Oh what a tangled web we weave! Jacqueline Ernst leads you on a wild chase through history, across national borders, into shady galleries, reputable museums, and anonymous storage lockers to explore the convoluted network of deceit that characterizes the international art market. Meet some of the world's most notorious forgers. See how almost everything can and has been faked - Old Master paintings to bottles of whiskey and bank notes to cans of beans! The boundaries of belief stretch to ensnare artists, art lovers, and everyday consumers of goods and services. Learn how you, too, play an integral role in driving the fakers and terrorist organizations that infiltrate the global art and branded goods market. Now, as throughout history, fakery, fraud, and forgery reflect the values of their own time.

The process of art authentication cannot rely solely on a work's provenance or cutting edge scientific technology. Leading museums admit they are undoubtedly full of full blown fakes as well as legitimate works that have incorrect attributions. Seasoned art scholars join forces with the FBI, Scotland Yard, Italy's Carabinieri, and the international Art Loss Registry to put up a good fight, but fakery still abounds -- some is officially sanctioned as 'restoration' but much simply meets the demands and expectations of the public. "The truth" has historically been delivered on a sliding scale that reflects the culture of the moment!

Uncover the real reason an obviously bad fake can still fool seasoned art experts. Learn the importance of an artist's catalogue raisonné, and discover how to decode the listings of respected auction houses. Recognize descriptive euphemisms used by unscrupulous art dealers and e-bay sellers to hide the facts about the items they hock. More importantly, reveal the hidden value in the fakes, frauds, and forgeries that constitute art's shadow self.

5.75" x 5.75" x .25", 44 pages, 19 illustrations. Hand stitched and glued in a three signature codex, digitally and offset printed using black, soy based ink on 100% recycled Environment, 80 pound Woodstock text enclosed in Sundance, 80 pound Harvest Yellow cover with matching 80 pound text end papers.

$26.00 (USA price, shipping included)

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