Struggling Immigrant Artist Tied to $80 Million New York Fraud

[LiberalElite]

Source: NY Times


Pei-Shen Qian’s neighbors on 95th Street in Woodhaven, Queens, knew he scratched out a living as an artist: he often dried his paintings in the sun, propping them up on the weathered white siding of his modest house.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/17/nyregion/struggling-immigrant-artist-tied-to-80-million-new-york-fraud.html?hp

[marble falls]

1. Very interesting story, thanks.

[LiberalElite]

2. There was a link

imbedded in this article for a 2012 story in Vanity Fair with more background. Very interesting too.

[marble falls]

3. Did not see that link and I think very highly of VF, once more, thanks!

Couldn't find the link but I did dig up these two stories in VF about the whole scandal:

http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2012/05/knoedler-gallery-forgery-scandal-investigation

http://www.vanityfair.com/online/daily/2012/04/knoedler-gallery-scandal-schnayerson


Knoedler seems to be wrapped around a pile pf scandal and Glafira Rosales seems to be one one of thescandals

[LiberalElite]

6. the first link in your post -

that's the one that was in the NYT article.

[DFW]

4. Scandals like this affect more than just rich fools and scam artists

My grandmother collected contemporary modern art in the 1950s and 1960s. Some of the artists she supported by buying works here and there for a couple of hundred dollars each (at the time) went on, especially after their deaths, to become big names. I remember a bronze bust in her apartment by a Swiss artist that was especially cherished by one of my cousins who wanted to keep it in the family. Unfortunately, the artist, Alberto Giacometti, died a year before my grandmother did, and my uncle couldn't afford to pay the $8000 inheritance tax on the $16000 assessment of the piece, so it went into her estate auction the next year. When the bulk of her collection was sold at auction in 1967, this piece went for $25,000. In 1967, that was a bunch of money. My cousin must have really freaked when that same piece came up at Christie's less than ten years ago and brought $4 million.

But some of us got to keep small pieces of art from my grandmother's collection that weren't deemed to be valuable at the time. I picked out a painting that I liked, an abstract of blue rectangles by an artist named Ad Reinhardt. He was still alive in 1966, when my grandmother died, so it was only assessed at several hundred dollars. I still have it, and if it weren't for all these skillful fakes out there, it would be worth quite a pile of money today (might even still be, I have no idea). Reinhardt's work is "in," it would appear. As it is, the authenticity of it would probably be challenged, since it has never been on the market since my grandmother bought it in the early sixties, and all this bogus stuff is out there to dilute the market.

[TalkingDog]

5. Well, if you have provinance, it doesn't matter how long it's been off the market

If you can establish the sale information, that's all you need.

If she bought it from him, then ask him to authenticate it. If she bought it from a gallery there will be records, even if the gallery is defunct.

Your grandmother had exceptional tastes.

[DFW]

7. There are records and the provenance is impeccable

However, as with Ancient coins, it is often not the determining factor. In the real world, who the owner or dealer is makes as much of a difference as whether or not the painting is authentic. I was told that if I sold the Reinhardt painting through the "right" dealer, it would be authentic, otherwise not. Never mind that the Reinhardt was obtained from a Paris gallery during Reinhardt's lifetime (so listed in her estate from 1966) known to have been a gallery where he deposited his work for sale. If I were to have tried to sell the painting via some place called "the Pace Institute," associated with Reinhardt's heirs, or at least one of them, it was authentic. If not, it is "questionable (i.e. not authentic)." An outfit called Bank Leu used to do the same thing in the 1980s and 190s. If you had a rare ancient coin for sale and sold it to them at their buy offer, it was genuine. If you refused their offer, it as declared publicly to be fake.

So there it stands. To hell with the corrupt "experts." If the painting stays in my family a few more generations, so be it. When my grandmother died in 1966, I asked for it to be retained in my family because I liked it, not because I thought it would be worth a pile of money forty years down the road.

Her tastes did turn out to be impeccable, you have that right. I had clue at the time, only knew that I found her collection cool. I liked her Giacomettis long before I learned to pronounce the name correctly.

[DFW]

8. Update of the "well whaddya know" variety

Apparently the estate of Ad Reinhardt has moved to the David Swirner Gallery, and Anna Reinhardt (daughter of the painter) has located the record of the painting being consigned to the Paris gallery that sold it to my grandmother. It has just now been authenticated, and my family can display it and even offer it for sale with full documentation. I'll be in touch with the fine art department of Heritage Auctions (only auction house in Dallas I would go to with a painting like this, as they have a NY branch with REALLY good people, as good as at the head office in Dallas) about it. If we can get a serious price for it, my siblings and children are in for an unexpected Christmas present!

[TalkingDog]

9. Cheers!

Good to hear.

[DFW]

10. Maybr Reinhardt's heir(s) got tired of all the games

Whatever the reason, I'll take it. Maybe I'll invite DUers out to dinner next time I'm in the States if it sells for a bunch. I hear Reinhardt is hot these days, and this work has NEVER been on the market, since it has been with my family since it was first sold.