Forgery, crime plaguing art world<\/p>\n
By Reita I. Malaon<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian art market has enjoyed a boom
\nsince 1998, despite the economic crisis. You can visit any major
\nart gallery or attend various art auctions and witness the
\nincreasing appreciation for works of art.<\/p>\n
The previous record price of Rp 1 billion paid for Joko
\nPekik's Berburu Celeng (Hunting a Pig) was surpassed by the Rp
\n2.6 billion paid for W.G. Hofker's Portrait of the Seated Ni
\nNoneh, which was sold during an auction held by Larasati last
\nOctober.<\/p>\n
These figures attest to the public's interest in paintings not
\njust for their artistic value, but as investments. And those
\npurchasing art are not only established collectors, with a
\ngrowing number of younger people eager to acquire works of art.<\/p>\n
However, as demand for works of art has grown, art crimes,
\nespecially forgery, have also risen.<\/p>\n
The Indonesian art market is saturated with forged paintings.
\nThere are even dealers who specialize in selling forged works of
\nart. And the big auction houses like Christie's and Sotheby's,
\nwhich have been auctioning major Indonesian paintings since about
\n1994 in Singapore, are not immune to this plague.<\/p>\n
Some questions have been raised upon the authenticity of
\nseveral paintings in their collections. There was even one
\nincident where the family of the late S. Sudjojono submitted a
\nclaim on a stolen painting from their private collection
\nwhich turned up for auction at Sotheby's Singapore.<\/p>\n
When we saw the catalog for Sotheby's October 2000 auction, we
\nimmediately saw that one of the six Sudjojono paintings that were
\nbeing offered in the listing was the one that was missing from
\nour private collection, said Pandanwangi, the daughter of
\nSudjojono.<\/p>\n
The painting was originally titled Djuang Main Yukulele
\n(Djuang Plays the Ukulele), but in the catalog it was titled Girl
\nwith Violin.<\/p>\n
It was so obvious that was not the title of the painting since
\nshe is not playing a violin but a ukulele. And of the other five
\npaintings, we suspected four of them were forged. We directly
\ncontacted Sotheby's to clear these matters, unfortunately they
\nseemed to be reluctant to be of any help about the stolen and
\nforged paintings, she said.<\/p>\n
They still went ahead and auctioned them and one painting
\nthat we suspected was forged was sold. Afterward, we invited the
\nbuyer to verify the authenticity of the painting but so far we
\nhave not received any word from the party, added Pandanwangi.<\/p>\n
\"Since the time of my husband's death in 1986, we have been
\nreceiving requests to authenticate his paintings, and sadly only
\nabout 20 to 25 percent of them were originals,\" she said.<\/p>\n
It is impossible, of course, not to think of the
\ncontroversial halted auction of world-class paintings by Van Gogh
\nand Rembrandt a couple months back at The Regent Hotel in
\nJakarta. The obvious reason for this debacle was the huge profits
\nawaiting the forgers and sellers.<\/p>\n
One dealer who specialized in forged paintings justified his
\nactions as fulfilling the needs of the customers. \"They came to
\nme only for the fake ones,\" he said, adding that if he didn't do
\nit there were lots of others who would.<\/p>\n
Art crime is not exclusive to Indonesia. It is a big business
\nin European countries and the United States. But what makes the
\ncrimes here in Indonesia seem so ridiculously easy to pull off?<\/p>\n
First of all is the lack of clear laws dealing with such
\ncriminal acts, said noted art critic and curator, Amir
\nSidharta.<\/p>\n
Our law enforcers do not have the capability or the
\ninfrastructure to deal with these crimes. But the weak laws are
\nnot the only culprit. Another major factor is that the academic
\nworld in Indonesia is unprepared to tackle the problem, he said.<\/p>\n
\"We do not have an adequate record of the paintings of our
\nmajor painters, let alone the younger generation. The only one
\nthat has such a list is Affandi,\" said Amir.<\/p>\n
As a result there are no references to ascertain the
\nauthenticity of many works. Moreover, there is a blank spot in
\nIndonesia's painting history.<\/p>\n
In the aftermath of the Communist upheaval in the mid-1960s,
\nmany major works of art were burned by the authorities,
\nespecially those painted by artists from LEKRA, a cultural
\norganization related to the now-defunct PKI Communist Party.<\/p>\n
So there is sparse knowledge about the works of those artists
\nfrom the 1950s through the 1960s.<\/p>\n
\"Another problem is that we do not have a stolen art registry
\nthat we can use to check on works of dubious origin,\" said Amir,
\nwho is currently in the process of creating a database for the
\nworks of artist Erica Hestu Wahyuni.<\/p>\n
\"(The database) is sorted by period so I can use it as a
\nreference to determine the authenticity of any of Erica's work
\nthat comes my way. And the next project will be for
\nS. Sudjojono's works,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Also, there simply are not enough art experts here to guard
\nagainst forgery.<\/p>\n
Art institutions like The Yogyakarta Art Institute or The
\nJakarta Art Institute have long produced master painters, but
\nonly a handful of their graduates have chosen to remain on the
\nobserving side.<\/p>\n
The inadequate number of art experts and a lack of written
\nrecords compound the problem.<\/p>\n
Putting an end to art crimes is clearly a major task that must
\nbe handled by the academic world and the art authorities, with
\nassistance from the government.<\/p>\n
So in the future art lovers can acquire a Hendra or a
\nSudjojono with greater certainty. And no art auctioneer -- like
\nthe one from the halted auction at the Regent Hotel -- will have
\nto state that one should buy a painting for its aesthetic value,
\nregardless of its authenticity.<\/p>",
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