The Art of the Con: The Most Notorious Fakes, Frauds, and Forgeries in the Art World (28 page)

35.
Panero, “An Old Master in Ruins.”

36.
Otis, “His Exhibit of Goyas, Pollocks, and Ponzis,” 6.

37.
Melissa Grace and Corky Siemaszko, “Art Scammer Gets 6 Yrs. in Slammer,”
New York Daily News,
August 4, 2010, 12.

38.
Philip Boroff and Karen Freifeld, “Distraught Salander, Sentenced to Up to 18 Years, Says Sorry,”
Bloomberg,
August 4, 2010, retrieved August 10, 2014,
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-08-03/art-dealer-salander-gets-up-to-18-years-for-defrauding-investors-clients.html
.

39.
Thomas Zambito, “Dead Man Walking? Bernie Madoff to Be Sentenced Monday,”
New York Daily News,
June 29, 2009, retrieved August 10, 2014,
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/money/dead-man-walking-bernie-madoff-sentenced-monday-article-1.373462
.

40.
Helen O’Neill, “Victims of Art Fraud Describe Personal, Financial Toll,”
Washington Post,
October 24, 2010, E04.

Chapter 4: The Trusting Artist

1.
“Remarks by the President Honoring the Recipients of the 2010 Medal of Freedom,” February 15, 2011, White House, Office of the Press Secretary, retrieved July 12, 2014,
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/02/15/remarks-president-honoring-recipients-2010-medal-freedom
.

2.
Jasper Johns,
Flag
gallery label text, Museum of Modern Art, retrieved July 12, 2014,
http://www.moma.org/collection/object.php?object_id=78805
.

3.
Museum of Modern Art,
MoMA Highlights
rev. ed. (New York: Museum of Modern Art, 1999), 232.

4.
Anne Umland, Jasper Johns’s
Flag,
audio program excerpt, MoMA: Collection, 2008, 420, retrieved July 12, 2014,
http://www.moma.org/collection/object.php?object_id=78805
.

5.
Nina Siegal, “Private View,”
Artnet,
retrieved July 12, 2014,
http://www.artnet.com/Magazine/features/siegel/siegal7-30-04.asp
.

6.
Alanna Martinez, “Sotheby’s to Sell $20M Jasper Johns ‘Flag’ at Fall Contemporary Art Auction,”
New York Observer,
September 23, 2014, retrieved October 10, 2014,
http://observer.com/2014/09/sothebys-to-sell-jasper-johns-flag-at-fall-contemporary-art-auction/
.

7.
Ibid.

8.
Siegal, “Private View.”

9.
The story of the crimes against Johns related to
Flag,
Ramnarine, and other foundries, comes in large measure from his sworn courtroom testimony provided during direct examination in United States v. Brian Ramnarine, S1 12 CR 826 (JGK) (S.D.N.Y. January 23, 2014).

10.
Vanessa Hoheb biography, “Bio,” Hands Across Time, n.d., retrieved July 12, 2014,
http://www.handsacrosstime.com/bio/
.

11.
Testimony of Jasper Johns:
Ramnarine.

12.
The spelling of the collector’s name appears as Sewdutt Harpul in federal court transcripts. However, the Wall Street Journal has reported that this individual’s true name is Sendupt Harpaul.

13.
Testimony of Sarah Taggart:
Ramnarine.

14.
Brendan O’Connor, “Who’s Looking Out For Jasper Johns?”
The Awl,
April 10, 2014, retrieved October 13, 2014,
http://www.theawl.com/2014/04/whos-looking-out-for-jasper-johns
.

15.
Testimony of Jasper Johns:
Ramnarine.

16.
Ibid.

17.
Michael Findlay, “Authenticity, Connoisseurship and the Art Market,” Lecture, International Seminar on the Authentication of Artworks and the Prevention of Forgery, Figueres, Spain, June 19–21, 2011).

18.
Vanita Salisbury, “Kenny Scharf Used to Take Home Turkey Chunks from Work,”
New York Magazine,
September 11, 2013, retrieved July 12, 2014,
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2013/09/kenny-scharf-21-questions.html
.

19.
Jim O’Grady, “At Foundry, A ‘Great Artisan,’ Perhaps a Little Too Great,”
New York Times,
October 27, 2007, sec. 14, 6.

20.
Ibid.

21.
Testimony of Saint Clair Cemin:
Ramnarine,
January 22, 2014.

22.
Transcript of decision by Judge John G. Koeltl:
Ramnarine,
January 14, 2014.

23.
Testimony of Saint Clair Cemin:
Ramnarine.

24.
Ibid.

25.
Robert Brodsky, “Phony Sculptor Cuts a Plea,”
Queens Chronicle,
March 6, 2003, retrieved July 10, 2014,
http://www.qchron.com/editions/central/phony-sculptor-cuts-a-plea-brian-ramnarine-avoids-prison-will/article_2a3a9b4c-73ab-5982-b23b-211338d233b8.htmlq
.

26.
O’Grady, “At Foundry, a ‘Great Artisan.’”

27.
Indictment:
Ramnarine,
November 14, 2012.

28.
Sentencing Submission by United States as to Brian Ramnarine, June 24, 2014:
Ramnarine,
November 14, 2012.

29.
Ibid.

30.
Matthew Rose, “James Meyer’s Ironic Pentameter: A Sunny Massacre of Innocence,” James A. Meyer website, n.d., retrieved July 15, 2014,
http://www.jamesmeyerart.com/matthew_rose_interview.html
.

31.
Ibid.

32.
Patricia Cohen, “Jasper Johns Assistant Charged with Stealing the Artist’s Work,”
New York Times,
August 15, 2013, retrieved July 15, 2014,
http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/08/15/jasper-johns-assistant-charged-with-stealing-the-artists-work/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0
.

33.
“Group Shows and Collections,” James A. Meyer website, retrieved July 15, 2014,
http://www.jamesmeyerart.com/shows_and_collections.html
.

34.
Rose, “James Meyer’s Ironic Pentameter.”

35.
Calvin Tomkins,
Lives of the Artists
(New York: Henry Holt, 2008), 183.

36.
Rose, “James Meyer’s Ironic Pentameter.”

37.
U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of New York and FBI New York Press Office, “Former Studio Assistant to Jasper Johns Charged in Manhattan Federal Court in $6.5 Million Scheme to Sell Stolen Johns Works,” Federal Bureau of Investigation website, August 15, 2013, retrieved July 15, 2014,
http://www.fbi.gov/newyork/press-releases/2013/former-studio-assistant-to-jasper-johns-charged-in-manhattan-federal-court-in-6.5-million-scheme-to-sell-stolen-johns-works
.

38.
Jennifer Maloney, “Jasper Johns’s Assistant Pleads Guilty to Art Theft,”
Wall Street Journal,
August 27, 2014,
http://www.wsj.com/articles/jasper-johnss-assistant-james-meyer-pleads-guilty-to-art-theft-1409177522
; retrieved December 31, 2014.

39.
Civil Complaint: Kolodny v. Meyer et al., 14 CV 3354 (S.D.N.Y. May 8, 2014). As of the date of publication, the civil suit
Frank Kolodny v. James Meyer, Fred Dorfman, and Dorfman Projects LLC
(May 2014) was still pending in federal court.

40.
Civil Complaint:
Kolodny.

41.
“Exhibitions: Jasper Johns: Regrets,” Museum of Modern Art website, March 15, 2014, retrieved July 18, 2014,
http://www.moma.org/visit/calendar/exhibitions/1463
.

42.
Julie L. Belcove, “Regrets Belong to Everybody, Don’t They?”
FT Magazine,
February 14, 2014, retrieved July 18, 2014,
http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/2/65e763c8-9444-11e3-a0e1-00144feab7de.html#axzz37qYR51ZX
.

Chapter 5: The Inheritor

1.
Sally M. Promey, “John Singer Sargent’s
Triumph of Religion
at the Boston Public Library,” Art and Architecture—Descriptions, retrieved on September 27, 2013,
http://www.bpl.org/central/sargenttriumph.htm
.

2.
“The Murals,” n.d., Boston Public Library website, retrieved October 16, 2013,
http://www.sargentmurals.bpl.org/white_site/murals/04_legacy.html
.

3.
“Description and Inspiration,” Boston Public Library website, retrieved October 18, 2013,
http://www.sargentmurals.bpl.org/white_site/murals/03_description.html
.

4.
“Description and Inspiration,” Boston Public Library website, retrieved October 18, 2013,
http://www.sargentmurals.bpl.org/white_site/murals/10_description.html
.

5.
Narayan Khandekar, Gianfranco Pocobene, and Kate Smith,
John Singer Sargent’s
Triumph of Religion
at the Boston Public Library: Creation and Restoration
(Cambridge: Harvard Art Museum, 2009), 39.

6.
“Marouflage Technique” and “Installation,” Boston Public Library website, retrieved October 16, 2013,
http://www.sargentmurals.bpl.org/white_site/restoration/03_tech.html
,
http://www.sargentmurals.bpl.org/white_site/restoration/04_tech.html
, and
http://www.sargentmurals.bpl.org/white_site/restoration/05_tech.html
.

7.
Khandekar, Pocobene, and Smith,
John Singer Sargent’s
Triumph of Religion.

8.
Douglass Shand-Tucci,
The Crimson Letter: Harvard, Homosexuality, and the Shaping of American Culture
(New York: St. Martin’s Griffin, 2004), 126.

9.
Ibid.

10.
“Crime Alert,” n.d., Los Angeles Police Department, City of Los Angeles: Vilas V. Likhite, Fraud and Fake Art Sales, retrieved October 8, 2013,
http://www.docstoc.com/docs/109659265/Vilas-V-Likhite-Fraud-and-Fake-Art-Sales
.

11.
Jeanne Schinto, “The Artful Dodger,”
Boston Magazine,
June 2005,
http://www.bostonmagazine.com/2006/05/the-artful-dodger/print/
.

12.
“Crime Alert.”

13.
Arthur Hughes, excerpt from chronology, Cape Cod Artists’ Registry website, retrieved October 8, 2013,
http://www.capecodartistsregistry.com/ccar_%20web_pages/littlefield_william.html
.

14.
Interview with a law enforcement source, October 2013.

15.
“Crime Alert.”

16.
“The Art of Fraud,”
American Greed,
CNBC, season 2, episode 10, original airdate February 20, 2008.

17.
Kevin Duffy, “Picasso Drawing Called Fake, But Lawsuit Real,”
Atlanta Journal-Constitution,
May 22, 2007, 1D.

18.
Daniel Grant, “Suit Filed over Picasso Drawing,”
Maine Antique Digest,
March 2006, retrieved October 7, 2013,
http://www.mtllp.com/index/suit-filed-over-picasso-drawing
.

19.
Danielle Rahm, “Lack of Authenticating Expert Renders Valuable Artwork Practically Worthless,”
Forbes,
May 16, 2013, retrieved October 7, 2013,
http://www.forbes.com/sites/daniellerahm/2013/05/16/lack-of-authenticating-expert-renders-valuable-artwork-practically-worthless/
.

20.
Affidavit, United States v. Luigi Cugini, 10-MJ-08215, U.S. District Court (S.D. of FLA, August 19, 2010).

21.
Motion for Return of Seized Property: Cugini v. United States, 10-80122 CR Ryskamp, September 21, 2012.

22.
Ibid.

23.
Order Denying as Moot Motion for Return of Seized Property: USA v. Cugini, 10-80122 CR Ryskamp, October 2, 2012.

24.
Motion for the Termination of Supervised Release: Cugini v. USA. 10-80122 CR Ryskamp/Hopkins, September 5, 2013.

Chapter 6: The Captor

1.
Hillarie M. Sheets, “Parting With the Family Van Gogh,”
New York Times,
April 22, 2006, retrieved May 4, 2014,
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/22/arts/design/22gogh.html?pagewanted=print&_r=0
.

2.
John Steinert, “The Impassioned Reader: Literature in the Life and Art of Vincent Van Gogh,” as posted in the “Lot Notes” from the sale and purchase of
L’Arlésienne, Madame Ginoux,
retrieved May 4, 2014,
http://www.christies.com/lotFinder/lot_details.aspx?intObjectID=4701806
.

3.
Sheets, “Parting With the Family Van Gogh.”

4.
Gretchen Voss, “The Lost Cezanne,”
Town & Country,
June/July 2011, 124.

5.
D. H. Lawrence,
Art and the Dread of the Instincts,
in
The Nature of Art,
eds. John Gassner and Sidney Thomas (New York: Crown Publishers, 1964) 92, as abstracted from “Introduction to His Paintings,” published in
Phoenix
(New York: Viking Press, 1936).

6.
Joyce Medina,
Cezanne and Modernism: The Poetics of Painting
(New York: State University of New York, 1985), 83.

7.
From Unclassified FBI File on the investigation into the art theft at the Bakwin residence, #87-BS-96614, Section 1 (982185), obtained from FBI archives via Freedom of Information Act.

8.
Direct examination of Michael Bakwin: United States v. Robert Mardirosian, 07-10075-MLW, U.S. District Court of Massachusetts, September 8, 2008, page 60.

9.
Ibid., page 59.

10.
Sabine C. Hirschauer, “The Lost Art of Crime,”
Daily Press
(Virginia), March 8, 2006, A4.

11.
From Unclassified FBI File 87-BS-96614, Section 1 (982185).

12.
Commonwealth v. Brian K. Matchett, 386 Mass. 492. October 6, 1981–June 14, 1982, Berkshire County, 493–497.

13.
“Artist Bio: Romard,” Royal Gallery, n.d., retrieved May 5, 2014,
http://www.royalgalleryri.com/content/artist-bio-romard
.

14.
Commonwealth v. David Garabedian, 399 Mass. 304. September 10, 1986–February 25, 1987, Middlesex County; Associated Press, “Jurors Reject Pesticide Defense in Woman’s Death,”
Santa Cruz Sentinel,
February 8, 1984. Page 52.

15.
“Art Theft,” Federal Bureau of Investigation website, retrieved May 17, 2014,
http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/investigate/vc_majorthefts/arttheft
.