Cheating, Copying & Learning
I just read a review of a new book, Caveat Emptor by Ken Perenyi . Perenyi was a talented fine art forger, who went legit, and thanks to the statute of limitations, is telling all. The book sounds like a wonderful read, and Mr. Perenyi sounds like a technical genius, but I’d like to go off on a tangent (as I always do). “Good artists borrow, great artists steal” –Pablo Picasso (possibly) “If I have seen further it is by standing on ye sholders of Giants.” – Sir Isaac Newton Forgery is wrong, because you are attributing your work to a famous artist so as to cheat a buyer. That the buyer wants the painting only for the name is silly, but that is the way the game is played these days. In fact people sometimes seem to want to be lied to. In the field of antique armor a good story regarding the history of a suit of armor (read lie) normally makes the buyer pay more and leave happier. Copying on the other hand, is good, because it make...