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........

EARLY REYNOLDS MORSE Part three

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.

EARLY INFO. FROM REYNOLDS MORSE

EARLY INFO. FROM REYNOLDS MORSE

I'd almost forgotten about the undated essay I received from Reynolds Morse, probably in  1988-1990.  The founder and president of The Salvador Dali Museum and I were corresponding about the massive increase in fake prints attributed to Salvador Dali. We had met and shared what each of us knew and we'd also had meetings with prosecutors who were filing charges and scheduling court cases. Little did I know that in the next five years I'd spent as much as 70% of my time as an expert for almost every federal law enforcement and regulatory agency as well as a great many state and private entities.

The document is titled MEMORANDUM for Prosecutors, Judges and Juries Involved in Dali Art Fraud Cases. The cover page is on the letterhead of The Salvador Dali Foundation, Inc. and IMS Company, Morse's plastic injection molding company. There is a typed message "With my compliments and gratitude. When evil is Bold Right must be Strong. Ren Morse."

There is then a hand-written note: "Dear Bernard: Here is the first "final" draft of something I have felt needed by all who are trying to stem the flood of Dali bogus reproductions. Any comments or suggestions will be appreciated to make this more useful. Sincerely, Ren."

In the opening paragraph, Ren uses a word he coined from which I have always gotten a kick. He refers to "unscrupulous art dealsters (dealer-gangsters)," a concept that was to prove far more true and wide spread than either of us knew at the time.

He goes on to point out that the "dealsters" and their lawyers keep confusing prosecutors and judges with "verbal obfuscations" to "muddy and distort simple facts." He was so right as he was in his observation that, "...a sort of clandestine art mafia has grown up..." he just didn't know the extent of the problem. Or, perhaps he did because he then mentions, "the sheer enormity of the multi-billion dollar Dali scams"

Ren Morse, in his memo, addresses the various purported mediums of the genuine and the fake prints. I am especially interested to note something that I had forgotten he said, but which I had probably figured out by then. Dali's etchings are not etchings, but are drypoints.

He wrote, "Many were by his own hand, and were done between 1934 and 1978. On some plates, professional help was supplied. But in the end, for all practical purposes here, all of his etchings (drypoints) were produced under his own personal supervision and were signed by him for specific clients such as Pierre Argillet and others."

Unfortunately, the market generally believes that all intaglio prints by Dali are etchings. In fact, they are drypoints. The problem is that few people know the difference. Having actually done both, I do. A drypoint is created when the artist scratches the design into the surface of a copper or zinc plate and that plate is inked and polished prior to passing through the press with a piece of paper. The lines in the plate that hold the ink for an etching are created (bitten) by acid and in an engraving they are gouged out of the surface. Each intaglio medium looks sightly different and connoisseurship is required to properly identify the resulting prints.

Salvador Dali chose drypoint because it was immediate. He "drew" on the plate with his diamond point in a totally spontaneous act of creation and did not have to muck around with ground, acid, proofs and all the rest of what he considered the tiresome process of creating an etching.

Does it matter? It does if one is examining a print to discern all of the clues that demonstrate it is a genuine Dali. It does if one is interested in accuracy. It is also one of the many tell-tale signs that an art professional is, or ain't.

We'll look further at Reynold Morse's memo in future postings. In the meantime,don't refer to "Dali's etchings".

BACK ON THE TRAIL AGAIN

BACK ON THE TRAIL AGAIN

 There comes a time in the affairs of man...when it's time to move on. Actually, I've not so much moved on as I have picked up and moved twelve miles south. I've sold my marvelous ca. 1820s compound on Old Santa Fe Trail because I no longer need a staff of four or five and one of the most visible locations in Santa Fe. After all, I'm semi-retired.

My splendid assistant Suzanne and I are now comfortably settled in the large studio attached to my home in Lower Canoncito at the bottom of Apache Canyon. Since I live within a National Historic Park, it is a really dramatic and beautiful setting. This is also the great transportation corridor through the southern spur of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains.

Behind our property is the Santa Fe Trail, which in the nineteenth century (1820-1885) connected New Mexico Territory with the rest of the United States--primarily Missouri. Running parallel to it is Old Las Vegas (NM) highway which was Route 66 prior to 1937 when Route 66 was rerouted. Also passing through the canyon are the old Indian and Spanish trail along Rio Galisteo, the mainline of the Santa Fe Railroad (which carries only two Amtrack trains a day) and Interstate 25 which runs from Mexico to Canada. I have developed a six page chronology of the Spanish expeditions (starting with Coronado in 1542), famous people, armies, stage coach lines and special freight (first printing press, first piano) that have traveled through my front yard. A rugged ridge separates us from the Interstate so our location at the end of our road and within the park is remote and private.

From here, I can handle my international practice in the authentication and appraisal of artworks attributed to Salvador Dali and all other appraisal assignments that I choose to accept. I feel really good about being home every day with my wife, pets and wildlife.

The mailing address of the business is now: PMB #447; 7 Avenida Vista Grande B-7; Santa Fe, New Mexico 87508. The email address is still  artpro@bernardewell.com and the telephone numbers are still 505-954-4113 and 800-884-3254.

GREAT DALI COLLECTION TO BE OFFERED FOR SALE

GREAT DALI COLLECTION TO BE OFFERED FOR SALE

Remember, you heard it here first--even if we don't have all the details yet.

The Baron Philippe duNoyer, a longtime player in the market for Salvador Dali artworks, told me in a personal telephone call I made to him on his birthday that he is about to release his splendid collection of original Dali works. He accumulated them during the years that he was a Dali dealer in New York. He was also the exclusive North American representative for the great French publisher Pierre Argillet and the exclusive Albaretto Collection of Turin, Italy.

I have had the pleasure of examinng each of the original artworks and believe them to be a very fine selection. I also visited the chateau of Pierre Argillet and twice was a guest of the Albaretto family. In fact, I am the only person calling himself a Dali expert who has made those two efforts in pursuit of due dilligence. I know the sources of Philippe's art, I have seen the documentation, I have questioned the previous owners and I am fully satisfied that each of the artworks is genuine. Of course, it is the works themselves that really hold the clues for an art detective. Believe me, this is good stuff.

Now, about Baron Philippe himself. He and I have traveled in Europe together. I have watched him import and sell a great quantity of Dali artworks. I have been retained to examine and give opinions of authenticity for hundreds of pieces that he has handled. He has shipped art to me for examination. I have examined art in warehouses in New York and in Philippe's professional space. We have jointly investigated sources and have spent a vast amount of time discussing Dali, the market and the other players, both good and bad.
I have know him to always play it straight and be honest. He says, "If the cards are not all on the table, there is no game."

This will be an important offering of very good original Dali material. What I can't yet tell you is where and when it will be available. Watch this space for those details when Philippe is ready to release them.

BOUND FOR SPAIN? POSSIBLY

BOUND FOR SPAIN? POSSIBLY

The Fundacio Gala-Salvador Dali has announced that with several other entities it will sponsor an international seminar on authentication and the identification of fake works of art. The goal is to bring together experts who will exchange information on detection techniques, experiences and ideas for legal measures. It is scheduled for June 19, 20 and 21.

Enrique Zepeda and I are discussing attending, but must first find out more about the agenda and goals of the seminar. If it is intended to focus on artworks attributed to Salvador Dali, we will definitely go. That will give us the opportunity to celebrate Enrique's birthday with a paella and Catalan wine! (Oh, yes, we do knoiw how to have fun). We presume, but don't yet know, that the seminar will be in Figures.

Since graphic works (prints) are to be one topic, it is especially important for me to be there if Dali is the focus. After all, I have examined over 55,000--more than anyone else--and I have the files and expertise to offer assistance to my colleagues, museums, collectors and yes, the Fundacio itself.

Will they, or won't they? (go)  Stay tuned.

THE DIEGO RIVERA PICKPOCKET and ARTFUL DODGERS

THE DIEGO RIVERA PICKPOCKET AND ARTFUL DODGERS

You have read here about the fun we had with Enrique and Silvia Zepeda in Mexico City. One of the things we did was to visit the Diego Rivera Mural Museum which displays a huge painting containing most of the historic figures of the history of Mexico. Enrique and I enjoyed identifying the portraits to each other and discussing the myriad of interesting details.

One was a small boy lower left who is picking the pocket of a gentleman--possibly the 1890s. I made mention to Enrique that perhaps I should consider using the image for the cover of my book Artful Dodgers: Fraud and Foolishness In The Art Market. The title, of course, is taken from the Charles Dickens pickpocket character in Oliver Twist. Being the splendid fellow he is, I soon received an e-mail from Enrique with that image from the mural attached.

The book is in final rewrite and will go to an editor for preliminary review next week. I feel it is going to be well-received, provide a lot of perspectives on the art market that hardly anyone (except the insiders) know, and piss off a lot of dealers. As John Pope Hennessey wrote, "A dedication to the truth can make one many enemies". Who knows that better than me; the target of a Googlebomb, online lies and attacks from the lower reaches of the Dali market?

It will be good to soon move on to full concentration on my next book, Persistence of Enigma: The Salvador Dali Market. Now that one's really going to upset some people, but after all, if they'd live their lives better, I'd have nothing to write about.

MIA CULPA - AGAIN

MIA CULPA - AGAIN

No sooner had I returned from Mexico City and a splendid visit with Dali collector and scholar Enrique Zepeda, than I received an email from him pointing out that in my last blog posting I had referred to him as "Ernesto Zepeda".

Ernesto Zepeda is an Argentinian painter who lived for years in Santa Fe. I saw him frequently, we talked often and I consider him a fine man. Even so, he is no Enrique Zepeda, who continues to impress me with the breadth of his general knowledge, his insightful awareness of most things Dali and his generous kindness. I'll be posting a blog later today describing the fun and intellectual sharing of our visit, but for now, I want to sincerely apologize for referring to him by other than his correct name--my friend, Enrique Esteban Zepeda Vasquez.

And by the way, if anyone knows how I can insert the accents that a name such as Enrique's should properly have, please send instructions to me at artpro@bernardewell.com. I do not have Enrique's technical prowess. He carries an iPad everywhere and can make it do wonderous things.

HOLA FROM MEXICO !

Hola From Mexico !

Here I again sit in my third floor writing studio working on the rewrite of Artful Dodgers: Fraud and Foolishness in the Art Market. With a terrific torta Cubana and a Cerveza Pacifico close at hand, gentle breezes wafting in from my roof-top terrace and all of San Miguel de Alliende around and below me, I am reminded of the thought that "the best revenge is to live well". So how am I doing?

With the promise of a luxury bus ride to Mexico City on Friday and several days with my friend Ernesto Zepeda, the Dali collector and scholar, the nastiness of Fine Art Registry and those associated with them seem a very long way away. A host of strong and supportive comments have come in from people who really do know the truth, but the settlement agreement in a recent lawsuit precludes me from publishing them. Pity, but it's the cost of deciding that no matter how badly I've been treated, no matter how many lies have been posted about me and no matter how flawed other "Dali experts" may be, I just don't want to spend the next three years of my life in a lawsuit proving myself right. The people who really matter and the people who really do know don't have to have me prove anything to them. I'll concentrate on living well and try to keep the poison extruded by others out of my life.

Oh, by the way...... One comment sent to this blog by someone too chicken to identify themself (although it's obvious who it is) referred to my posting in which I said I had never worked for Park West Gallery and said that I was lying. NO. I have never worked for Park West Gallery. I have only been retained as an independent Dali expert and believe me, that is a whole different role, especially when my reputation is everything and I shall never be influenced by a client to report opinions that I don't fully believe are true. Ever notice how those who don't understand integrity assume that everyone else is cheating?

So, about Artful Dodgers..... The rewrite (always a part of the process) is going well even though at one point I thought I might be in the position of Felix Mendelssohn who said after completing his Italian Symphony, "Of everything I have written down, as much was deleted as was allowed to stand."


Unraveling Dali's Les Caprices de Goya

Recently I received an interesting assignment. Actually, they all are.
Janice Embry Brown, docent extraordinaire at The Salvador Dali Museum, was asked a question about the printing methods used to produce the 80 prints of the Dali suite Les Caprices de Goya. She, always wanting to give the full and correct answers, passed the question on to Professor Elliott King who suggested she ask me since it is an area of my specialization.

Before leaving Santa Fe for San Miguel I did my research, copied entries from the two catalogues of Dali prints and other printed references and added notes from my files (the most extensive in the world) on my personal examination of a suite of the prints.

I found that the catalogues, as usual, were confused. Dali et Les Livres came the closest. My determination was as follows.

Salvador Dali obtained a set of reproductions of the eighty Francisco Goya images from the Musee de Castres--the Goya Museum--about two hundred fifty miles southwest of Paris. Between 1973 and 1977 he created drypoint plates which, when printed over reproductions of the Goyas, produced eighty two-artist prints. These were then hand colored with watercolor applied through stencils at Atelier J. J. Rigal.

The prints exhibit printed facsimile Goya signatures, titles and plate numbers, drypoint signatures of Dali and pencil signatures of Dali. The total edition size is 250 sets.

If you have any further explanation, additional information or new perspectives on this one of innumerable Dali print enigmas, please pass it on to me at artpro@bernardewell.com. I always appreciate such contributions.

Hasta Luego!

ATLANTA TO ST. PETERSBURG

ATLANTA TO ST. PETERSBURG

My last post shared some of the excitement expressed by the droves of visitors to the all-night "closing" of the major exhibition at the High Museum in Atlanta, Dali: The Later Years. Well now we have the numbers.

When we again linked up a couple of days later in St. Petersburg, Florida, the show's curator Elliott King told me that over 15,000 people waited in line, paid their money and viewed the exhibit. That would be phenomenal, a dream or impossible for almost any other artist, but not for Dali and not for a show of this quality and importance.

It was evident from the people swirling around Elliott and me that they considered seeing the show before it closed was a personal priority. It was fun to point out to people that the tall young man with the sequined tie and sequined shoes standing next to me was the curator who had, in one year, identified the works he wanted to display, borrowed them from museums and private collections, written the catalog, received and hung the shipped artworks and hosted the surrounding events. The responses were always such as to make Elliott's mother very proud. They also showed that the viewers had some idea of the curator's Herculean task.


OPENING OF THE NEW SALVADOR DALI MUSEUM

Well, we were finally at the anticipated date - 1/11/2011 - the opening of the magnificent new building that will henceforth offer to the world the unrivalled collection and changing exhibitions of The Salvador Dali Museum. Not only that, but I was waking up to the day in the Hilton Bayside Hotel just a couple of blocks away in St. Petersburg, Florida. I was there because Elliott King had been kind enough to call me when he arrived in Atlanta and heard an ice storm was forecast for Monday when he and I were scheduled to fly to Tampa. We both changed our airline reservations to get out of Dodge on Sunday. I am so grateful for this kindness and view with horror the possibility that I might otherwise have been stuck in Atlanta when the airport was shut down. I would not then have been waking up to the great day in St. Petersburg.

The surreal parade from the wonderful old museum to the new building was great fun. Lots of people dressed up in Dalinian costumes and there were fun marching groups with props, including some I never identified. The route was lined with television and other cameras and six broadcast trucks had their antennas raised for transmission.

Having been to the members' preview at the museum when I arrived from Atlanta on the previous Sunday, I was less concerned with seeing the interior and installation in the new building, than I was in seeing the characters who showed up, some other Dali heavy hitters, the panel of speakers and S.A.R. la Infanta Cristina of Spain. The Princess, whose life my wife well knows from HOLA! magazine, gave a generous short speech before cutting the ribbon, one half of which will be delivered to the Fundacio Gala-Salvador Dali in Figures, Spain.

Since I first visited the (now old) Dali Museum in 1987 to do the first of three appraisals of the collection for founder A. Reynolds Morse, I have examine each piece in the collection under magnification, so my visit during the preview was a visit to many old friends. No longer are the huge masterpieces lined up on a single wall somewhat remote from visitors. Each has its own alcove and visitors can get really close to each. This is great for viewers and I hope it will never prove to be too close. The small, intimate works, each protected by glass, continue to be lined up for close viewing. I assume that the guards, as was the practice in the previous facility, will have to clean nose and finger prints off the glass twice a day.

It was good to again see Curator Peter Tush and discuss how we thought the building would "work". There is no question that it is an inspiring design. It is dominated by a free-standing three story high spiral staircase on the inside and an irregularly shaped glass dome that flows from the roof to the ground on the outside. Constructed of 1,026 individually sized triangles of glass, the "Glass Enigma" suggests that a Buckminster Fuller geodesic dome may have melted in the Florida sun. From the atrium inside, it opens the building to a lovely exterior view of gardens, palm trees and a yacht marina across the street.

The Salvador Dali Museum has housed the world's largest and best collection of original Salvador Dali paintings in St.Petersburg since 1982. It has become the state's most-attended museum (over 200,000 a year) and will certainly attract even more visitors with its new building.

Everyone who works for the museum, the outstanding army of volunteers and the movers and shakers of St. Petersburg can be very proud of their new gem. The Dali world has a new icon at which people can experience the genius and universal appeal of Salvador Dali. I am so pleased to have been part of the celebration.

ATLANTA SHOW CONFIRMS DALI'S APPEAL

ATLANTA SHOW CONFIRMS DALI'S APPEAL

SALVADOR DALI: THE LATE WORK, currated by Elliott King at the High Museum Of Art in Atlanta was just as splendid a show as I had hoped. When you read a high-quality show catalog, the curator's essay will reveal just how much he or she "gets" the artist's work and will also frequently demonstrate how much he or she likes it. In the case of an Elliott King, you have a curator with a life-long dedication to the study of the artist so an exhibition he organizes can be expected to offer special insights. This one absolutely did and the crowds responded big time.

The High Museum's idea was to mount a final celebration titled "Dali 'till Dawn" that would keep the exhibition open for its final 31 hours. King was scheduled to lead three tours - 1am, 3am and 5am! The next afternoon, after we both flew to St. Petersburg ahead of Atlanta's snow storm, he called to ask if I could join him and some other Dali people for drinks and possibly dinner. What stamina! What youth!

Elliott and I linked up in Atlanta (as planned) and went to meet a very engaging and stimulating coupe for drinks. We then swung past the museum at about 8:00 to see what was happening. The line for admission was about three blocks long. We went back to the hotel and agreed to visit the exhibition at 10:00 PM. Again, when we arrived we were stunned to see the line had not diminished and the museum was packed. The atmosphere was electric and the excitement easily negated the fact that the temperature was 38 degrees and a strong, cold wind was blowing. Apparently hundreds of people thought the discomfort was worth braving. They were eventually well rewarded.

I also got the reward I had long anticipated as Elliott gave me a personal tour of the show and we discussed the works, their history and techniques and a great deal more about our mutual passion--Salvador Dali. It is always so exciting to be with an intellectual and well informed companion, especially at such an exhibition. The show was really splendid in spite of the fact that 18 artworks had been reurned to The Salvador Dali Museum to be hung for the grand opening of their new building on the 11th. I, of course, had examined every one of them under magnification when I appraised the museum's collection three times throughout the years.

When I left the High Museum at 1:30 in the morning with two companions with whom I discussed Dali until 2:30 back at my hotel, the line to get into the exhibition was still two blocks long! The temperature had dropped even lower, but these folks would not be denied. The show was crowded all night. What a recognition of the fascination people have with Salvador Dali and what a recognition of the show that Elliott King had curated--in just one year. Wow.

I arrived in St. POetersburg in time for the members' reception at the new museum. The Grand opening is tomorrow. Stay tuned for a report of all of the fun and foolishness and my opinions of the new buiding.

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?

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

My Brother Was Murdered

Sonny Jim James (Modoc 1940-2009)

On Thursday, October 29th we gathered at the Convention Center among the gorgeous red sandstone cliffs and outcrops of Red Rock State Park outside Gallup, New Mexico for the memorial gathering to honor Sonny Jim, my pledged brother of twenty-two years. The shock of his murder, along with that of the friend he was trying to help in a boundary dispute the previous Friday, was strongly reflected in the six or seven hundred people who braved the snow and ice to be there. Many (especially the large number of rodeo cowboys) had traveled from several states away.

Heather had battled her way through the Denver “Monster Snow Storm”, dealt with airline delays and foolishness and met us for the drive over to Gallup. We had spent two hours creeping over black ice and sitting in a twenty-mile long double line of idling semi-trucks and a few cars. To have over half a thousand Navajos show up on time was a unique experience in any weather.

We were given places of honor among Sunshine’s family and honored as elders and family members. I am now her only “Dad” and the four girls’ only granddad. By extension, I am also that to Sunshine’s four sisters whom I have known since they were little girls. All now have their own families. All have lost their father. So many beautiful, loving, sad people.

The convention center is huge, but was inadequate to hold all of the love shared that day. The tears were copious and the tributes all from the heart. The feast was served and the songs sung and the Medicine Man, Chester, offered a long prayer of perspective and solace.

I won’t attempt to recreate the unique experience, but I do want to share one thought. A member of the Navajo Nation Tribal Council spoke. As elders always do, he spoke in a fatherly tone and reminded the assembled Diné (people) of their heritage and pride and talked about the conditions we had braved to assemble in Sonny’s honor.

“Water,” he said, “is the source of all life and means life to us. When the clouds are low, there is mist and fog and we have rain, snow and even annoying and perhaps dangerous ice, we are being blessed with water and the gods have come down among us. Obviously, they have come to help us honor Sonny and they are among us, today.”

The lessons of the day were that there is strength in numbers, love should be expressed and when we are blessed with precipitation, even if it is annoying, the gods are walking among us.

OFF TO RIO !

OFF TO RIO !

On the eve of our departure for Rio de Janeiro to attend my son Duncan's wedding, I'm recalling what I was doing a month ago. You remember Duncan who had the Dali adventures with me in Spain? He married Mariana DeSalles three years ago and now her splendid, cosmopolitan family is giving them the full Brazilian family/social wedding. She is a smart and beautiful woman who is studying art/industrial design in Denver. This should be fun. We're staying at Ipanema.

So where was I a month ago? I was at a cattle and sheep auction in the small village of Dowra in County Leitrum, Ireland. Nothing fancy there. The village sits in a beautiful valley at the north end of Lock Allan which is part of the River Shannon system--the longest navigable river system (including many, many lakes) in Europe. It's so small it's only a six pub place.

The sales barns appear to be ancient and there are two sales going on simultaneously. It was great to be there with my brother Jon, a Colorado rancher, and my friend Enda Dolen who also has "beasties". Those guys knew what to look for in the livestock, what to listen for in the auctioneer's chant and how to judge the prices. I just enjoyed the experience.

The cattle were sold individually, but the sheep were sold in lots of ten. No buying a single darling lamb for the granddaughter. Take the lot.

What an interesting and timeless scene. The look of the farmers has not changed much in the last couple of centuries. The old tweed jackets, soft caps and ruddy complexions are enhanced by the musical conversations and amusing comments. No one's attention is ever very far from the bidding, however. This is a social occasion, but also serious business. The cattle handlers keep the animals moving down the chute, into the small ring in front of the cement stands, around the ring a couple of times and out back for loading.

The farmers standing around with shit several inches up their Wellingtons are remarkably like the art dealers standing around the edges of art auctions I attend. They also are standing in about four inches of bull shit.