Fake copies of works by legendary black South African modernist artists are flooding the market - and one university is deploying a range of scientific tests to expose them.
The Museum of the Bible, Washington, DC.
Museum of the Bible
The highly controversial Bible Museum in Washington, D.C., has just announced the withdrawal of five manuscripts deemed counterfeit. Where did these fragments come from and how did they get there?
Satirical Bank Note (1820), highlighting how easy it was to be hanged for spending fake money, despite how prevalent it was.
George Cruikshank and William Hone
Artworks can look very different if you view them with more than the unaided eye, and that can help you spot the fake from the genuine.
The portrait painted by John Cooke in 1915. Back row: (left to right) F. O. Barlow, G. Elliot Smith, Charles Dawson, Arthur Smith Woodward.
John Cooke/wikimedia
Fossils claiming to be the missing link between ape and humans were manipulated in such a way that Charles Dawson, who discovered them, was most likely the forger.
Big Blue Lavender Bay, one of the three paintings at the centre of trial.
AAP Image/Genevieve Gannon
The conviction of two men in relation to the sale of forged Brett Whiteley paintings indicates that Australia needs to get its act together when it comes to authenticating artworks.
Long Island gallerist Glafira Rosales (left) sold fake paintings to Knoedler director Ann Freedman (right), who then turned them around for millions. Was Freedman aware that they were fakes?
The best forgers don’t simply create convincing fakes; they go after the preconceived beliefs of the very people who judge a painting’s value and authenticity.
One of the paintings that Brett Whiteley’s ex-wife Wendy insists is a forgery.
AAP Image/Genevieve Gannon
The current furore over a set of Brett Whiteley paintings has put art fraud back in the headlines. The bad news is that in Australia, the conditions are very favourable for art fakers.
Dulwich Picture Gallery has ordered a cheap replica of an old master painting from a company in China, and are insinuating it into their array of masterpieces – without telling us which one it is. This…
They’re waterproof and tough – not to mention colourful – but plastic notes were developed for their unforgeability.
Lis Ferla/Flickr
Welcome to CSIRO Inventions, a series looking at the discoveries and innovations borne from Australia’s national science agency. In this first instalment, we outline the story behind the plastic money…
Scrawled or legible, your signature is still important.
Losinpun
Jodi Sita, Australian Catholic University and Avni Pepe, La Trobe University
Have you ever had your credit card stolen and used? Did the thief try to forge your scrawled signature, miniaturised on that impossibly tiny and slippery white line on the back of your card? I once had…