Dealing with the artful forger

Likeness Without Reference Cultures of forgery invites audiences to undertand the practice of forgery PicSneha KharabeWhile art forgeries in real life are not half as glamorous as the TV series White Collar or nearly as dashing as Neal Caffrey they are as hazardous mdash to the artist the quality of art and the art markets sellers and collectors Con jobs in the art world come with a great deal of specialisation and study sometimes no less than that of the master artist says Vaishnavi Ramanathan the curator of the exhibition Likeness Without Reference Cultures of forgery at the Piramal Museum of Art Lower ParelWith the boom in the Indian art market the forgery market has grown simultaneously It is a pertinent time to bring up the subject therefore says the Chennaibased curator of the exhibition that opened todayRadhaMadhava by Raja Ravi Varma On the subject of this artist the exhibition highlights how his works are among the most copied in the country PicsPirAmal Art FoundationThe unique educative exhibition brings together over 50 antiques and modern art some of which are of questionable nature For those of us who think that the Indian art market is insulated from the kind of fakes that are rampant internationally Ashvin Rajagopalan mdash the director of Piramal Museum of Art mdash says that is not the case We suspect that the Indian art market sees as many cases of forgeries but these go unnoticed due to the lack the expertise and the knowledge in India he explainsWe ask Ramanathan and Rajagopalan to share five things that collectors ought to do to spot the fake from the originalAn untitled tempera on board by Jamini RoyTrain your eye Ramanathan stresses the importance of due diligence to spot a fake Collectors need to read up about artists visit museums and go through catalogues she says adding that it is better if collectors focus indepth and increase the knowledge base that way rather than cast their net wide Works by Raja Ravi Varma for instance can undergo a scientific study of pigments to establish whether they are fake or notForgery is allencompassing Do the works by Indias Modernists see more forgery than the antiquities Not so says Rajagopalan Forgery is not determined by the age nature of the work or the subject It is driven by current market interest in a particular work or artist he elaborates Ramanthan elucidates that most forgers produce copies in the spirit of defiance an act of rebellion Husain and Souza owing to their method of painting are easier to copy than a Gaitonde Gaitondes technique was timeconsuming and therefore a lot harder to replicate she saysAn untitled 2006 sculpture by Laxma Goud Both artists made multiple editions of their works Roys works fall short of clear documentation unlike GoudsThe notion of originality is tied up with forgery especially with the traditional arts where the workshopmodel was practised Tanjore paintings are a living art tradition Forgers achieve an antiquated look by often removing a few precious stones and gold leaves from a new Tanjore painting But they make sure that the painting is defaced only at the edges to make sure that its market pricing is not affected she saysAsk for documentation With artworks that can be purchased either from primary from an artist or a gallery or secondary sources the provenance of a work is of due importance A certificate of authenticity usually accompanies artworks on sale these days but Ramanathan advises caution even so There have been cases where works have been attested by scholars and critics only to be revealed as fakes decades later And better to be safe than sorry Rajagopalan advises as specific laws against art forgery do not exist inacircu00c2u0080u00c2u0088IndiaVaishnavi Ramanathan curator and Ashvin Rajagopalan director Piramal Museum of ArtIts not always fake Lastly ask the suspicion radar to calm down Ramanathan evokes the case of Gaitondes early sketches made during his college days An attendee at the Sir JJ School of Art had saved these sketches which later made their way into the art market Since the works were atypical to his known body of works there were doubts regarding its authenticity But these are very much genuine she saysWhen Until March 31 11 am 8 pm weekdays 10 am 10 pm weekendsWhere Piramal Museum of Art Peninsula Corporate Park Lower ParelVisit wwwfacebookcomPiramalArt