HAVANA, August 7 (Eduardo G. Estrada, ANC) – Forging works of art has become a profitable business in Cuba; art collectors decry this development as "an obstacle to honest commerce in art and antiquities."
A recent informal survey found that a considerable number of painters would rather forge well-known paintings rather than dedicate themselves to developing their own work.
A forger specializing in Cuban paintings said: "An oil or acrylic painting can be sold for no more than 100 dollars in [Havana’s] Cathedral Plaza, which isn’t economically feasible because materials must be paid for in dollars at quite high prices. But a Portocarrero or an Amelia
Peláez [early 20th Century Cuban painters] can be sold for hundreds or thousands of dollars, depending on format."
As to how it’s done, the painter said: "We buy a used canvas from the approximate era of the painting to be forged, to save the trouble of aging the cloth. Then, we use the materials the painter used and we paint the work in his style. Finally, we age the oils and sell the piece."
He added that to facilitate the sale to foreign buyers, often older people are used to pose as the owners of the work.
With sculpture, the forgery consists basically in engraving the signatures of European artists to pieces made in the island. This type of work is most often done by sculpture restorers.
Antique dealers here said that the proliferation in forgeries has diminished the interest of foreign collectors in dealing with private dealers. "The number of fake works has meant that many foreign clients will only deal with the State and its galleries," said an antiques dealer in
Miramar, "and we have sustained great losses as a result."
Another source said that the works of European painters, like Picasso, for example, are also forged in Cuba. "Some of these forgeries are now in Europe and Asia and are considered genuine," he said.
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