Art and Craft (Documentary)
Mark Landis is a talented man. He can copy any painting from any time period
in any style. At a glance his works all
look like the real thing. Mr. Landis
has been forging art for thirty years but he cannot be charged with a
crime. He would describe his occupation
as philanthropist. He copies works of
art from museum catalogs he collected as a boy in Europe and donates them to
museums and libraries around the country under various aliases. Yes, he is misrepresenting the artwork with
his intricate stories of provenance and forged ownership and auction
documents. But is he doing anything
wrong?
This is a fascinating look at art
world and how easily curators can be duped by a talented, mentally ill
man. Why don’t these institutions
scrutinize the Picasso donated by a random person who makes an
appointment? Some of these works he
donated multiple times – didn’t anyone check the online catalogs of other
museums? Personally, I can see this
happening in an age before computers, but now it is amazing to me how readily
his donations are accepted.
I found it very hard not to like Mr.
Landis even though I kept waffling on whether he knew what he was doing was
wrong. And really, did he do anything
wrong?
