Journals
Tuesday,Sep 23 2008, 04:27:34 PMThumbs Down for Bernie Ewell - Sotheby's Says De..
AUCTION GIANT SOTHEBY'S WEIGHS IN...
on the subject of authentication of "ORIGINAL" Salvador Dali works of art*.[*Note: For Authentication expertise on Dali Prints and Graphics - individuals are directed to the world's recognized authority - The Dali Archives, New York — Frank Hunter, Director.]
On September 3, 2008, Sotheby's Vice President of Impressionist and Modern Art issued a formal written letter to Bruce Hochman of the Salvador Dali Gallery in San Juan Capistrano, California.
For easy reading, the letter is quoted below in its entirety with emphasis (bolding) added by the editor:
Quote:Dear Mr. Hochman:
This letter is to confirm that the only internationally-recognized experts who can authenticate the paintings, drawings and sculpture of Salvador Dali are Robert and Nicolas Descharnes. Sotheby's will only accept expertise certificates from these experts before being able to proceed with the sale of art by that artist.
Sincerely,
/s/ August O. Uribe
It is important to note that well in advance of the completion of the Salvador Dali Fakes documentary video, Theresa Franks, CEO of Fine Art Registry made contact with Bernard Ewell requesting an interview (after arranging a mutually agreeable time with his office staff). After all, Fine Art Registry is always interested in presenting a fair and balanced view of our investigation and we were hoping to hear Ewell's side of the story - how he factored in to the whole Park West Gallery/Albaretto Dali equation. For example, we wanted to know whether he [Ewell] was really an 'independent third-party' as he and Park West Gallery maintain? We also wanted to know how is it that he believes he is qualified to render opinions/expertise/authentications on "original" works of art by Salvador Dali when he is simply an appraiser?
It is crystal clear from Mr. Uribe's letter that at least as far as Sotheby's is concerned; Bernard Ewell is a complete non-entity as it relates to the authentication of original paintings, drawings, and sculpture of Salvador Dali. Period. FAR expects that Christie's would agree with Sotheby's statement if contacted.
Having been presented with unequivocal evidence that Bernard Ewell is NOT a recognized authority on Salvador Dali, how is it that Park West Gallery and the cruise lines (who jointly venture with Park West Gallery and profit heavily from Park West Gallery sales, and who are indeed complicit in this whole mess) are permitted to continue to sell these spurious works of art to the public on land and at sea?
It is becoming increasingly clear that Bernard Ewell is not and never was a disinterested party when it came to the "authentication" of the Park West Gallery/Albaretto collection.
Needless to state, Bernard Ewell refused to grant Fine Art Registry an interview, claiming that Fine Art Registry/Theresa Franks had "not earned his [Ewell's] trust".
What say you now Park West Gallery? Bernard Ewell?
There is much, much more to come in our investigation. Stay tuned to www.FineArtRegistry.com, www.FineArtAdvocacy.com and www.SalvadorDaliFakes.com.
Wednesday,Sep 3 2008, 06:18:15 PMFine Art Registry® Press Release
INTERNATIONAL DALI EXPERTS AND ART CRIME POLICE FIND DALI PRINTS SOLD BY
PARK WEST AT SEA TO BE FAKE – FINE ART REGISTRY RELEASES FULL LENGTH VIDEO
(Phoenix, AZ — August 28, 2008) Global Fine Art Registry, LLC, announces the release of a 48-minute documentary video about Salvador Dalí fakes. The video includes interviews with a leading German art crime detective, Ernst Schöller, world renowned experts on Dali original works, Robert and Nicolas Descharnes, and international Dali graphics authority, Frank Hunter, Director of the Salvador Dali Archives, Ltd. They examine two prints sold by Park West Gallery for thousands and tens of thousands of dollars at cruise ship art auctions, and determine that they are fakes. In the video, Frank Hunter and Robert and Nicolas Descharnes also examine and confirm many fake Dali drawings and forged documents coming from the Torino based Albaretto family, the source of most of the Dali prints sold by Park West. Chief Detective Schöller outlines the forensic and expert evidence gathered in his investigation which demonstrated forgery of both prints and of documents presented by the Albarettos to "prove" the authenticity of the prints.
In May of 2008 two separate buyers of Dalí Sacra Biblia prints approached Fine Art Registry for help in determining the authenticity and value of their prints. Fine Art Registry arranged with experts in New York, Stuttgart and Paris to conduct an independent examination of the prints. These experts were Frank Hunter, Director of the Salvador Dalí Archives, Ltd. In New York, who assisted Albert Field in the compilation of The Official Catalog of the Graphic Works of Salvador Dali (the Dali authorized catalog of the Spanish artist's prints, etchings and other graphic work); Chief Detective Ernst Schöller, second in command of the Art and Antique Crime Unit of the Baden-Württemberg state Criminal Investigation Department, an expert on Dali forgeries; Robert and Nicolas Descharnes, father and son world renowned experts on Dali original work, used by Sotheby's and Christie's to authenticate each Dali work presented for auction.
The video which is now available for viewing on the Fine Art Registry website and which will soon also be available for purchase in High Definition on DVD, covers the examination and interviews in which these experts determine that the prints purchased are fakes. The purchasers of these prints paid in one case over $7,000 and in the other over $18,000 for what are described by the German detective as poster quality work with fake signatures on them, worth at most, if you like them $75-150 for decoration.
The prints examined are only two examples of the many, many Dali prints sold by Park West Gallery and Park West at Sea to unsuspecting cruise line passengers. The practices of the gallery, which operates mostly on cruise ships, were recently investigated and reported on in the New York Times on July 16th 2008, by CBS's Inside Edition and by Orlando Local 6 Problem Solvers. The results of Fine Art Registry's investigations into fake Dali's are published on the website www.SalvadorDaliFakes.com and these are updated regularly.
"We are continuing the investigation into the sale of fakes, including forensic testing, in order to alert the authorities and also the buying public so that they can avoid being duped into buying forged or heavily overpriced pieces," said Theresa Franks, CEO of Fine Art Registry. "This is why we have gone to trusted experts for their opinions and expertise."
For more information please see the Fine Art Registry Web site www.fineartregistry.com and www.salvadordalifakes.com. For an interview with Theresa Franks or additional information, contact David Phillips at (206) 420 8341 or by email at dphillips@fineartregistry.com.
ABOUT FINE ART REGISTRY:
Fine Art Registry® is today's only high tech solution to the age old
problems that have existed in the art world since before the Ancient
Greeks: How to establish provenance, prove authenticity and ownership,
prevent forgery and fakery, deter theft and, basically, make it
possible to create, buy and sell works of art with the security of
knowing that they are what they claim to be.As part of its mission to
bring order to the world of art, Fine Art Registry also investigates,
reports on and provides advocacy for art crime related matters. Full
information on FAR® and how the system of tagging and registering art
is available at www.FineArtRegistry.com.
View the Salvador Dali Fakes Documentary Video
Wednesday,Sep 3 2008, 06:11:31 PM Dalí Art Fraud
The following photographs
have been provided to us by the Salvador Dalí Archives Ltd., of New
York City. Their provenance is Mara and Giuseppe Albaretto, Turin,
Italy.
The Albarettos provided these photographs to the Archives sometime in the mid '90s so that the Archives would have a complete record of their Salvador Dalí art collection.
Each photograph is marked on the verso with information, in Italian (see example). In addition, there are numerous rubber stamps with the name and address of the authenticator, one "Professor Doctor Giorgio Pillon". The information includes the title of the work, its dimensions, and occasionally venues where the work was exhibited. The closing statement reads: "Pertanto certifico l'assoluta auutenticita dell'oppera." Translation: Therefore I certify the absolute authenticity of (this) work. Following this statement is the original hand signature of Giorgio Pillon.
These photographs have been scanned and distributed to Dali specialists around the world. The consensus? The vast majority of these works are fraudulent - not by the hand of Salvador Dalí.
We present these works here in their entirety, for all to see, the largest art fraud ever recorded; the largest art fraud disseminated to the world via the Internet. The perpetrators? Stay tuned.
