Forgeries, Luxury Goods and Value
Blake Gopnik pointed out that when it comes to art forgeries, most people can “marvel at the forgers’ skill and lament their misdeeds”. Besides, he says: “If a fake is good enough to fool experts, then it’s good enough to give the rest of us pleasure, even insight.” And: “In some ways, they (forgeries) are by him (the famous artist), in the profound sense that they almost perfectly capture his unique contribution to art. If they didn’t, no one would imagine he’d made them.” And isn’t the only difference between a forgery and the standard practice of earlier times that one was authorized by the master and the other wasn’t? “Many wonderful works of art by figures such as Titian, Rembrandt and Rubens were executed partly or even mostly by their studio assistants, which doesn’t make them any less expressive of Titian or Rembrandt’s innovations.” Then Gopnik uses the art-should-be-for-all argument: “Our current market, geared toward the ultra-wealthy, is helping few and hur...