HCM City museum displays forged paintings
VOV.VN - The HCM City Fine Arts Museum claims it has been tricked into purchasing and displaying 15 abstract paintings in the style of Nguyen Thanh Chuong and displaying them as authentic both in the City and at exhibitions in Europe.
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The paintings are part of exhibition that toured Europe from July 10-21, which purportedly showcased authentic paintings by Vietnamese artists.
The fraud was uncovered by Mr Chuong after he noticed one of his paintings on display at the Museum had been skilfully forged with the name of artist Ta Ty.
Art sleuths have now also uncovered two other paintings that were part of the European exhibition to be forgeries as well.
Art forgery is as old as art itself, said Mr Chuong, who showed up with two reporters from the New York Times for a meeting regarding the matter on July 19 at the museum. So it is still baffling as the how this all unfolded.
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| Painter Nguyen Thanh Chuong |
Luong Xuan Doan, vice chairman of the Vietnam Fine Arts Association, has called the situation scandalous and "an insult to Vietnam fine arts."
"All local artists are outraged,” said Mr Doan, as the paintings are of such poor quality and are obviously forgeries. It is inconceivable the staff at the Museum were unaware of the fraud.
“Anyone can see with the naked eye they are fake."
He said many people, including officials, have been aware of the problem at the Museum for a number of years but had no evidence until now.
Local authorities are continuing to investigate the matter.
