On Our Book Shelf: The Art Forger

For those art aficionados, as well as those who enjoy a good mystery, you will find "The Art Forger" by B.A. Shapiro highly entertaining, as well as extremely informative.  As well as weaving together a suspenseful and engaging plot, she provides so many accurate details about art history, painting techniques, famous artists, and -- most interesting -- how the art (and it is an "art") of forgery is accomplished.  The main character is a talented, but unheralded painter named Claire who, in order to rescue her depressed artist boy-friend from of his funk of long-duration, takes one of his unfinished works and completes it as he lies on the couch observing her and occasionally offering suggestions.  Upon completion, the painting is heralded as his very best work - a masterpiece - that boosts his reputation to new heights. Claire's contribution remains secret and unacknowledged.

But the main plot involves an art dealer named Markel who brings her what he asserts is one of Degas' famous masterpiece series entitled "After the Bath," missing for years following its theft in the 1990 heist at the Isabella Gardner Museum in Boston.  Claire may not be well-known, but she is an expert on forgery since she is engaged in legitimate reproduction work of masterpieces for interested buyers.  She recognizes "After the Bath" for the fake that it is and through diligent research, realizes that no connoisseur  has ever realized it is a forgery in all the years at the Gardner Museum.  Eventually, Claire falls in love with Markel, which complicates things immensely.  As she creates a reproduction of the forged "After the Bath," she does not share with him her certainty that this painting is not the "real thing."

The best feature of this book is the very intricate description, step-by-step, of the process of forging a piece of art.  First, it is necessary to locate a painting from the same time period because the canvas will be stripped down to its sizing and laboriously prepared to take the reproduction. Claire has studied a master Dutch forger from the early 20th century, Han van Meegeren, who invented this process -- painting the new one over the old to "maintain the craquelure, then using formaldehyde as an additive to harden the paint, then baking each layer to dessicate the paint so it is as dry as it would have been after centuries, further aging the painting with a final wash of India ink and tinted varnish." After the completion of this task, she hands over the painting to Markel who, in return, has promised her her own "one woman" show at his gallery, but he is arrested before that can take place.  Now the plot deepens, since she could reveal the fact that he never had the original Degas in the first place which might exonerate him from culpability.  Furthermore, after additional sleuthing, she is convinced she knows where the real Degas might be hidden. 

This is a provocative story on many levels. There is a great deal of theorizing about authenticity -- whether a "great" forgery is nevertheless a great painting; also what is the "real" motive for collecting and owning art?  Is it an aesthetic appreciation for the work itself or is it a selfish desire to own and hoard what others cannot have.  What about the thousands of struggling, extremely talented artists who might indeed be superior to the "star" of the moment, but never achieve recognition?  "The Art Forger" combines a most engaging, cleverly inventive and thrilling plot with meticulous research of art history; I highly recommend it.