values (don't confuse the two terms--more later) of Dali prints for thirty years, it is very difficult to make generalizations about pricing or value trends.
WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO VALUES?
Prices paid, collector interest, saleability, availability and the attitudes of people in the market often change in reaction to specific events, court cases, investigations, market gossip and even lies which are posted in profusion on the Internet. Thus, if it was possible to place Dali print values over the years on a graph, it would be very confusing. I will say that after the bottom fell out of the Dali print market in the late 1980s through the mid-1990s following the Federal prosecutions, there has been a steady, though not dramatic, rise in prices asked and paid for Dali prints. This has meant a slow increase in appraiser opinions of Replacement Value (for insurance) and Fair Market Value (for resale or donation).
There have also been a great many flawed appraisals written because the appraiser used bogus information sources. We'll talk more about these later in this series.
Every appraisal must take into account the relevant market. That is the market in which a property most often changes hands. There are many markets. For instance, if the works of a particular artist are available only from his studio, that is where their value is established--by sales. If he has a gallery presence and that's where his works are sold, that's the relevant market. These are both examples of the primary market, that in which the art changes hands for the first time. Resales at auction, through galleries or privately, constitute the secondary Market.
Sometimes, availability and the resulting relevant market are restricted. This is important to know because art sold in a restricted market must be valued in that market using sales information from that market. For instance, Park West Galleries contracted with the Albaretto Collection of Turin, Italy to purchase the Salvador Dali prints still held by the collecting and publishing family of Giuseppe Albaretto. Those prints were then sold exclusively by Park West and, because they had direct and unsurpassed provenance and guarantee of genuineness, the prices paid at Park West auctions on land and sea were considered by some to be high. They weren't because the only other sales to which they could rightfully be compared are other sales of similar art with similar provenance sold by Park West. Never mind that an identical image without the provenance, probably without a signature and without the guaranteed authenticity of the Park West material was floating around in the general market. It's price and value would be set by the general market. The Park West prints had to be valued within the restricted market in which they were offered where thousands of collectors bought them.
Every day I speak with Dali print owners who bought their treasure in the print boom of the 1980s and were told at that time that it would appreciate in value every year--especially after the artist's expected death. That event occurred in 1989. My clients have believed all of these years that their print was becoming more and more valuable.
If their print is genuine--either fully original or authorized and signed--then I must explain why the values have not increased as much as they were told they would. If their print is bogus, then I must explain how I know that and tell them that, in spite of what they paid for it, it has never had any legitimate market value. I always share all of the information that goes into my opinions of authenticity.
WHERE TO FROM HERE?
In future posts of this blog, I'll look at such topics as:
- Pricing at auction
- Pricing on Internet brokerage sites
- Pricing in the galleries
- The appropriate use of the "Print Price Guide" (a book review)
- Other sources of information; good and bad
Saturday, February 20, 2010
THE ARGILLET CONNECTION, Part II
From the first I knew that Pierre Argillet was one of those rare creatures who follow Oscar Wilde's advice to "always be a little improbable".
We were greeted at the door of the Chateau by Marie-Claude, Pierre's assistant and caretaker. A warm welcome was received by Philippe (the Baron Philippe duNoyer) and (the Baroness) Ghislaine and I was greeted with great cordiality. We were shown into Pierre's study to wait while Marie-Claude fetched the famous publisher and photographer.
After about ten minutes, Marie-Claude came back down the hall pushing Pierre in a wheel chair. He was heavily swathed in blankets and his head was resting on his chest. "He has sunk very much," Ghislaine whispered. Aging was to be expected because Pierre had recently celebrated his 84th birthday with a party, the invitations to which exhibited a photograph of Pierre in a coffin with the printed words, "Come and see of I'm still alive."
They stopped a few feet in front of us and there was a minute of uncomfortable silence and then Pierre sprang up, threw off the blankets, kicked the wheel chair back down the hall and shouted, "Not yet!" That was the signal for the fun to begin.
We sat in the study/office for about and hour and a half talking about Salvador Dali, with whom Pierre had worked and cooperated on print editions for fifty years. We talked about specific publishing projects. Pierre told many Dali stories, showed us printing plates and documentation, photographs and memorabilia. Then we toured the crypt of the caste where Pierre's collection of Daliana and artworks comprised the Museum of Surrealism. After collecting the works of Futerists and Dadaist, Pierre had concentrated on the Surrealists and Salvador Dali--who had been expelled from the Surrealist Group by Andre Breton.
Pierre, having discussed many print projects with Dali, considered both preliminary and finished drawings and then helped the Master bring his ideas to graphic reality as etchings and drypoints, had many things to show us. He retained an extensive collection of original unique Dali drawings, watercolors and other creations. He and I had extensive discussions about printmaking techniques and the artist's practices and preferences. Our collegial conversations were uniquely educational.
In one large room was an assemblage of Dalinian objects, including the famous piano with the Dali-painted lid and a faucet on the side that could pour water into a tray in which the piano stood. There too was the life-size wax Salvador Dali that had been made by Madame Tussaude. I realized that the room was a recreation of the installation that had been created for the exhibition at the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, Russia.
Of particular interest to me were the photographs and films with which Pierre had recorded the various surrealist "happenings" that he and Dali had staged at the Chateau. There were the six liveried footmen riding their horses up the grand staircase, the "Marie Antoinette" actress in the Orangerie, the hot air balloon and the line of priests carrying a tremendously long snake. These were all events I was familiar with and I deeply regret not being able to participate in them. The only thing that could top that experience would be if my companion was Kurt Vonnegut. (Novelist and brother of my God father, Bernard Vonnegut)
When we all agreed that we were ready to go to lunch, we left the chateau and drove into the Fontainbleau Forest to an ancient inn with tremendous walk-in fireplaces were rows of spits loaded with meats and fowl of all kinds turned over the wood fires. Here we were at Barbizon where so many artists had been inspired to paint. The scenes out the inn's windows all looked like works by Diaz de la Penna and Corot.
We were joined for lunch by a great, friendly bear of a man named Bruno. He is Philippe duNoyer's cousin and after lunch we drove to his farm which features ancient buildings built in a defensive square. The chapel was built in 1200 AD. As I pointed out to Bruno, the people who built it had no idea there was a Western Hemisphere and had never heard of potatoes, corn, chilies, chocolate or squash.
Bruno has found a very ingenious way to make money fro his farm. He owns the only mountain in that part of otherwise totally flat France. On top at one end is a picnic area with the only views to be found for many miles. At the other end, the mountain is still under construction for, after all, it is built of the solid waste from many towns and villages in a fifty-mile radius. An access road carries a constantly long line of garbage trucks, each one of which pays Bruno to dump its load. The mountain is a dirt-covered landfill!
Not only does Bruno make money from the garbage trucks and admission to the picnic area, but the mountain is equipped with pipes that siphon the methane off so it can be used to generate electricity which supplies all of the farm's needs and is sold into the national electric grid.
Unfortunately, since I'm writing in Mexico, I am not in a position to post photographs of Pierre, Philippe, Ghislaine, Bruno, the chateau, the inn and Bruno's farm.
Next Time: The Argillet Connection, Part III will tell you about the next generation of the Argillet family and some internal conflicts and questionable practices.
We were greeted at the door of the Chateau by Marie-Claude, Pierre's assistant and caretaker. A warm welcome was received by Philippe (the Baron Philippe duNoyer) and (the Baroness) Ghislaine and I was greeted with great cordiality. We were shown into Pierre's study to wait while Marie-Claude fetched the famous publisher and photographer.
After about ten minutes, Marie-Claude came back down the hall pushing Pierre in a wheel chair. He was heavily swathed in blankets and his head was resting on his chest. "He has sunk very much," Ghislaine whispered. Aging was to be expected because Pierre had recently celebrated his 84th birthday with a party, the invitations to which exhibited a photograph of Pierre in a coffin with the printed words, "Come and see of I'm still alive."
They stopped a few feet in front of us and there was a minute of uncomfortable silence and then Pierre sprang up, threw off the blankets, kicked the wheel chair back down the hall and shouted, "Not yet!" That was the signal for the fun to begin.
We sat in the study/office for about and hour and a half talking about Salvador Dali, with whom Pierre had worked and cooperated on print editions for fifty years. We talked about specific publishing projects. Pierre told many Dali stories, showed us printing plates and documentation, photographs and memorabilia. Then we toured the crypt of the caste where Pierre's collection of Daliana and artworks comprised the Museum of Surrealism. After collecting the works of Futerists and Dadaist, Pierre had concentrated on the Surrealists and Salvador Dali--who had been expelled from the Surrealist Group by Andre Breton.
Pierre, having discussed many print projects with Dali, considered both preliminary and finished drawings and then helped the Master bring his ideas to graphic reality as etchings and drypoints, had many things to show us. He retained an extensive collection of original unique Dali drawings, watercolors and other creations. He and I had extensive discussions about printmaking techniques and the artist's practices and preferences. Our collegial conversations were uniquely educational.
In one large room was an assemblage of Dalinian objects, including the famous piano with the Dali-painted lid and a faucet on the side that could pour water into a tray in which the piano stood. There too was the life-size wax Salvador Dali that had been made by Madame Tussaude. I realized that the room was a recreation of the installation that had been created for the exhibition at the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, Russia.
Of particular interest to me were the photographs and films with which Pierre had recorded the various surrealist "happenings" that he and Dali had staged at the Chateau. There were the six liveried footmen riding their horses up the grand staircase, the "Marie Antoinette" actress in the Orangerie, the hot air balloon and the line of priests carrying a tremendously long snake. These were all events I was familiar with and I deeply regret not being able to participate in them. The only thing that could top that experience would be if my companion was Kurt Vonnegut. (Novelist and brother of my God father, Bernard Vonnegut)
When we all agreed that we were ready to go to lunch, we left the chateau and drove into the Fontainbleau Forest to an ancient inn with tremendous walk-in fireplaces were rows of spits loaded with meats and fowl of all kinds turned over the wood fires. Here we were at Barbizon where so many artists had been inspired to paint. The scenes out the inn's windows all looked like works by Diaz de la Penna and Corot.
We were joined for lunch by a great, friendly bear of a man named Bruno. He is Philippe duNoyer's cousin and after lunch we drove to his farm which features ancient buildings built in a defensive square. The chapel was built in 1200 AD. As I pointed out to Bruno, the people who built it had no idea there was a Western Hemisphere and had never heard of potatoes, corn, chilies, chocolate or squash.
Bruno has found a very ingenious way to make money fro his farm. He owns the only mountain in that part of otherwise totally flat France. On top at one end is a picnic area with the only views to be found for many miles. At the other end, the mountain is still under construction for, after all, it is built of the solid waste from many towns and villages in a fifty-mile radius. An access road carries a constantly long line of garbage trucks, each one of which pays Bruno to dump its load. The mountain is a dirt-covered landfill!
Not only does Bruno make money from the garbage trucks and admission to the picnic area, but the mountain is equipped with pipes that siphon the methane off so it can be used to generate electricity which supplies all of the farm's needs and is sold into the national electric grid.
Unfortunately, since I'm writing in Mexico, I am not in a position to post photographs of Pierre, Philippe, Ghislaine, Bruno, the chateau, the inn and Bruno's farm.
Next Time: The Argillet Connection, Part III will tell you about the next generation of the Argillet family and some internal conflicts and questionable practices.
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