Art Forgery

1. Art Forgery Intro and Lab

3. Claude Monet’s Water Lilies(1840-1926) Impressionists • Short loose brush strokes • Different colors allowing eyes to mix the colors

5. Vincent Van Gogh’s Sunflowers(1853 – 1890) Post Impressionists • Loose brush strokes • Texture • Intense Color

7. Jackson Pollock’s Paint Drippings(1912-1956) Abstract Expressionist • Sweeping brush strokes • Dripped paints • Non objectives • Interwoven color wildly on canvas

8. Electromagnetic Radiation Rays of ultraviolet light, with a wavelength of about 350nm, will reveal touch ups of new paint which fluoresces in deep blue violet tones compared to the old surface which shines a light purple where the varnish remains and no retouching has occurred.

9. Microscopic Examination • Can reveal an art forgery • Machine woven canvas has been available only since about 1850. Since then, machine woven, canvases commercially primed have been used by artists. • Not always exact. Forgers find ways around this.

10. Chemical Analysis • Historical evidence that dates the use of certain paint pigments is available. • Midieval times – Carbon, gold, Silver, tin, mercury, and sulfur were sometimes used as pigments in their pure state. • Middle Ages – Iron oxides, copper carbonates were used in color • Modern Age – lead compounds have been banned from all paint materials

11. The Lab

12. Assume That…. • All three artists used paints containing lead ions. (These paints have been banned in recent years) • All three artists used unmixed or layered paints rather than highly mixed colors. • Modern paints fluoresce under ultraviolet light

13. Three Methods • Look at three pieces of artwork • Ultraviolet Light Test • Chemical Analysis • Microscopic Examination