I recently saw the movie “Art and Craft”, a documentary about the the contemporary forger Mark Landis. It raises a number of issues that I find interesting, and his forgery of the Mona Lisa is currently on display at Think Coffee (Mercer St. location) in NYC. The entire post is on the American Institute of Conservation’s Blog, link below.
“Conservators have an uneasy relationship with forgery. Often knee-jerk reactions arise: outrage, indignation, feelings of being duped, and sometimes a closet admiration of a particular craft skill. While certainly valid, and generally true, they can be somewhat of a conversation stopper. Deep down, I find myself a bit envious that forgers get so much media attention, and that this attention is generally overwhelmingly sympathetic. Conservation is just as interesting, right?
Some examinations of philosophic aspects forgery within the field of conservation include… Read the rest on AIC’s Conservators Converse Blog
Peachey Conservation 