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Forged: Why Fakes are the Great Art of Our Age

by Jonathon Keats

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7927336,726 (3.66)31
According to Vasari, the young Michelangelo often borrowed drawings of past masters, which he copied, returning his imitations to the owners and keeping originals. Half a millennium later, Andy Warhol made a game of "forging" the Mona Lisa, questioning the entire concept of originality. Forged explores art forgery from ancient times to the present. In chapters combining lively biography with insightful art criticism, Jonathon Keats profiles individual art forgers and connects their stories to broader themes about the role of forgeries in society. From the Renaissance master Andrea del Sarto who faked a Raphael masterpiece at the request of his Medici patrons, to the Vermeer counterfeiter Han van Meegeren who duped the avaricious Hermann G#65533;ring, to the frustrated British artist Eric Hebborn, who began forging to expose the ignorance of experts, art forgers have challenged "legitimate" art in their own time, breaching accepted practices and upsetting the status quo. They have also provocatively confronted many of the present-day cultural anxieties that are major themes in the arts. Keats uncovers what forgeries--and our reactions to them--reveal about changing conceptions of creativity, identity, authorship, integrity, authenticity, success, and how we assign value to works of art. The book concludes by looking at how artists today have appropriated many aspects of forgery through such practices as street-art stenciling and share-and-share-alike licensing, and how these open-source "copyleft" strategies have the potential to make legitimate art meaningful again. Forgery has been much discussed--and decried--as a crime. Forged is the first book to assess great forgeries as high art in their own right.… (more)
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This review was written for LibraryThing Early Reviewers.
Jonathon Keats' "Forged: Why Fakes are the Great Art of Our Age" is a masterful ode to authenticity - whether real or imagined - and provides a necessary tonic to the hyperventilating tales of art sales that dominate our current popular media. Keats asks important questions: Where does the worth of an artwork exist? Is it in the idea? Or is it in the object? Keats' own artwork, he is a renowned contemporary artist represented by the Modernism Gallery in San Francisco and Baang and Burne out of New York City, also posits questions and fascinating art/science mash-ups that force us to question our definitions of artistic quality and knowledge. Keats' "Forged: Why Fakes are the Great Art of Our Age" is a provocative poke at the great bear of the art world and a must read for anyone involved in the arts. Highly recommended. ( )
  greggchadwick | Apr 18, 2015 |
This review was written for LibraryThing Early Reviewers.
This book seems to suggest that forgeries are akin to "organisms" that throughout time have taken on a life of their own "which even the counterfeiter can't control. A forgery is alive with meaning."
Part II proceeds to present five, often humorous, cases where a forgery was created and the background of why and how they were done. I really found this section amusing and informative.
Lastly, Part III, relates how artists like Warhol took art forms like the Mona Lisa or published photographs and made them his own with techniques referred to as Industrial Art. The book left me with a feeling that some forgers were/are very talented in their own right and isn't the art buyer also responsible to do his or her research before laying down a wad of cash for any artwork? All in all a very readable and interesting book.
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1 vote Carmenere | Jun 16, 2014 |
This review was written for LibraryThing Early Reviewers.
Although I agree that this book was more for true art historians or experts and I was somewhat lost in it, the ideas of forgery changing in its perception is interesting to me. I requested this book through librarything because of my interest in art heists and in the history of art theft in war time. Even though I wasn't able to appreciate or understand all of his ideas, it made me expand my little brain cells and that's always good. ( )
  EllenH | Feb 7, 2014 |
This review was written for LibraryThing Early Reviewers.
This book was a very interesting read. It raised the questions of what is art and what is forgery and what is a copy and what is (or is there) the value of each...and who decides. The stories of the six forgers were quite fascinating and made for,some compelling reading. I would have liked to have seen more examples of forgery and photos in the book. ( )
  lyncos | Jan 22, 2013 |
This review was written for LibraryThing Early Reviewers.
I really quite enjoyed this book. I read an advance copy so I can only speak to that edition. Keats discussion of the impact of forgeries was very stimulating and provided significant food for thought. If one can perfectly replicate the work of another down to the finest detail, is that not artistic skill as well. Are we more concerned with beauty or with provenance and value? The second half of this book, discusses the careers of six forgers. While I cannot endorse deception, really interesting. The writing style is intelligent and engaging and I recommend this book to those looking for an interesting read. ( )
  SRB5729 | Jan 16, 2013 |
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According to Vasari, the young Michelangelo often borrowed drawings of past masters, which he copied, returning his imitations to the owners and keeping originals. Half a millennium later, Andy Warhol made a game of "forging" the Mona Lisa, questioning the entire concept of originality. Forged explores art forgery from ancient times to the present. In chapters combining lively biography with insightful art criticism, Jonathon Keats profiles individual art forgers and connects their stories to broader themes about the role of forgeries in society. From the Renaissance master Andrea del Sarto who faked a Raphael masterpiece at the request of his Medici patrons, to the Vermeer counterfeiter Han van Meegeren who duped the avaricious Hermann G#65533;ring, to the frustrated British artist Eric Hebborn, who began forging to expose the ignorance of experts, art forgers have challenged "legitimate" art in their own time, breaching accepted practices and upsetting the status quo. They have also provocatively confronted many of the present-day cultural anxieties that are major themes in the arts. Keats uncovers what forgeries--and our reactions to them--reveal about changing conceptions of creativity, identity, authorship, integrity, authenticity, success, and how we assign value to works of art. The book concludes by looking at how artists today have appropriated many aspects of forgery through such practices as street-art stenciling and share-and-share-alike licensing, and how these open-source "copyleft" strategies have the potential to make legitimate art meaningful again. Forgery has been much discussed--and decried--as a crime. Forged is the first book to assess great forgeries as high art in their own right.

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