MOVING ON AND MOVING OVER

MOVING ON AND MOVING OVER

Good news, folks! At last our new website is up and offering hopefully easy navigation. It's the same address: bernardewell.com.

To keep reading this blog, you'll have to go to the website, click on the very obvious "OUR BLOG" and, I hope, link to it. Now I'm perfectly aware that there are a couple of people linked to this site whom I'd rather shed in the transition, but that probably won't happen. The rest of you will, I hope, create your link.

We are engaged in an aggressive SEO (search engine optimization) campaign and this is all part of that effort. Your linking will help strengthen our site in the eyes of GOOGLE and I'll be grateful.

I plan to be more active in my blogging and I'll make every effort to post interesting and entertaining material. The focus will continue to be on Salvador Dali and I still have lots of stories to tell.

Charles Kurault once said, "If you write enough words, one or two of them may jump up and bite you." Some that I have written already have. Charles Kurault also used to say at the end of a television report, "I'll see you on the radio."

I'll see you on the new blog.

DOING SWIMMINGLY IN THE CANYON

DOING SWIMMINGLY IN THE CANYON

Actually, we don't have enough water in our canyon to actually swim--except when a flash flood comes roaring down the Rio Galisteo at the bottom of our property. Then for anywhere from a few hours to a few days we can hear the water from our house.

So what do I mean by the headline? I mean to indicate that since Suzanne and I moved the offices of Bernard Ewell Art Appraisals, LLC to my home in Apache Canyon from our historic compound on Old Santa Fe Trail in Santa Fe, business has grown steadily. What's the explanation? Who knows?

Our new business model is working very well and we are just about to put up a new and better website. You will still get there through http://www.bernardewell.com/. In just a couple of weeks you should be able to check it out and if you don't find it contains answers to all of your questions or you don't find it easy to navigate, let me know, Please.

I'm just back from the Southwest Art History Conference in Taos, New Mexico so I won't post much this time. I was one of the originators of the conference twenty-three years ago. Curator David Witt was the idea guy and I supported him. It has grown into a very strong annual event and we had speakers from all over the country.

As you can guess from the title, there was no Salvador Dali content other than some discussions with art professionals who need my Dali expertise and some stories I told at meals. There is no shortage of good Dali market stories with better characters than I could make up for a novel.

WHERE ARE WE?

WHERE ARE WE?

A conversation with Dali dealer Joe Nuzzolo today made me ask myself (as he had) where are we in the ongoing Dali Wars?

Lawsuits:  The lawsuits filed by Park West Gallery against Fine Art Registry and the lawsuits filed against Park West by Theresa Franks, Fine Art Registry and various former clients are pretty much in an advanced state of rigormortis. Some claims against Park West have been dismissed (such as Sharon Day's) and papers have been filed seeking to dismiss the others. The class action suits against Park West have pretty much evaporated like a late morning coastal fog.

I currently have no involvement in any of the legal proceedings and have no relationship with Park West Gallery. As you know, at one time I examined and gave opinions about the authenticity of Dali prints that Park West bought, but never did an appraisal for them. I have, through all of the online attacks by Fine Art Registry, depositions and court testimony, had no reason to change any of the opinions that I developed. They were developed through examining prints, doing research and, especially, through being the only Dali expert to do due diligence by traveling to Italy and Spain and confirming all information at the source. Of course, in the court cases, I have been the only truly experienced and independent expert.

Dali dealers continue to sell good and bad Dali prints and original works. Almost none do due diligence by having me check out what they sell. Their clientele are no better protected than they were in the worst days of the Dali market. If the dealers use one of the "catalogs" to "authenticate" a print, they are on very shaky ground. If they use one of the self-styled "experts" to "authenticate" a print, they are on very shaky ground. Both Sotheby's and Christie's continue to follow very compromised and dangerous paths to Dali "authentications" and I am anxious for one of them to be named a defendant in a lawsuit as a result. Because of the disservice and personal vendettas of their bogus Dali "expert" they have turned away some pretty fine original Dali artworks and thus tainted the pieces and greatly hurt the sellers. I just don't understand why they won't listed to reason and change their policy to better and more honestly serve their clientele.

Artful Dodgers: Fraud and Foolishness in the Art Market is through editing and hopefully will be available to readers soon. My second book, Persistence of Enigma: The Salvador Dali Market is moving forward slowly because of the crush of business and life.

Theresa Franks and Fine Art Registry have backed off on their lies and attacks. As I was quoted as saying in the Fine Art Investigations article (last blog), living in rattlesnake country, I know better than to stir up a viper. If you are reading this, I assume you read that article which is linked to my last posting. It has been picked up and disseminated through other blogs, newsletters and news services but will not do nearly enough to counter the damage done by Franks and FAR.

Online, especially on Facebook, a lot of interesting photographs of Dali have been posted by Enrique Zepeda, Joe Nuzzolo and others. Paul Chimera continues to post some good blogs and the lines between the good guys and the bad continue to be pretty much unchanged.

Here in the canyon we are having a gorgeous Fall. The aspens are pretty much past their prime, but the cottonwoods and willows are gloriously golden. We have a nightly visit from a bear who is trying to bulk up for winter and the coyotes go about their usual business. We had a visit from a roadrunner a couple of days ago. They are always so entertaining. I have finger surgery today and we are hosting a wedding at our house on Saturday. Same old same old........

A MUST READ !!!

A MUST READ REPORT ON THERESA FRANKS AND FINE ART REGISTRY

Much has been said on this blog about Theresa Franks, her bogus "art marking system" and her attacks on me because I am the expert witness who testifies against her. Now a totally independent and disinterested writer, Michael Wilson, has posted the results of an invesitigation he conducted into Theresa Franks and her Fine Art Registry sites.

I believe it is a very fine article as Wilson had to work his way through all of the interlocking chambers of horror that Franks has constructed to defame her targets, stir up ignorant folks with the beiief that they've been screwed, and spread lies about topics on which this self-styled "art expert" (without credentials) believes she has something to say.

Read the full article at http://www.fineartinvestigations.blogspot.com/.http://www.fineartinvestigations.blogspot.com/

ED WESTON PULLS A DALI SHENANIGAN Part 2

ED WESTON PULLS A DALI SHENANIGAN, Part 2

So, I've told you that Ed Weston called to "run an idea" past me which he believed would help him sell a couple of hundred fake prints of "Discovery of America By Christopher Columbus". I knew the edition very well. It was part of my first Dali case in which I served as expert witness for the prosecution - State  of New Mexico vs. Ron Caven, Kurt Caven and Shelby Fine Art.

A transparency of the original 1958-1959 painting titled "The Dream of Columbus" was given to Jean-Paul Delcourt (aka David Mondai; aka David Mondai-Delcourt) by A. Reynolds Morse of The Salvador Dali Museum/Foundation. He quickly revoked his permission for its reproduction, but Delcourt proceeded anyway. He sold a publication contract to Gilbert Hamon who prodused 1,000 prints on "pre-signed paper" which I proved over and over again in court exhibited fake signatures. I believe the paper was signed by John Peter Moore (former Dali secretary) or his wife Katherin (as Moore later suggested to me).

Now, back to Ed's phone call.......

He said, "We all know those things are bogus, Bernard, but how about this.... You know we're coming up on some centennial of Columbus discovering this place (Los Aneles?) and I have friends who know a lot of Mafia guys. You know theyr'e all Italians and I bet they'd buy this shit. Here's what I plan to do.

When the three reproduction ships sail from New York to Florida (after crossing the Atlantic from Spain), I'm going to do this event next to the moored ships in Miami. I'm going to have Diego Colon--the twentieth generation grandson of Christopher Columbus--arrive by helicopter. He'll stamp the family crest on every print and then sign them. If that isn't brilliant enough, I'll also give away a Columbus half-dollar with each print sold. I'll send you a set--print and coin. The Mafia guys should eat it up."

How could I respond except to say, "Ed, I see you're thinking big, as always. Go for it and good luck. Let me know how it goes."

He did. He called a couple of month later and said, "Aw, the whole thing's in the toilet. Those damn ships never made it. Spain is going crazy over the Olympics and forgot about Columbus. I still got Diego Colon to stamp and sign the prints and I still give away a Columbian half-dollar with each one. Thing is, I still have a lot of them. Don't worry. I'll send you yours."

I don't think Ed did sell very many because I have never been asked to appraise one and with the volume of Dali prints that I appraise, that's surprising. You have to agree, however, my job's more entertaining that almost any other. After all, I am immersed in Salvador Dali every day.

Here is a picture of Diego Colon, twentieth generation grandson of Christopher Columbus, signing Ed's fake prints.

ED WESTON PULLS A DALI SHENANIGAN Part 1

ED WESTON PULLS A DALI SHENANIGAN Part 1

In my thirty-one years of debunking cons and scams related to the sale of prints attributed to Salvador Dali, I have seen some doozies, but perhaps Ed Weston topped all of his competitors. Yes, I know, Edward Weston was a well-known photographer, but I'm talking about the California art publisher and distributor who founded Edward Weston Publishing.

I met Ed one evening when legendary New York print dealer Marty Gordon, who founded Gordon's Print Price Annual, asked me to accompany him to have dinner in Los Angeles with a friend. We drove to the St. James Club on Sunset Blvd. in a fabulous Art Deco building. The club was very upscale (the cashews in the bar came mounted on little wheels because they were so huge). I liked Ed from the first, but sensed that he was somewhat of a flim-flam man. I was to learn that he was actually a flaboyant pirate in a business made up of fantastic characters.

What was I doing hanging with Marty in Los Angeles, anyway? We had both been hired by Forest Lawn Corporation (yes, that Forest Lawn) which owned a lot of businesses other than the famous cemetary. One was Upstairs Gallery, whose four locations had recently been raided by a multi-agency police squad. I was to examine and pass judgement on all of the Dali prints in the Upstairs inventory and Marty was to do the same for the Miros. Our opinions would then be used by the DA to press charges, or not. We worked every day in the evidence room of the LAPD in the basement of Parker Center. We were surrounded by the proof that every item on earth has been used at some time to kill someone. It was the beginning of a very close and mutually rewarding friendship between me and Marty. I still miss him.

Well that evening at the St. James the three of us had a delighful and very amusing time. Ed and I later kept in touch and I even hired him to be part of a team of expert witnesses I assembled for a court case. Later, my beloved Melinda and I stayed at Ed's home for several days. Right after the 1994 Northridge Earthquake, I called to check on him and he told me he was up to his knees in smashed Picasso ceramics and fully a third of his extensive collection was gone.

Since we talked frequently, I was not surprised when Ed called one day to "run an idea" past me. It involved one of the best know editions of fake prints attributed to and sold as being original Dali prints.

You are going to love what Ed proposed to do to sell a couple of hundred prints. He had designed an elaborate event to launch the sales of what everyone knew were fake prints; but these had been enhanced in a most ingenious way. I'll tell that story in Ed Weston Pulls A Dali Shenanigan Part 2.

Ed died at the age of 82 in 2007. He lived well and he lived large. He was unique.

Oh, what print was it? "Discovery of America By Christopher Columbus".

NO OTHER PLACE LIKE SANTA FE

NO OTHER PLACE LIKE SANTA FE

When I first moved to Santa Fe eleven years ago (after doing business here monthly for almost thirty years) people would ask why, after thirty years in Colorado, I had moved. I would tell them it was because Santa Fe is the most spiritual place I know. After a while I changed the answer to "Because Santa Fe is the most entertaining place I know."

I just returned from a 2,300 mile driving trip. I went first to Colorado Springs to pick up my son Duncan, daughter-in-law Mariana and their enormous Rhodesian Ridgeback. We drove to Houston where they took flight for Rio de Janeiro--Mariana's home. The job prospects are much better there than in Colorado. I then drove back to Santa Fe. As always, I was very glad to be back in my canyon paradise where we live within a National Historic Park. I didn't remember that Texas was so huge and so boring.

The lead line of the lead article in the Santa Fe New Mexican newspaper reminded me of what an entertaining place this is:

"Santa Fe County road maintenance manager Diego Gomez said Thursday that his decision to use county equipment and staff to work on a private driveway had nothing to do with the fact that his mother-in-law lives at the end of it."

Actually, I think he got tired of having his wife demand, why, with all the equipment and men he had, her elderly mother was still having to travel over tha wretched road. The poor guy didn't mean to do anything unethical, he just wanted some peace.