Wolfgang Beltracchi

Wolfgang Beltracchi (born Wolfgang Fischer on 4 February 1951) is a German art forger and artist[1] who has admitted to forging hundreds of paintings in an international art scam netting millions of euros. Beltracchi, together with his wife Helene, sold forgeries of alleged works by famous artists, including Max Ernst, Heinrich Campendonk, Fernand Léger and Kees van Dongen. Though he was found guilty for forging 14 works of art that sold for a combined $45m (£28.6m), he claims to have faked "about 50" artists.[2] The total estimated profits Beltracchi made from his forgeries surpasses $100m.[3]

This article is about the German art forger and artist. For the German military officer, see Wolfgang Fischer.
Wolfgang Beltracchi
Born
Wolfgang Fischer

(1951-02-04) 4 February 1951
Höxter, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
Years active1965–2010
Known forArt forger
Spouse(s)
Helene Beltracchi
​
(m. 1993)​

In 2011, after a 40-day trial, Beltracchi was found guilty and sentenced to six years in a German prison.[1][4][5][6][7][8] His wife, Helene, was given a four-year sentence, and both were ordered to pay millions in restitution. Beltracchi was freed on January 9, 2015, having served just over three years in prison.[9]

Biography

Wolfgang Fischer was born 4 February 1951 in Höxter, Germany[10][11] and grew up in Geilenkirchen, Germany. His father was an art restorer and muralist.

According to his own statements, Beltracchi first copied a Pablo Picasso painting when he was 14 years old. He was expelled from secondary school when he was 17 and later went to art school in Aachen. As a young man, he used drugs such a LSD and opium and started doing art forgeries "a little." He travelled through Europe and lived in Amsterdam and Morocco.[4]

He also lived in Mallorca, Spain and France.[1]

In the 1980s, Beltracchi ran an art gallery for a short time with a business partner. The two had a falling out, with the partner accusing Beltracchi of stealing paintings from his house, an accusation Beltracchi vehemently denies.[4]

Beltracchi designed the artwork to The Fall of a Rebel Angel, the eighth studio album from German musical project Enigma. Since his release from prison, Wolfgang and Helene Beltracchi have been living and working as artists on Lake Lucerne in Switzerland.

Personal life

Fischer met Helene Beltracchi in 1992 and, after marrying in 1993, adopted her surname.[4] Since his release from prison, Wolfgang and Helene Beltracchi have been living and working as artists on Lake Lucerne in Switzerland.

Arrest and trial
The Beltracchis' erstwhile villa in Freiburg-Herdern.

Wolfgang and Helene Beltracchi were arrested on 27 August 2010 in Freiburg.[4][12] Their accomplice Otto Schulte-Kellinghaus,[13] who helped place several of the forgeries in the market, was arrested on 1 December 2010.[14]

During the trial in autumn 2011, Beltracchi admitted forging 14 paintings: three by Heinrich Campendonk; two by André Derain; one by Kees van Dongen; five by Max Ernst; one by Fernand Léger; and two by Max Pechstein.[15][12]

On 27 October 2011, Beltracchi was sentenced to six years in jail. His wife Helene was sentenced to four years, and Otto Schulte-Kellinghaus to five years. Helene's sister Jeanette was given a 21-month suspended sentence.[16][17][18]

Aftermath

Wolfgang and Helene Beltracchi were allowed to serve their sentences in an open prison, as long as they had regular jobs. They were employed by a friend's photostudio, leaving prison in the morning and returning after work.[4] While serving his sentence, Beltracchi, in collaboration with a photographer, produced a number of mixed-media works, including paintings embedding photographs of himself.[19] The collaboration ended in September 2012.[20] Helene Beltracchi was released from prison in February 2013.[21] Wolfgang Beltracchi was released from prison in January 2015. He agreed to paint only in his own name and to move from Germany to France.

On 23 February 2015, the CBS News program 60 Minutes[22] interviewed Wolfgang Beltracchi after his release from prison in Germany.[23]

In 2012, journalists Stefan Koldehoff and Tobias Timm published a book about the Beltracchi case.[24] Koldehoff and Timm were awarded the 2012 Annette Giacometti Prize for their work.[25]

In January 2014, Helene and Wolfgang Beltracchi published two books: an autobiography[26] and a collection of letters the pair wrote to each other while in prison.[27]

Beltracchi – Die Kunst der Fälschung (English: Beltracchi: The Art of Forgery),[28] a 2014 documentary about Beltracchi by German filmmaker Arne Birkenstock, won the 2014 German Film Award for Best Documentary Film.[29] Arne Birkenstock's father Reinhard Birkenstock is Wolfgang and Helene Beltracchi's legal counsel.[30]

Beltracchi's forgeries embarrassed many art evaluation firms and numerous customers have sought legal remedy against the art specialists who mistakenly certified the artworks' authenticity.[31]

Burkhard Leismann, director of the Kunstmuseum Ahlen, was charged 19 February 2013 with being an accomplice in the attempted sale of a fake Fernand Léger painting titled Nature morte while knowing the painting to be fake. Leismann denied the charges.[32] The case was closed without going to trial, after Leismann signed a deal with German authorities in April 2014 and paid a €7500 fine. According to his lawyer, a trial would have proven Leismann's innocence, but he wanted the case to be closed quickly.[33]

A French tribunal ruled on 24 May 2013 that Werner Spies and gallery owner Jacques de La Béraudière were to pay an art collector €652,883. The collector had bought Tremblement de terre, a fake painting by Max Ernst, after Spies had declared it to be a genuine Max Ernst painting.[34] However, this decision was overturned by the Court of Appeal of Versailles which ruled that Spies had "expresse[d] an opinion outside of a determined transaction" and could not therefore "be charged with a responsibility equivalent to that of an expert consulted in the context of a sale”. The Court further held that it “cannot be required of the author of a catalogue raisonné to subject each work in a catalogue published under his responsibility to the execution of a scientific expert assessment, which requires the removal of fragments of the work and represents a significant cost”.[35]

A film The Art of Forgery was released in 2014.[36][37][38][39] The BBC reports that Wolfgang Beltracchi currently makes "millions" from selling his original works.[6][7][8][40][41]

Exhibitions

Solo Exhibitions

2014: Der Jahrhundertfälscher. Galerie Christine Brügger, Bern

2015: FREIHEIT. art room9, München / Deutschland

2015: Im Dunkel der Wälder. Kurt Mühlenhaupt Museum, Bergsdorf

2016: Nabocov. Galerie Christine Brügger, Bern

2016: Free Method Painting. art room9, temporary Basel

2018: Kairos. Der Richtige Moment, Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana, Venedig

2018/2019: Kairos. Der Richtige Moment, Barlach Halle K, Hamburg

2019: Kairos. Der Richtige Moment, Bank Austria-Kunstforum Wien, Wien

2019: Bilder aus Kairos.DerRichtigeMoment Schloss Esterházy Lockenhaus, Burgenland

Group Exhibitions

1978: Große Kunstausstellung. Haus der Kunst, München / Deutschland

2015: Mona, Galerie Kornfeld · 68 Projects. Berlin / Deutschland

Art Projects

Art on ice. scenery by Wolfgang Beltracchi

Kairos. Der Richtige Moment[38]

Forgeries

Police have identified 58 paintings they suspect were forged by Beltracchi. Beltracchi has claimed he has forged hundreds of paintings by more than 50 different artists.[1]

To provide a provenance for their fake works of art, Beltracchi and his associates fabricated stories about their grandparents who they claimed had been art collectors in the 1920s: the Sammlung Knops and Sammlung Werner Jägers. The Sammlung Knops (Knops Collection) had allegedly belonged to master tailor Johann Wilhelm Knops from Krefeld, grandfather of Otto Schulte-Kellinghaus; Sammlung Werner Jägers (Werner Jägers Collection) had allegedly belonged to Werner Jägers, Helene Beltracchi's grandfather.

Johann Wilhelm Knops and Werner Jägers were claimed to have been customers of Alfred Flechtheim. Many of the forgeries were labelled with his name.[16] While Knops and Jägers existed, they had not been important art collectors.

List of known forgeries

The Bundesverband Deutscher Kunstversteigerer (German Federation of Art Auctioneers), as a section of its database of known forgeries[42] has published a catalogue of works from the fictional Sammlung Jägers which have been investigated by the LKA. The catalogue lists 54 paintings as per October 2012, fakes presented as works by 24 different artists, including Heinrich Campendonk, Max Ernst, Auguste Herbin, Louis Marcoussis, André Derain, Jean Metzinger, Raoul Dufy, Kees van Dongen and Fernand Léger.[43]

Porträt Oskar Schlemmer by Johannes Molzahn

In 1987 Loretto Molzahn, widow of Johannes Molzahn, paid a Berlin dealer DM60,000 for a portrait her husband had painted in 1930 of Oskar Schlemmer. The dealer had acquired the painting from Wolfgang Fischer. The painting proved to be fake and the Berlin dealer was given a suspended sentence in 1998.[1][44]

Bouquet varié by Moïse Kisling

In 2012, Bouquet varié (mixed bouquet), purportedly a 1937 painting by Moïse Kisling, was listed by French auctioneers Millon to be auctioned in Dubai on 22 October 2012, with an estimate of $150,000–200,000. As its provenance were listed Sammlung Jägers, Köln, Sammlung Beltracchi, Palma, and an auction on 23 March 1994 at Sotheby's in London. The painting was withdrawn from auction when questions were raised about its authenticity. When asked about the painting, Beltracchi commented he "had painted many bouquets of flowers during his life".[45]

Research by Die Zeit revealed that two versions of the painting exist. The painting offered in Dubai had actually been sold by Sotheby's in 1993. The painting sold by Sotheby's in 1994 is different and its whereabouts are unknown.[46]

La Forêt (2) by Max Ernst

In 2004, Beltracchi and his associates sold La Forêt (2), a fake 1927 Max Ernst oil painting, after Werner Spies had appraised it and had issued a certificate of authenticity. He then put Wolfgang's wife Helene in touch with Swiss art dealer Yves Bouvier, best known for the Bouvier Affair, who then sold the painting to investment firm Salomon Trading for €1.8 million ($2.3 million).[47]

Galerie Cazeau-Béraudière lent it to the Max Ernst Museum for a 2006 exhibition and subsequently sold it to collector Daniel Filipacchi for $7 million.[48] The painting is now listed as a forgery from the Sammlung Jägers[43] and is one of the five Max Ernst paintings Beltracchi admitted to forging during the 2011 trial.[49]

Nature morte by Fernand Léger

In early 2006, Otto Schulte-Kellinghaus tried, unsuccessfully, to sell this painting via Parisian art dealers. Together with a forged André Derain painting, it was taken to Kunstmuseum Ahlen in July 2009 where it was shown to prospective customers, including Christie's, which rejected it. Provenance of the painting was the fictional Sammlung Jägers. A deal was being negotiated to sell the painting for €5.8 million to an unknown buyer, when it was seized in the museum by police 25 August 2010.[14] It is one of the fourteen paintings Beltracchi admitted to forging.[50]

Landschaft mit Pferden by Heinrich Campendonk

In July 2004 Steve Martin paid Paris gallery Cazeau-Béraudière €700,000 for Landschaft mit Pferden (Landscape with horses), supposedly painted by Heinrich Campendonk in 1915. In February 2006 Martin sold the painting through Christie's to a Swiss businesswoman for €500,000.[51][52] The painting is now listed as a forgery from the Sammlung Jägers[43] and is one of the fourteen paintings Beltracchi admitted to forging.[53]

Rotes Bild mit Pferden by Heinrich Campendonk

In November 2006, Beltracchi and associates sold Rotes Bild mit Pferden (Red Picture with Horses), supposedly a 1914 painting by Heinrich Campendonk, to Trasteco, a Maltese company, for €2.88 million through Lempertz auctioneers in Cologne. "Rotes Bild mit Pferden" was found to be fake by Artvera's gallery, based in Switzerland.[54] In 2008, a scientific analysis showed the painting contained titanium white, which was not yet available in 1914. Experts identified old gallery labels on the back of the painting as fake.[4] The painting is now listed as a forgery from the Sammlung Jägers[43] and is one of the fourteen paintings Beltracchi admitted to forging.[55]

Trasteco sued for damages, and 28 September 2012 a court in Cologne ruled in its favor: Lempertz was to reimburse Trasteco the full amount. Lempertz announced it would appeal.[56]

In December 2012, the case was settled, with some of Beltracchi's real estate being sold to repay Trasteco €2 million. Lempertz reimbursed Trasteco its €800,000 sales commission as well as some additional costs. This is the first instance of Beltracchi's refunding a buyer of one of his forgeries.[57]

References
  1. Hammer, Joshua (10 October 2012). "The Greatest Fake-Art Scam in History?". Vanity Fair. Condé Nast Publications. Retrieved 12 April 2016.
  2. "Convicted forger claims he faked 'about 50' artists". BBC News. Retrieved 17 January 2016.
  3. "Authentication in Art List of Unmasked Forgers".
  4. Gorris, Lothar; Röbel, Sven (9 March 2012). "Confessions of a Genius Art Forger". Der Spiegel. Retrieved 12 April 2016.
  5. "Wolfgang Beltracchi: portrait of the artist as a conman". YouTube. 2014-04-16. Retrieved 2016-01-17.
  6. McCamley, Frankie (10 May 2015). "BBC Arts - Art Forger freed and making millions". BBC. Retrieved 17 January 2016.
  7. "How Beltracchi, the world′s most famous art forger, plays with the market | Arts | DW.COM | 19.08.2015". DW.COM. Retrieved 17 January 2016.
  8. "A Not-Quite-Great Documentary About the Greatest Art Forger of Our Time". Hyperallergic.com. 21 August 2015. Retrieved 17 January 2016.
  9. "Master Forger Wolfgang Beltracchi Released from Prison - artnet News". News.artnet.com. Retrieved 2016-01-17.
  10. "Keiner will's gewesen sein". 22 September 2011. Archived from the original on 2015-09-23. Retrieved 12 April 2016.
  11. "Vorläufige Sicherungsmaßnahmen".117 Js 407/10 and 110 KLs 17/11 (search for "Wolfgang Beltracchi")
  12. "Escroquerie : les Beltracchi, les "Bonnie and Clyde" de l'art". RTL.fr (in French). Retrieved 2020-10-16.
  13. https://elpais.com/diario/2011/11/13/cultura/1321138802_850215.html
  14. Koldehoff, Stefan; Timm, Tobias (21 November 2011). "Wer kennt diese Bilder?". Die Zeit. Retrieved 8 March 2013.
  15. Falsche Bilder Echtes Geld: pp. 243-270
  16. "Art Forger All Smiles After Guilty Plea Seals Deal". Der Spiegel. 27 October 2011. Retrieved 12 April 2016.
  17. "Wie erwartet: Kunstfälscher Beltracchi muss sechs Jahre in Haft". Express. 27 October 2011. Retrieved 12 April 2016.
  18. http://www.elmundo.es/elmundo/2010/12/22/cultura/1293017934.html
  19. "Selbstverliebte Souvenirs eines großen Betrügers". Süddeutsche Zeitung. 4 March 2012. Retrieved 12 April 2016.
  20. According to the project's website: "The 'Project Beltracchi' are photographic works by Manfred Esser, painted over by Wolfgang Beltracchi...The collaboration ended on 01.09.2012" "Beltracchi Project". Retrieved 17 Oct 2012.
  21. "Kunstfälscher Beltracchi war weltweit aktiv - Kultur-News - Süddeutsche.de". 16 January 2014.
  22. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1si3JYWZxNg
  23. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/art-forger-wolfgang-beltracchis-multimillion-dollar-scam/
  24. Falsche Bilder Echtes Geld
  25. "Fondation Giacometti - Grants and Prizes - The laureates". Fondation-giacometti.fr. Retrieved 17 January 2016.
  26. Selbstporträt
  27. Einschluss mit Engeln
  28. Beltracchi – The Art of Forgery at IMDb
  29. "Beltracchi: The Art of Forgery" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 May 2014. Retrieved 27 May 2014.
  30. "Kunstfälscher Beltracchi lehnt geplante Filmkomödie ab". Focus. 3 July 2012. Retrieved 12 April 2016.
  31. Bob Simon (23 February 2014). "Art forger Wolfgang Beltracchi's multimillion dollar scam". CBS News. Retrieved 17 March 2014.
  32. Röbel, Sven (7 Mar 2013). "Beltracchi-Fälschungen: Anklage gegen Museumsdirektor erhoben". Der Spiegel. Retrieved 8 Mar 2013.
  33. Fricke, Christiane (11 April 2014). "Burkhard Leismann: Glimpfliches Ende für Ahlener Museumsdirektor". Handelsblatt. Retrieved 12 April 2016.
  34. "L'historien d'art Werner Spies condamné pour avoir mal authentifié une toile de Max Ernst". 27 May 2013. Retrieved 12 April 2016. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  35. http://theartnewspaper.com/news/max-ernst-mistaken-authentication-ruling-overturned/
  36. "'Beltracchi: The Art of Forgery' ('Beltracchi: Die Kunst der Falschung'): Montreal Review". The Hollywood Reporter. Prometheus Global Media. 29 August 2014. Retrieved 17 January 2016.
  37. "Global Screen". Globalscreen.de. Retrieved 17 January 2016.
  38. "Beltracchi: The Art of Forgery (2014)". Blu-ray.com. 19 August 2015. Retrieved 17 January 2016.
  39. "Beltracchi - The Art of Forgery, Subtitled Trailer | German Currents 2014". YouTube. 1 October 2014. Retrieved 17 January 2016.
  40. "Wolfgang Beltracchi and the Biggest Art Scandal | Guardian Liberty Voice". Guardianlv.com. 23 February 2014. Retrieved 17 January 2016.
  41. Cheng, Susan (3 March 2014). "Meet Wolfgang Beltracchi, the World's Greatest Art Forger". Complex.com. Retrieved 17 January 2016.
  42. "A project against Art Forgery on the German Art Market" (PDF). kunstversteigerer. 2 May 2014. Retrieved 12 April 2016.
  43. "Bundesverband Deutscher Kunstversteigerer" (PDF). Retrieved October 2, 2012.
  44. Wiegelmann, Lucas (27 Oct 2011). "Kurzer Prozess". Die Welt. Retrieved 17 January 2016.
  45. Röbel, Sven (10 Oct 2012). "Beltracchi-Bild im Wüstensand". Der Spiegel. Retrieved 17 January 2016.
  46. Koldehoff, Stefan; Timm, Tobias (25 Oct 2012). "Oh, wie schön ist Panama". Die Zeit. Retrieved 12 April 2016.
  47. Critique, Art (2020-01-24). "The Long Game: how Wolfgang Beltracchi conned the art world". Art Critique. Retrieved 2020-10-16.
  48. "The $7 Million Fake: Forgery Scandal Embarrasses International Art World". Der Spiegel. 13 Jun 2011.
  49. Falsche Bilder Echtes Geld: p. 254
  50. Falsche Bilder Echtes Geld: p. 259
  51. "Steve Martin Swindled: German Art Forgery Scandal Reaches Hollywood". Der Spiegel. 30 May 2011.
  52. "Steve Martin victim of German art forgery gang". The Guardian. 1 Jun 2011. Retrieved 12 April 2016.
  53. Falsche Bilder Echtes Geld: p. 247
  54. "Cologne-based auction house Lempertz charged in sale of false Campendonk painting". ArtDaily. October 6, 2012.
  55. Falsche Bilder Echtes Geld: p. 248
  56. "Lempertz to Appeal Court Decision for €2.9 Million Fine for Selling Forged Painting". 2 October 2012. Retrieved 17 January 2016.
  57. "Schadensersatz : Kunstfälscher Beltracchi muss selbst zahlen". Der Spiegel. 10 December 2012. Retrieved 8 March 2013.

Sources
  • Koldehoff, Stefan; Timm, Tobias (2012). Falsche Bilder Echtes Geld: Der Fälschungscoup des Jahrhunderts – und wer alles daran verdiente [False Pictures Real Money: The fake art coup of the century - and who made money from it] (in German) (1st ed.). Berlin: Galiani. ISBN 978-3-86971-057-0.
    Translations:
    • Koldehoff, Stefan; Timm, Tobias (2013). L'Affaire Beltracchi : Enquête sur l'un des plus grands scandales de faux tableaux du siècle et sur ceux qui en ont profité (in French). Jacqueline Chambon Editions. ISBN 978-2330018283.
  • Beltracchi, Helene; Beltracchi, Wolfgang (2014). Selbstporträt (in German). Rowohlt. ISBN 978-3498060633.
  • Beltracchi, Helene; Beltracchi, Wolfgang (2014). Einschluss mit Engeln: Gefängnisbriefe vom 31.8.2010 bis 27.10.2011 (in German). Rowohlt. ISBN 978-3498044985.
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