About 800 works, most still in private collections, are listed in "The Catalog of Fraudulent Art Works" now on its fourth volume. There are "possibly thousands more" still to be named, its co-author Vladimir Roschin said in an interview. The 800 pictures wrongly authenticated by venerable institutions include almost 100 cleared by the State Tretyakov Gallery, its deputy director Lidia Iovleva said in a separate interview.
"Sales in Moscow of 19th-century Russian art have fallen because of the hysteria over fakes," said Georgy Putnikov, vice president of the Confederation of Art and Antique Dealers. The Moscow-based association claimed the catalog and its sponsors are "destabilizing the market" and "destroying consumer confidence."
Dealers and collectors said prices for more expensive works on the Russian art market have risen 20 to 30 fold over the past decade. Sotheby's, the biggest seller of Russian art, said sales in 2007 were US$190.9 million, up 31-fold on 2000. Led by commodities and energy exports, Russia's economy has grown every year since 1999, creating a business and political elite eager to acquire fine art and luxury goods.
The catalog has prompted collectors to return at least 55 paintings to dealers, said Roschin. His partner is Rossvyaz Okhrankultura, a state watchdog agency for culture and the media. Roschin said the 800 fakes, if they had been genuine, would net US$100 million. The fourth volume of the fakes catalog appeared in mid-April. Volume five has been compiled, showing 150 more fakes, and will be published later this year. While 11 volumes were planned, the authors said that after the fifth volume any newly discovered fakes will be listed at Rossvyaz Okhrankultura's Web site, http://www.rsoc.ru.
"This whole affair is the crime of the century in the art world," said Roschin, who himself collects Russian art. "These volumes contain only a small number of the fakes out there."
The Russian State Library named the catalog Best Culture Book of 2007. Each volume has a run of 2,000, half of which are given to museums, scholars, and law-enforcement agencies, said Roschin.
The Confederation of Art and Antique Dealers said proven fakes should be removed quietly from the market by dealers. Roschin said he went public because some dishonest dealers knowingly resell fraudulent paintings to unsuspecting customers.
