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.

CONTINUING CASUALTIES OF GOOGLEBOMB

CONTINUING CASUALTIES OF GOOGLE BOMB

Just as with all warfare, the casualties last far beyond the live action. Throughout 2008, 2009 and 2010, Theresa Franks of the bogus Fine Art Registry posted lies about me on the Internet. Some were posted in her own name, some were hatchet jobs by paid assassins and some were posted with aliases to hide their true origin. Why was I targeted?

More than anything else, it was because I was to be the expert witness in lawsuits in which Theresa Franks and Fine Art Registry were defendants. Today it's possible to destroy the credibility of an opposing expert before the trial even begins. Scary, unjust and just plain despicable. Not surprising considering the source.

Today a writer asked me some questions about Theresa Franks and I was at a loss to fully answer. I told him I was hampered by a lack of knowledge about psychological disorders. I also told him that I live in rattlesnake country. I know how to catch, move and release snakes. I also know better than to stir up vipers. This post may do just that, but not nearly to the extent that a lawsuit against my attackers would.

The real tragedy of all of this twisted lying is that a career of exemplary professional services, unsurpassed credibility and total integrity has been almost destroyed. When people with Salvador Dali artworks are given my name, they probably Google me and are treated to a series of fabricated lies about my knowledge, professionalism and reputation. Not surprising, they go elsewhere. This means they probably become the victims of those in the market who don't know what they should.
The very best--and only totally didinterested Dali expert has thus been pushed aside. At the same time, my business has suffered and I have been unable to help a lot of people who would otherwise greatly benefit from my knowledge. Perhaps I'll have to stir up that viper after all.

ANTONIO GATTORNO ARTWORK FOR SALE

GREAT OPPORTUNITY TO PURCHASE SURREAL ART

GREAT OPPORTUNITY TO PURCHASE SURREALIST ART

I have been contacted privately about an offering of works by a major surrealist whose work is little known. Antonio Gattorno (Cuban 1904-1980) created a large body of art, much of which is clearly Dali-inspired, but never derivative. Born in the same year as the Spanish Master, Gattorno developed a huge reputation in Cuba, was a close friend of Ernest Hemingway (who wrote a book about him) and John Dos Pasos. He then went to New York where he was supported by his wife and conequently did not develop a commercial career of gallery shows, museum exhibitions and publications.

When I appraised the artist's daughter's estate in 1995 (I was referred by The Salvador Dali Museum), I was stunned by the exceptional quality of the work and its relationship to the perceptions and theories of Dali. The Antonio Gattorno Foundation was set up by the artist's neice and her husband and in time they published a gorgious book titled Gattorno: A Cuban Painter For The World. Now, they are offering nine original works in various mediums at very reasonable prices.

In the Introduction to Sean Pooles book, Juan A. Martinez wrote, "The wonder kid of Cuba's art academy in the 1920s, one of the leading figures in the Cuban modernist art movement in the 1930s and a recognized painter of the New Romanticism trend in New York in the 1940s (photographed by Walker Evans), today Gattorno has become practically unknown." A look at the book or the website http://www.artbyantoniogattorno.com/ will show what an accomplished and diverse artist he was.

Can't afford a Dali? Take a look at Gattorno. Contact Terri Cabral or Sean Poole at http://www.agattorno/

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 REYNOLDS MORSE Part 2

EARLY REYNOLDS MORSE Part 2

In his ca. 1990 Memorandum For Prosecutors, Judges and Juries Involved in Dali Art Fraud Cases, Ren Morse, President of The Salvador Dali Foundation and The Salvador Dali Museum, refers to, "The most flagrant case where a commissioned Dali subject was ripped off is the reprinting of certain watercolors from the illustrated book, Alice In Wonderland by Collectors Guild in collaboration with American Express." He states that, "it was reportedly a successful five million dollar scam."

Well, I have the rest of the story. I was the government's expert in that case and traveled to both Washington and New York to work with the Federal Trade Commission on the investigation. In New York I examined Alice In Wonderland prints at both the American Express headquarters at the World Financial Center (across the street from the World Trade Center) and a warehouse in Mt. Vernon in Westchester County. It was at this latter location that I was accompanied by my eleven year old daughter who afterwards said to me and our FTC and FBI companions, "Those guys were really creepy. They were just like the Maffia." The FBI agent replied that they were the Maffia.

In 1968, Salvador Dali painted twelve original gouaches to illustrate the Lewis Carroll classic. He was paid $5,000. Maecenas Press (a division of Random House) printed reproductions of the twelve watercolors as well as a drypoint and issued an edition of 2,800 portfolios.

The rights to the images were acquired by Max Munn of Collectors Guild, Ltd. and he cut a distribution deal with American Express who offered four of the reprinted images to cardholders in July, 1984. The AmEx brochure stated the prints were "original lithographs by Salvador Dali" and there were "no prior states of these original lithographs, and no prior editons." The promotional mailing also said the images on Arches paper, "were signed by Salvador Dali before the lithographs were individually hand-pulled, numbered and custom-framed."

I  was able to prove that none of this was true. In his opinion on the case, Judge Pierre N. Level wrote, "The prints appear to have been signed by Dali, whereas in fact Dali never saw them or even knew they were being printed." Collectors Guild agreed with the FTC to stop misrepresenting the prints and American Express eventually made refunds totaling about $2.5 million to cardholders.

OK, so what's the rest of the rest of the story? American Express did some fancy footwork and in large measure avoided any legal responsibility. Their letters to cardholders who had bought and then questioned the prints are an interesting read. Early on, all assurances were made that the prints were fully original and legitimate. As the scheme unravelled, however, the responses waffle more and more, but never actually accept responsibility. In fact, American Express, expressing indignation at being fooled themselves, actually became a party to the action on the side of the Government against Collectors Guild. Not all purchasers of the bogus prints were contacted and reimbursed either.