[CPProt.net] Korea: Celebrate forgeries with own museum

[MSN CPPnet (Ton Cremers)]

Celebrate forgeries with own museum
JoongAng Daily Korea | Lee Hoon-beom 

October 11, 2005

KOREA 

The history of fake art is as long as the history of art itself. The debate
over the authenticity of the "Wounded Bison" in Altamira Cave in Spain
started as soon as the Paleolithic mural was discovered. People found it
hard to believe that primitive men from 15,000 BC could paint such a vivid
naturalistic depiction. The suspicion over the authenticity of the
painting's heritage cleared only after similar primitive cave paintings were
found elsewhere decades later.

The most famous forgery in human history is the Shroud of Turin. The linen
cloth that was supposedly wrapped around the body of Jesus after his
crucifixion was made known to the world when a French nobleman displayed it
in his chapel. In medieval Europe, fabricated holy objects were common as
forgers could make money from pilgrims who visited to see the sacred
objects. The Holy See declared the shroud to be not genuine. Pope Clement
VII permitted the exhibition of the Shroud, but only if a priest declared in
a "loud and intelligible voice" that it was not the real shroud of Christ,
but only a painting made to represent it.

Despite the scientific proof, the controversy over the authenticity of the
Turin Shroud continues. The shroud is a special example, but the soul of a
fake is just as good as that of the real one. Han van Meegeren stirred
Europe after World War II. He was charged with treason for having sold the
works of Vermeer, the national treasure of the Netherlands, to the Nazis.
The frightened van Meegeren confessed he forged the Vermeer himself. No one
believed him because the painting had been highly praised and authenticated
by an authority and then a prestigious museum had purchased it at a high
price. Mr. van Meegeren had to paint another Vermeer work in court to prove
the painting he had sold to the Nazis had indeed been forged.

In Korea, fakes are not only in good quality but large in quantity. All 58
questionable works by Lee Joong-Sup and Park Soo-keun were proven to be
fakes. A rumor circulated that 80 percent of Lee Joong-Sup's supposed works
and 40 percent of Park Soo-Keun's were forgeries. A few years ago, an
exhibition of Jeong Chang-mo, a painter who went to North Korea, was
canceled because only six of 50 selected works turned out to be authentic. 

Korea should have a museum of fake art, such as the Museums Vledder in the
Netherlands which only displays forged art. If the work of a master forger
can fool a professional art critic, it can serve visitors to the museum, who
enjoy art for its beauty, not as an investment. After all, the sculptor
August Rodin admired the beauty of the sculpture of Tanagra Venus, even
knowing it was a fake. 

by Lee Hoon-beom <cielbleu at joongang.co.kr>

The writer is the head of the JoongAng Ilbo's weekend news team.


http://joongangdaily.joins.com/200510/09/200510092130571079900090109012.html