Mark Landis: Difference between revisions

Mark A. Landis
Mark A. Landis
Born	Mark Augustus Landis; April 1955; Laurel, Mississippi
Nationality	American
Education	Art Institute of Chicago
Known for	Painting, forgery

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Mark A. Landis, born in Laurel, Mississippi, april 1955, is an american painter and forger. He has painted a large number of faux, which he successfully donated to american art museums.

Biography

His grandfather, Arthur Landis, was a director at the now defunct Auburn Automobile company.^[1] His father, an officer of the US Navy, was assigned to NATO in Europe, and lived with his family in London, Paris and Brussels. At 17, Mark Landis was deeply struck by the loss of his father. He was cured for 18 months in a Kansas hospital, diagnosed as schizophrenic. He attended art courses at the Art Institute of Chicago then in San Francisco, where he subsequently worked in the commerce of art; among other things, he worked for the maintenance of damaged paintings.^[2]^[3] He bought an art gallery, but it was not successful. Broke at 30, he decided to return and live with his mother. Beforehand, he wished to make a gesture that would please his mother and honour the memory of his father: donate a copy of a Maynard Dixon to a California museum; this first successful attempt convinced him to repeat the feat.^[4] For more than 20 years, he donated all kinds of faux pieces of art to institutions in the U.S., including more than 50 museums.^[5] He chose preferably small sized-museums, which did not have the powerful means of analysis of the larger ones. While not all institutions were duped, the whole process went fairly unnoticed, and unstopped, for more than 20 years, in spite of the large number of dispersed forgeries. Landis even donated the faux several times or a same work to different museums.

During this period, Landis also produced original work; some are sold through Narsad Artworks. As of 2012, it was still possible to buy stationery bearing the Magnolias by Landis.^[6] He moves often, having lived at more than 15 different addresses between 1985 and 2000. Patsy Hollister, Narsad co-founder, believes Landis probably is more bipolar than schizophrenic, with an ability to paint extremely fast. Says Landis, talking about icons: "I gave to hundreds of churches."^[4] Landis also is said to have worked in animation and advertisement.^[7]

Landis' success derives not so much from the perfection of his faux (sometimes a basic test exposes the forgery) than from his ability to copy all kinds of styles, helped by a strong sense of deception and a strange and soft approach which obfuscates specialists.

Investigation

In 2007, Landis offered several works to the Oklahoma City Museum of Art, among them a watercolour by Louis Valtat, a harbor scene by Paul Signac, a self-portrait by Marie Laurencin, an oil painting by Stanislas Lépine, a nude and a drawing by Daumier.^[8] The registrar, Matthew Leininger, had the pieces investigated by his team. They discovered a very similar Signac has been offered to the SCAD Museum of Art. A press release even signaled the donation of the same Signac, Avery and Laurencin.^[9] It also provided Mark Landis real name. Leininger investigated further, and discovered Landis tripped more than 45 museums in 19 different cities. He warned museums, providing available photos of Landis. At this stage, the investigation remained confidential.

In September 2010, Landis went to the Paul and Lulu Hilliard University Art Museum in Lafayette, Louisiana, under the identity of a jesuit priest, Father Arthur Scott. He donated a painting by Charles Courtney Curran, under the pretext of the loss of his mother. The director Mark Tullos asked registrar Joyce Penn to check out the painting. Penn checked the painting under blacklight, and the colors glowed suspiciously. A microscope observation then showed a dot-matrix pattern, hinting that a mere photocopy of the original had been projected on the board and then painted over. Joyce Penn dued deeper and links up with Leininger's investigation. In November 2010, The Art Newspaper published a complete paper on the matter,^[8] inspiring other publishers such as FT.^[2] The last known attempt by Landis took place in November 2010, again under the Father Arthur Scott identity, at the Ackland Art Museum, with a French academy drawing.^[10]

Law infrigement

It is not clear that Mark Landis has actually broken any law, especially in view of the fact that no action has been opened against him (2012), and no court decision has ever been made. The fact that he drew no revenue from his actions certainly eliminates a number of possible accusations; also, he mainly addressed his donations to people who are actual specialists, and normally geared to eliminate such pranks on a routine basis.

Exhibition

Painters and authors copied

Hans von Aachen ^[11]

Milton Clark Avery

William-Adolphe Bouguereau ^[11]

Charles Courtney Curran

Marie Laurencin
Stanislas Lépine (Terrassiers au Trocadero)^[12] · ^[13]

Abraham Lincoln (electoral tract)
Alfred Jacob Miller (Head of a Sioux)^[2]

Picasso

Everett Shinn

Paul Signac (Le Trieux) ^[12] · ^[13]

Works

Pastoral peace ^[14]
Woman and boys on beach^[15]
Young girl^[16]
Sisters^[17]
Woman and children in water ^[18]
Ride in the park ^[19]
Tree alone ^[20]
Autumn scene ^[21]
Blue dress ^[22]
Magnolias ^[23]
Pink dress ^[24]
Tropical scene ^[25]
Vase of flowers ^[26]
White dress ^[27]

Notes

^ "Appointments To New Offices" (PDF). Schenectady Gazette. January 3, 1934. p. 9. Retrieved January 4, 2012.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Gapper, John (January 21, 2011). "The forger's story". Financial Times. Retrieved April 4, 2012.
^ ^a ^b Hyde, Jesse. "Art Forger Mark Landis". Maxim. Retrieved April 4, 2012.
^ ^a ^b Template:Fr"Moi, Mark Landis, peintre, faussaire et philanthrope". Le Point.
^ "FAUX REAL: A Forgers Story". Art Hopper. Retrieved April 4, 2012.
^ "Magnolias, stationery". Narsad Artworks. Retrieved April 4, 2012.
^ "Meet the Artists". Narsad. Retrieved April 4, 2012.
^ ^a ^b Stoilas, Helen (November 11, 2010). "'Jesuit priest' donates fraudulent works". The Art Newspaper. Retrieved April 4, 2012.
^ "SCAD Museum of Art Announces Significant New Donations From Mark Landis" (Press release). Design Taxi. June 30, 2008. Retrieved April 4, 2012.
^ Kennedy, Randy (January 1, 2011). "Elusive Forger, Giving but Never Stealing". New York Times. Retrieved April 4, 2012.
^ ^a ^b Museum plays April Fools' joke on prolific forger The Wichita Eagle
^ ^a ^b Newspaper: Forger gave paintings to SLU art museum, St Louis today
^ ^a ^b Selected recent acquisitions, St Louis University
^ https://www.narsadartworks.org/artauction/images/36_PastoralPeace_ML.jpg Pastoral peace
^ Woman and boys on beach
^ Young girl
^ Sisters
^ Woman and children in water
^ Ride in the park
^ Tree alone
^ Autumn scene
^ Blue dress
^ Magnolias
^ Pink dress
^ Tropical scene
^ Vase of flowers
^ White dress

External links

[1] "Appointments To New Offices" (PDF). Schenectady Gazette. January 3, 1934. p. 9. Retrieved January 4, 2012.

[FT-2] Gapper, John (January 21, 2011). "The forger's story". Financial Times. Retrieved April 4, 2012.

[Max-3] Hyde, Jesse. "Art Forger Mark Landis". Maxim. Retrieved April 4, 2012.

[LP-4] Template:Fr"Moi, Mark Landis, peintre, faussaire et philanthrope". Le Point.

[Arth-5] "FAUX REAL: A Forgers Story". Art Hopper. Retrieved April 4, 2012.

[6] "Magnolias, stationery". Narsad Artworks. Retrieved April 4, 2012.

[7] "Meet the Artists". Narsad. Retrieved April 4, 2012.

[TAN-8] Stoilas, Helen (November 11, 2010). "'Jesuit priest' donates fraudulent works". The Art Newspaper. Retrieved April 4, 2012.

[9] "SCAD Museum of Art Announces Significant New Donations From Mark Landis" (Press release). Design Taxi. June 30, 2008. Retrieved April 4, 2012.

[NYT-10] Kennedy, Randy (January 1, 2011). "Elusive Forger, Giving but Never Stealing". New York Times. Retrieved April 4, 2012.

[we-11] Museum plays April Fools' joke on prolific forger The Wichita Eagle

[stl-12] Newspaper: Forger gave paintings to SLU art museum, St Louis today

[SLU-13] Selected recent acquisitions, St Louis University

[14] ttps://www.narsadartworks.org/artauction/images/36_PastoralPeace_ML.jpg Pastoral peace

[15] Woman and boys on beach

[16] Young girl

[17] Sisters

[18] Woman and children in water

[19] Ride in the park

[20] Tree alone

[21] Autumn scene

[22] Blue dress

[23] Magnolias

[24] Pink dress

[25] Tropical scene

[26] Vase of flowers

[27] White dress

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@@ Line 36: / Line 36: @@
 His grandfather, Arthur Landis, was a director at the now defunct [[Auburn Automobile]] company.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://fultonhistory.com/newspaper%208/Schenectady%20NY%20Gazette/Schenectady%20NY%20Gazette%201934%20Grayscale/Schenectady%20NY%20Gazette%201934%20Grayscale%20-%200046.pdf |title=Appointments To New Offices |newspaper=Schenectady Gazette |date=January 3, 1934 |page=9 |accessdate=January 4, 2012}}</ref> His father, an officer of the [[US Navy]], was assigned to [[NATO]] in Europe, and lived with his family in [[London]], [[Paris]] and [[Brussels]]. At 17, Mark Landis was deeply struck by the loss of his father. He was cured for 18 months in a [[Kansas]] hospital, [[diagnosis|diagnosed]] as [[schizophrenia|schizophrenic]]. He attended art courses at the [[Art Institute of Chicago]] then in [[San Francisco]], where he subsequently worked in the commerce of art; among other things, he worked for the maintenance of damaged paintings.<ref name="FT">{{cite news |url=http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/2/5905c640-2359-11e0-8389-00144feab49a.html#axzz1BsxVgbVk |title=The forger’s story |first=John |last=Gapper |newspaper=Financial Times |date=January 21, 2011 |accessdate=April 4, 2012}}</ref><ref name="Max">{{cite magazine |url=http://www.maxim.com/true-crime/art-forger-mark-landis |title=Art Forger Mark Landis |journal=Maxim |first=Jesse |last=Hyde |accessdate=April 4, 2012}}</ref> He bought an art gallery, but it was not successful. Broke at 30, he decided to return and live with his mother. Beforehand, he wished to make a gesture that would please his mother and honour the memory of his father: donate a copy of a [[Maynard Dixon]] to a California museum; this first successful attempt convinced him to repeat the feat.<ref name="LP">{{fr}}{{cite web |url=http://www.lepoint.fr/societe/moi-mark-landis-peintre-faussaire-et-philanthrope-21-04-2011-1324103_23.php |title=Moi, Mark Landis, peintre, faussaire et philanthrope |work=Le Point}}</ref> For more than 20 years, he donated all kinds of faux pieces of art to institutions in the U.S., including more than 50 museums.<ref name="Arth">{{cite news |url=http://arthopper.org/event/faux-real-a-forgers-story |title=FAUX REAL: A Forgers Story |publisher=Art Hopper |accessdate=April 4, 2012}}</ref> He chose preferably small sized-museums, which did not have the powerful means of analysis of the larger ones. While not all institutions were duped, the whole process went fairly unnoticed, and unstopped, for more than 20 years, in spite of the large number of dispersed forgeries. Landis even donated the faux several times or a same work to different museums.
-During this period, Landis also produced original work; some are sold through [[Brain & Behavior Research Foundation|Narsad]] Artworks. As of 2012, it was still possible to buy stationery bearing the ''Magnolias'' by Landis.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.narsadartworks.org/ProductDetails.aspx?productID=634 |title=Magnolias, stationery |publisher=Narsad Artworks |accessdate=April 4, 2012}}</ref> He moves often, having lived at more than 15 different addresses between 1985 and 2000. Patsy Hollister, Narsad co-founder, believes Landis probably is more [[bipolar]] than schizophrenic, with an ability to paint extremely fast. Says Landis, talking about [[icon]]s: "I gave to hundreds of churches."<ref name="LP" /> Landis also is said to have worked in animation and advertisement.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.narsadartworks.org/artauction/bio.html |title=Meet the Artists |publisher=Narsad |accessdate=April 4, 2012}}</ref>
+During this period, Landis also produced original work; some are sold through [[Brain & Behavior Research Foundation|Narsad]] Artworks. As of 2012, it was still possible to buy stationery bearing the ''Magnolias'' by Landis.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.narsadartworks.org/ProductDetails.aspx?productID=634 |title=Magnolias, stationery |publisher=Narsad Artworks |accessdate=April 4, 2012}}</ref> He moves often, having lived at more than 15 different addresses between 1985 and 2000. Patsy Hollister, Narsad co-founder, believes Landis probably is more [[bipolar disorder|bipolar]] than schizophrenic, with an ability to paint extremely fast. Says Landis, talking about [[icon]]s: "I gave to hundreds of churches."<ref name="LP" /> Landis also is said to have worked in animation and advertisement.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.narsadartworks.org/artauction/bio.html |title=Meet the Artists |publisher=Narsad |accessdate=April 4, 2012}}</ref>
 Landis' success derives not so much from the perfection of his faux (sometimes a basic test exposes the forgery) than from his ability to copy all kinds of styles, helped by a strong sense of deception and a strange and soft approach which obfuscates specialists.