Nineteen « New Guinea » sculptures by a mystery hoaxer from the Gene van Grecken Collection
In the 1960s Jean Guiart bought fifteen « New Guinea » woodcarvings from Gene van Grecken in Sydney for the National Museum of the Arts of Africa and Oceania in Paris and published nine of them. Some authorities on New Guinea art considered them forgeries and two of these advised Guiart of this but...
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| izdano v: | URI:https://journals.openedition.org/jso, |
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| Glavni avtor: | |
| Format: | Article ou chapitre numérique |
| Jezik: | Anglais |
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Journal de la société des océanistes
2017
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| Online dostop: | Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM |
| Izvleček: | In the 1960s Jean Guiart bought fifteen « New Guinea » woodcarvings from Gene van Grecken in Sydney for the National Museum of the Arts of Africa and Oceania in Paris and published nine of them. Some authorities on New Guinea art considered them forgeries and two of these advised Guiart of this but he rejected their judgement. The issue was referred to only once in print very briefly in a Sotheby’s sales catalogue. In 1987, van Grecken offered a further seven « New Guinea » woodcarvings for sale at auction in Sydney. They are similar to those bought by Guiart and are also inauthentic. This essay illustrates twelve of the carvings van Grecken sold to Guiart in the 1960s and the seven carvings he offered for sale in 1987 and argues for the view that they are not forgeries but part of a hoax perpetrated by an Australian artist, who remains anonymous, perhaps to see whether experts on New Guinea art can tell genuine woodcarvings from pastiches. |
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