In 2011 Da Vinci’s “The Virgin and Child with St. Anne” was removed from exhibition after it was damaged in the restoration process. The painting, valued at 250 million dollars, created a media storm regarding what the team charged with restoring it had done. Suddenly other famous names such as Michelangelo and Van Gogh were also involved in this scandal.
Usually controversy in art is related to public nudity, theft, or animal cruelty. However, there have been uncovered occurrences of corruption and uncomfortable realities in this exclusive world.
Looting Nazi treasure
Over 70 years after the end of the Second World War, there are several works of art taken by the Nazis that are still missing. In 2013, 121 framed paintings and 1258 unframed pieces were confiscated from Cornelius Gurlitt’s apartment near Munich. This esteemed German collector and art historian had Impressionist and Expressionist works by artists such as Marc Chagall, Henri Matisse, Max Liebermann, Edgar Degas. After Gurlitt’s death in 2014, the Berna Museum of Fine Arts became the heir to these paintings.
Fake paintings and dead butterflies
If there’s one name synonymous to scandal it’s that of Damien Hirst. In 2014 a pastor named Kevin Sutherland was arrested for attempting to sell fake paintings of Damien Hirst. Sutherland claimed the artist had schemed with him, but due to lack of proof the artist walked free from that scandal. Several statements made by Hirst have been highly controversial. At one point he referred to the attacks of 9/11 as “kind of like an artwork in its own right.” There was also the time when he required of 9 thousand dead butterflies for one of his series.
The gallery that sold over 60 forgeries
In 1846 the Knoedler gallery was opened in New York. It had reached recognition through several of it clients. But in 2011 it closed its doors for good. Why? Art dealer Glafira Rosales plead guilty to selling at least 60 forgeries to the gallery, which were then sold to clients. The paintings, claimed to have been painted by Kooning, Pollock, Motherwell, and Rothko, amounting to roughly 60 million dollars, were actually made by Pei-Shen Qian, a 73 year-old Chinese painter from Queens.
Painting is a mirage
Wolfgang Beltracchi always had a special talent for forgery. From 1992 the German forger and his wife Helene had obtained a lot of money by presenting his paintings as pieces from the expressionist or modernist movement. His wife would claim to have inherited the pieces, and Wolgang would recreate obscure titles in old canvases. It almost worked out. But in 2010 he made the mistake of using a painting that wasn’t from the canvas’ era, which led to his arrest.
Spreading the wealth
Christie’s and Sotheby’s are two of the biggest auction houses in the world and each other’s rival. But there was a moment when they were accomplices. They secretly fixed the commission prices they’d charge their clients. During the nineties it was hard for the houses to provide expensive works, making profit small. So they made a deal to keep prices high and noncompetitive. Sotheby’s ultimately paid the price and fines, while Christie’s left without a scratch since price fixing is not illegal in the United Kingdom.
The Exact Images
In January, 2015 Belgian artist Luc Tuymans was found guilty of plagiarism after proving he had appropriated a picture for one of his paintings. Photojournalist for the Flemish newspaper De Standaard, Katrijn Van Giel, sued the painter for violating copyright and asked for 50 thousand Euros in damages. Tuymans admitted he had been inspired in the picture but claimed his painting was a parody.
What’s yours is mine
Richard Price stalks random Instagram accounts, comments on them, prints it all like a canvas and sells it for millions of dollars. His work had been exhibited at the Gagosian Gallery and sold at the Frieze art fair. Reactions have been mixed: some people were indifferent, others asked for their money back.
Are you for real?
The Andy Warhol Art Authentication Board was created in 1995 with the purpose of certifying pieces were actually made by the pop artist. Made up of close friends, family members, and people who knew how Warhol made his works, the board caused controversy because of the way it operated and how it would spend countless hours on pieces that were unlikely made by Warhol. It was dissolved in 2012.
The artist is (very) exposed
Deborah de Robertis visited the D’Orsay Museum in Paris in 2014. When she found herself in front of Gustave Courbet’s controversial “L’Origine du Monde” from 1866, she did homage in the only way she knew how: by exposing her vagina and shocking other visitors. Her performance was the start of several questions to the art world about the importance of acts like that.
Source: Widewalls
Translated by María Suárez
