1 00:00:01,240 --> 00:00:06,400 Speaker 1: I have to say that when I learned that this 2 00:00:06,519 --> 00:00:12,760 Speaker 1: was one person, I was a little flabbergasted. I really was, 3 00:00:13,200 --> 00:00:18,000 Speaker 1: because these artists, yes, they're all around the same period, 4 00:00:18,800 --> 00:00:22,120 Speaker 1: but their styles are very, very different, and he did 5 00:00:22,160 --> 00:00:26,200 Speaker 1: a good job. I mean, there are other fakes in 6 00:00:26,680 --> 00:00:29,040 Speaker 1: art history, and as I used to like to joke 7 00:00:29,080 --> 00:00:31,720 Speaker 1: when I gave talks, the best fakes are still hanging 8 00:00:31,720 --> 00:00:34,760 Speaker 1: on people's walls. You know, they don't even know or 9 00:00:34,840 --> 00:00:41,880 Speaker 1: suspect that they're fakes. By two thousand two, an unlikely 10 00:00:42,000 --> 00:00:45,839 Speaker 1: trio of con artists had grown rich from their forgery 11 00:00:45,920 --> 00:00:52,520 Speaker 1: Schemepra Rosalez had worked her charms and unearthed a dazzling 12 00:00:52,600 --> 00:00:56,920 Speaker 1: collection of abstract Expressionist paintings destined for Ann Friedman to 13 00:00:56,960 --> 00:01:02,400 Speaker 1: acquire for the Knodler Gallery, and convinced herself that the 14 00:01:02,440 --> 00:01:06,319 Speaker 1: works were genuine. She was desperate to squeeze every dollar 15 00:01:06,400 --> 00:01:10,399 Speaker 1: of profit she could from the mysterious works works that 16 00:01:10,520 --> 00:01:15,320 Speaker 1: had no provenance. Anne had bought the paintings for unthinkably 17 00:01:15,400 --> 00:01:19,480 Speaker 1: low prices and sold them at sky high markups. The 18 00:01:19,560 --> 00:01:22,640 Speaker 1: profit margin was so high that the Knodler had come 19 00:01:22,680 --> 00:01:26,280 Speaker 1: to rely on the mr X Junior collection for its 20 00:01:26,400 --> 00:01:33,360 Speaker 1: very survival. Meanwhile, the fraudsters were living the American dream. 21 00:01:33,440 --> 00:01:38,320 Speaker 1: Carlos Bergantinos, the ideas man, patient, Kuon the artist, and 22 00:01:38,640 --> 00:01:43,480 Speaker 1: Glepara Rosalez, the resourceful salesperson, had executed a scheme that 23 00:01:43,600 --> 00:01:49,400 Speaker 1: was paying enormous dividends. Along with rising profits, however, came 24 00:01:49,480 --> 00:01:53,560 Speaker 1: increased risk. By two thousand two, Jack and Fan Levy 25 00:01:53,600 --> 00:01:57,320 Speaker 1: had spent upwards a four point three million dollars acquiring 26 00:01:57,400 --> 00:02:01,680 Speaker 1: master works from Knodler. The biggest prize was a two 27 00:02:01,720 --> 00:02:07,680 Speaker 1: million dollar Jackson pollock, identified simply as untitled nine. It 28 00:02:07,840 --> 00:02:11,400 Speaker 1: had a greenish cast and measured twelve by eighteen inches. 29 00:02:12,040 --> 00:02:15,160 Speaker 1: It was small for a pollock, but impressive all the same. 30 00:02:16,440 --> 00:02:20,400 Speaker 1: Before the sale could be finalized, however, Jack Levy insisted 31 00:02:20,560 --> 00:02:23,639 Speaker 1: that the pollock be vetted by Eye Far the International 32 00:02:23,720 --> 00:02:28,480 Speaker 1: Foundation for Art Research. Up to this point, none of 33 00:02:28,520 --> 00:02:32,240 Speaker 1: the works brought in by Glafira Rosalee had been subjected 34 00:02:32,280 --> 00:02:38,920 Speaker 1: to forensic scrutiny, and Friedman was so convinced of the 35 00:02:38,960 --> 00:02:43,240 Speaker 1: works authenticity that she readily agreed to the Leavi's terms. 36 00:02:44,639 --> 00:02:49,119 Speaker 1: The work was already owned by Jack Leavy, so Noodler 37 00:02:49,320 --> 00:02:53,560 Speaker 1: was not quote the client or the person who submitted 38 00:02:53,560 --> 00:02:56,960 Speaker 1: the work to eye FAR. There's a lot of misunderstanding 39 00:02:57,000 --> 00:03:00,640 Speaker 1: in the field about that. I am share and flesher. 40 00:03:00,919 --> 00:03:05,160 Speaker 1: I'm executive director of the International Foundation for Art Research, 41 00:03:05,800 --> 00:03:11,359 Speaker 1: which is much better known under the acronym FAR. I 42 00:03:11,560 --> 00:03:15,920 Speaker 1: FAR as experts provide a thorough and impartial analysis of 43 00:03:16,040 --> 00:03:20,360 Speaker 1: visual works of art through profnance research and forensic testing. 44 00:03:20,840 --> 00:03:23,720 Speaker 1: I FAR is also well known for their pioneering work 45 00:03:23,760 --> 00:03:28,200 Speaker 1: and art theft, having created the first database of stolen art. 46 00:03:29,760 --> 00:03:32,480 Speaker 1: I spoke with Sharon in her corner office overlooking the 47 00:03:32,520 --> 00:03:35,840 Speaker 1: New York Public Library. I FAR, now a fifty year 48 00:03:35,880 --> 00:03:39,760 Speaker 1: old institution, works with researchers and forensics experts to help 49 00:03:39,760 --> 00:03:43,960 Speaker 1: authenticate artwork submitted from all over the world. Jack Levy 50 00:03:44,040 --> 00:03:46,760 Speaker 1: purchased his pollock from the Knodler with no inkling that 51 00:03:46,840 --> 00:03:49,640 Speaker 1: it might be fake. Signing up for an eye FAR 52 00:03:49,800 --> 00:03:53,040 Speaker 1: analysis was a mere legal nicety, or so he thought. 53 00:03:53,520 --> 00:03:56,600 Speaker 1: Despite the many pollocks that came through I FAR. Sharon 54 00:03:56,640 --> 00:03:59,160 Speaker 1: too had no doubts that the Levy pollock would prove 55 00:03:59,200 --> 00:04:03,880 Speaker 1: to be right maas initial assumption was, of course, this 56 00:04:03,880 --> 00:04:06,520 Speaker 1: would be great. We're going to find a new pollock, 57 00:04:07,040 --> 00:04:10,400 Speaker 1: because it would never entered my mind that a work 58 00:04:10,480 --> 00:04:15,080 Speaker 1: that wouldn't be good would have been sold through the 59 00:04:15,160 --> 00:04:19,479 Speaker 1: Ndler galery. Sharon was unaware of the deal Jack Levy 60 00:04:19,520 --> 00:04:22,480 Speaker 1: had struck with Ann Friedman and Nodler, but to her, 61 00:04:22,839 --> 00:04:25,440 Speaker 1: having the sale of the Pollock be contingent upon I 62 00:04:25,640 --> 00:04:30,240 Speaker 1: far determination of authenticity made a lot of sense. My 63 00:04:30,480 --> 00:04:35,440 Speaker 1: logic said to me that someone who purchases a seventh 64 00:04:35,440 --> 00:04:40,599 Speaker 1: figure work from a reputable gallery, if the work turns 65 00:04:40,640 --> 00:04:44,720 Speaker 1: out not to be what that person hopes and expects 66 00:04:44,760 --> 00:04:47,359 Speaker 1: it to be, that they will turn right around to 67 00:04:47,440 --> 00:04:50,760 Speaker 1: the gallery and try to get their money back. Usually, 68 00:04:50,880 --> 00:04:53,240 Speaker 1: when a buyer asks a gallery for their money back, 69 00:04:53,680 --> 00:04:56,240 Speaker 1: the gallery writes them a check instantly as a matter 70 00:04:56,279 --> 00:05:00,640 Speaker 1: of course. Reputations, after all, are at stake. But what 71 00:05:00,760 --> 00:05:04,479 Speaker 1: if the gallery insists the painting Israel and refuses to 72 00:05:04,480 --> 00:05:07,679 Speaker 1: give the buyer their money back. Acting on her gut, 73 00:05:08,120 --> 00:05:11,240 Speaker 1: Sharon took an extra measure to protect herself and I 74 00:05:11,400 --> 00:05:17,080 Speaker 1: far I insisted that the node Le gallery sign an agreement, 75 00:05:18,040 --> 00:05:22,960 Speaker 1: saying they would not sue because there would be nothing 76 00:05:23,040 --> 00:05:27,039 Speaker 1: protecting us. Because if we didn't come up with the 77 00:05:27,080 --> 00:05:30,479 Speaker 1: positive review I assumed we would. I could just see 78 00:05:30,520 --> 00:05:34,360 Speaker 1: exactly what would happen. It would be returned, He'd get 79 00:05:34,360 --> 00:05:37,360 Speaker 1: the money back, and then the gallery would say, well, 80 00:05:37,960 --> 00:05:41,680 Speaker 1: how can you prove that it's not you're defaming our name, 81 00:05:41,760 --> 00:05:45,120 Speaker 1: our character or whatever. It was just a vision I had, 82 00:05:46,520 --> 00:05:49,640 Speaker 1: and so I insisted that they signed something, and they did. 83 00:05:51,320 --> 00:05:53,839 Speaker 1: I Far began working on the Leavey Pollock using the 84 00:05:53,880 --> 00:05:58,160 Speaker 1: same methods they would apply to any painting submitted for authenticity. 85 00:05:58,760 --> 00:06:01,760 Speaker 1: There are some steps that are consistent for every painting, 86 00:06:01,800 --> 00:06:04,880 Speaker 1: and then each project takes on a slight life of 87 00:06:04,920 --> 00:06:09,839 Speaker 1: its own. So we are very committed in general to 88 00:06:10,680 --> 00:06:13,920 Speaker 1: what I like to think of as a three pronged process, 89 00:06:13,960 --> 00:06:19,800 Speaker 1: which is scholarly research, connoisseurship, the expert eyes. We had 90 00:06:19,800 --> 00:06:22,960 Speaker 1: actually quite a few specialists who examined this work, in 91 00:06:23,000 --> 00:06:27,240 Speaker 1: some cases more than once, and the physical properties of 92 00:06:27,279 --> 00:06:34,320 Speaker 1: the work, which sometimes includes a detailed lab examination forensic examination. 93 00:06:35,920 --> 00:06:39,359 Speaker 1: Right away, the scholarly research aspect of I Far work 94 00:06:39,920 --> 00:06:43,120 Speaker 1: turned up red flags for starters. The paintings lack of 95 00:06:43,160 --> 00:06:47,960 Speaker 1: provenance was a problem for Sharon. We were sent the 96 00:06:48,000 --> 00:06:53,280 Speaker 1: skimpiest possible provenance information that one can be sent for 97 00:06:53,320 --> 00:06:56,800 Speaker 1: a work that is of a major artist, and of 98 00:06:56,839 --> 00:07:02,520 Speaker 1: seven figure value essentially enough. And I actually personally called 99 00:07:02,640 --> 00:07:06,920 Speaker 1: Anne I knew an and cultured to give them the 100 00:07:06,920 --> 00:07:10,520 Speaker 1: benefit of the doubt, saying, we can be more helpful 101 00:07:10,640 --> 00:07:15,200 Speaker 1: on this project if you supply more information to us. 102 00:07:16,240 --> 00:07:20,480 Speaker 1: And at that time she actually said, you're researching the provenance, 103 00:07:21,840 --> 00:07:26,800 Speaker 1: as I said, of course, we always researched the provenance. 104 00:07:27,080 --> 00:07:29,200 Speaker 1: What did you think? And she said, I thought you 105 00:07:29,240 --> 00:07:32,520 Speaker 1: would just bring experts together to look at the work 106 00:07:32,520 --> 00:07:34,680 Speaker 1: and say whether it's good. I said, we're doing that 107 00:07:34,760 --> 00:07:43,360 Speaker 1: as well, But of course we research the provenance and 108 00:07:43,800 --> 00:07:47,240 Speaker 1: was in a predicament I far as work was thorough 109 00:07:47,640 --> 00:07:51,240 Speaker 1: and consistent. And because Jack Levy had officially submitted the 110 00:07:51,280 --> 00:07:54,600 Speaker 1: work to I Far not Nodler, there was nothing Anne 111 00:07:54,600 --> 00:07:57,400 Speaker 1: could do to finesse her way out of the problem. 112 00:07:57,480 --> 00:08:01,800 Speaker 1: Sitting on Sharon's desk, a deeper I Far dug into 113 00:08:01,840 --> 00:08:04,640 Speaker 1: the history of the Levy Pollock the more nervous and 114 00:08:04,880 --> 00:08:09,320 Speaker 1: seemed to become for Sharon. The backstory just wasn't adding up. 115 00:08:10,160 --> 00:08:13,320 Speaker 1: It was just simply said and relayed to us. It 116 00:08:13,400 --> 00:08:18,560 Speaker 1: was acquired through Osario. This was it. The Osorio story 117 00:08:18,800 --> 00:08:21,880 Speaker 1: conjured up by gap Rozalice had now made its way 118 00:08:21,880 --> 00:08:26,560 Speaker 1: through Ann Friedman to Sharon and I Far. Alfonso Osario 119 00:08:26,640 --> 00:08:30,480 Speaker 1: had died, but his longtime partner ted Dragon was still alive. 120 00:08:31,520 --> 00:08:35,280 Speaker 1: So I contacted Dragon simply to find out, after he 121 00:08:35,400 --> 00:08:39,720 Speaker 1: lived with Osario from many years, could he provide information? 122 00:08:40,280 --> 00:08:43,360 Speaker 1: Is he familiar with this work, is he aware of 123 00:08:43,800 --> 00:08:48,360 Speaker 1: Osorio ever having dealt with it? And what was Ted 124 00:08:48,480 --> 00:08:52,240 Speaker 1: Dragon's reaction? He had never seen the work. He didn't 125 00:08:52,240 --> 00:08:56,800 Speaker 1: think there was any connection whatsoever to Osario because had 126 00:08:56,840 --> 00:09:02,560 Speaker 1: there been, given his in amit relationship with Osario over 127 00:09:02,679 --> 00:09:06,920 Speaker 1: so many years and particularly at that period, that he 128 00:09:07,000 --> 00:09:11,120 Speaker 1: would have known if there was a connection. And we 129 00:09:11,240 --> 00:09:14,280 Speaker 1: did other research as well, and we could find nothing 130 00:09:14,360 --> 00:09:22,000 Speaker 1: to substantiate the Osorio connection. The Osorio provenance was crumbling 131 00:09:22,080 --> 00:09:25,440 Speaker 1: under scrutiny from I Far. The whole notion of Osorio 132 00:09:25,640 --> 00:09:28,960 Speaker 1: serving as a middleman between dealers and artists went nowhere. 133 00:09:29,760 --> 00:09:34,320 Speaker 1: But what about the painting itself. This particular work was 134 00:09:34,400 --> 00:09:37,680 Speaker 1: canvas mountain on masonite, which is a type of fiberboard. 135 00:09:38,080 --> 00:09:42,640 Speaker 1: Paula did have canvases mounted on masonite. In this case 136 00:09:43,000 --> 00:09:47,439 Speaker 1: it was mounted on the rough side of the masonite. 137 00:09:47,520 --> 00:09:50,680 Speaker 1: Most of the ones of his that were mounted were 138 00:09:50,800 --> 00:09:54,600 Speaker 1: mounted on the smooth side of the masonite, but he 139 00:09:54,679 --> 00:09:59,320 Speaker 1: also painted directly on masonite. I can't tell you that 140 00:09:59,720 --> 00:10:05,640 Speaker 1: one of the specialists to examine this work immediately was upset. 141 00:10:06,640 --> 00:10:09,560 Speaker 1: They felt that it was mounted on that mason I 142 00:10:09,720 --> 00:10:13,600 Speaker 1: just so that we couldn't see the back of the canvas. 143 00:10:13,640 --> 00:10:15,960 Speaker 1: That's why they're doing it, you know, to hide this. 144 00:10:16,760 --> 00:10:20,480 Speaker 1: I put here on the cover of a detail of 145 00:10:20,559 --> 00:10:24,240 Speaker 1: the painting. Sharon was showing me the cover of one 146 00:10:24,280 --> 00:10:29,440 Speaker 1: of I Far's publications from two thousand sixteen, titled Hindsight 147 00:10:29,880 --> 00:10:33,800 Speaker 1: Lessons from the Noler Rosalee Affair. On the cover are 148 00:10:33,800 --> 00:10:38,320 Speaker 1: two rectangular photos of Jackson Pollock's signatures on paintings. Red 149 00:10:38,480 --> 00:10:41,400 Speaker 1: arrows indicate that one is an actual Pollock, the other 150 00:10:41,440 --> 00:10:44,280 Speaker 1: a fake. The photos are zoomed in to show the 151 00:10:44,320 --> 00:10:48,240 Speaker 1: detail of the signature itself and the canvas. Here's the 152 00:10:48,360 --> 00:10:53,560 Speaker 1: signature Jackson Pollock that's signed on that painting, and this 153 00:10:53,640 --> 00:10:58,200 Speaker 1: is the bottom you can see. Here, here's the canvas, 154 00:10:58,240 --> 00:11:01,760 Speaker 1: and here's the mason I when Pollock did it, first 155 00:11:01,800 --> 00:11:03,480 Speaker 1: of all, he did it on the other side of 156 00:11:03,520 --> 00:11:06,840 Speaker 1: the masonite, on the smooth side, and he put some 157 00:11:06,960 --> 00:11:10,480 Speaker 1: sizing on it, and over the fifty year period from 158 00:11:10,559 --> 00:11:15,400 Speaker 1: nine to two thousand, the masonite with his sizing had 159 00:11:15,520 --> 00:11:21,559 Speaker 1: aged and colored completely differently than the masonite in this work. 160 00:11:21,880 --> 00:11:25,320 Speaker 1: How interesting. Wow, So you really had there was maybe 161 00:11:25,320 --> 00:11:27,320 Speaker 1: a first red flag. For sure. It was more than 162 00:11:27,360 --> 00:11:30,000 Speaker 1: the first red flag. We already had some red flags, 163 00:11:30,400 --> 00:11:34,359 Speaker 1: as I said earlier, not just the provenance any connection 164 00:11:34,559 --> 00:11:38,920 Speaker 1: whatsoever to Pollock. Are their photo archives that show this 165 00:11:39,000 --> 00:11:42,720 Speaker 1: work in the background. Are their letters that mentioned a 166 00:11:42,800 --> 00:11:46,400 Speaker 1: work that fits this description? We did all of that. 167 00:11:49,480 --> 00:11:52,880 Speaker 1: These were the kind of telltale details that led I 168 00:11:53,080 --> 00:11:59,040 Speaker 1: far to issue its shocking opinion. We said, we cannot 169 00:11:59,160 --> 00:12:03,600 Speaker 1: accept the work as a work by Jackson Pollock. It 170 00:12:03,720 --> 00:12:06,559 Speaker 1: is the same as saying I'm writing a catalog raison 171 00:12:06,640 --> 00:12:09,959 Speaker 1: A and I'm not including your work in the catalog 172 00:12:10,040 --> 00:12:15,520 Speaker 1: raisin A. We couched our words because we couldn't hammer 173 00:12:15,640 --> 00:12:21,320 Speaker 1: that nail in the coffin. Absolutely, Anne was pretty ticked, 174 00:12:21,520 --> 00:12:25,720 Speaker 1: was she not. Did she not speak publicly and disparage 175 00:12:25,920 --> 00:12:29,360 Speaker 1: and she certainly spoke privately and disparaged us two people, 176 00:12:29,440 --> 00:12:33,640 Speaker 1: because it got back to me all the time years 177 00:12:33,760 --> 00:12:35,880 Speaker 1: later when she felt free to talk about the Leavy 178 00:12:35,920 --> 00:12:39,080 Speaker 1: Pollock and I far As rejection of it, and would 179 00:12:39,160 --> 00:12:42,120 Speaker 1: blithely say, quote, there was a recent history of bad 180 00:12:42,200 --> 00:12:46,240 Speaker 1: feeling between I Far and Knoedler unquote, Hi far As 181 00:12:46,320 --> 00:12:50,160 Speaker 1: experts were biased and implied that was why I Far 182 00:12:50,400 --> 00:12:53,920 Speaker 1: had nixed the painting, where I felt she impugned our 183 00:12:53,960 --> 00:12:57,520 Speaker 1: integrity by saying there was a history of bad feelings, 184 00:12:57,559 --> 00:13:00,920 Speaker 1: therefore she wanted to dismiss what we said. First of all, 185 00:13:00,960 --> 00:13:04,080 Speaker 1: there was no history of bad feelings that I knew of, 186 00:13:04,760 --> 00:13:07,520 Speaker 1: and certainly not during my tenure, and I had already 187 00:13:07,520 --> 00:13:11,240 Speaker 1: been here a few years. But more importantly, to assert 188 00:13:12,400 --> 00:13:16,320 Speaker 1: that even if there were bad feelings, it might change 189 00:13:16,480 --> 00:13:21,320 Speaker 1: our report. I was incredulous that anyone would make such 190 00:13:21,320 --> 00:13:26,800 Speaker 1: a statement, because we only exist because of our good 191 00:13:26,920 --> 00:13:30,880 Speaker 1: name and our reputation for integrity. We're not going to 192 00:13:30,920 --> 00:13:34,760 Speaker 1: assulliate and I'm not going to let anyone else sully it. 193 00:13:38,800 --> 00:13:42,200 Speaker 1: With Far's final judgment on the Levee Pollic in two 194 00:13:42,280 --> 00:13:47,800 Speaker 1: thousand three, and took the painting back very discreetly. She 195 00:13:47,960 --> 00:13:51,440 Speaker 1: returned the two million dollars to Jack Levy contractually, she 196 00:13:51,520 --> 00:13:55,480 Speaker 1: had no choice. Shortly after the sale, was refunded and 197 00:13:55,720 --> 00:13:59,000 Speaker 1: called a Canadian collector, David Mervish, with news that she 198 00:13:59,120 --> 00:14:03,439 Speaker 1: had a wonderful deal for him. Anne was absolutely sure. 199 00:14:03,640 --> 00:14:06,560 Speaker 1: She said that I Far had been wrong and that 200 00:14:06,640 --> 00:14:10,839 Speaker 1: the painting was legitimate to back up her claim, and 201 00:14:11,280 --> 00:14:15,080 Speaker 1: suggested that she herself by a one third interest in 202 00:14:15,240 --> 00:14:19,640 Speaker 1: Untitled nineteen forty nine. The gallery would buy a partial share, 203 00:14:19,960 --> 00:14:23,280 Speaker 1: as would Mervish. Certainly they would sell the painting at 204 00:14:23,320 --> 00:14:28,640 Speaker 1: some point for a fortune. Mervish agreed, and Untitled nineteen 205 00:14:28,760 --> 00:14:31,960 Speaker 1: forty nine was duly put aside for that future day. 206 00:14:32,480 --> 00:14:37,840 Speaker 1: It's I Far status kept quiet, but the damage was done. 207 00:14:38,400 --> 00:14:41,760 Speaker 1: As Anne later said in Vanity Fair, quote, it was 208 00:14:41,800 --> 00:14:45,960 Speaker 1: a backfire because Ted Dragon went crazy. Osorio would never 209 00:14:46,000 --> 00:14:49,840 Speaker 1: have hidden anything from me unquote. That cast a paul 210 00:14:50,360 --> 00:14:53,720 Speaker 1: over the painting and the whole story of Osorio as 211 00:14:53,760 --> 00:14:58,200 Speaker 1: middleman for mister and Missus X. Anne asked Glypha, could 212 00:14:58,200 --> 00:15:01,240 Speaker 1: mister and Missus X have been wrong had they or 213 00:15:01,280 --> 00:15:06,520 Speaker 1: their son confused Osorio with someone else? Glafira promised to 214 00:15:06,560 --> 00:15:09,360 Speaker 1: address the issue and then came back with a change 215 00:15:09,480 --> 00:15:17,840 Speaker 1: in the story more in a minute, As it turned out, 216 00:15:18,280 --> 00:15:22,240 Speaker 1: and was right. Osorio had been in the mix, but 217 00:15:22,320 --> 00:15:26,760 Speaker 1: only marginally, Sofia said. The dealer who had handled most 218 00:15:26,800 --> 00:15:30,160 Speaker 1: of those paintings for Mr and Mrs X was actually 219 00:15:30,200 --> 00:15:33,960 Speaker 1: an art handler named David Herbert. She was so sorry 220 00:15:34,240 --> 00:15:39,320 Speaker 1: for any confusion. This is one of those iffy moments 221 00:15:39,360 --> 00:15:42,600 Speaker 1: in the story where you raised out one but two 222 00:15:42,600 --> 00:15:46,720 Speaker 1: eyebrows and think, wait a minute, how were you not 223 00:15:46,880 --> 00:15:54,320 Speaker 1: suspicious when the entire backstory suddenly shifted. That's author Maria Kannakova. Again. 224 00:15:55,160 --> 00:15:59,440 Speaker 1: It shows a few things the part of the con artists, obviously, 225 00:15:59,440 --> 00:16:03,800 Speaker 1: it shows rate ingenuity and once again listening because Anne 226 00:16:04,120 --> 00:16:08,040 Speaker 1: inadvertently told them what to say, because she said, these 227 00:16:08,080 --> 00:16:11,080 Speaker 1: are the holes, these are the things that people are 228 00:16:11,120 --> 00:16:15,680 Speaker 1: suspicious of. And she even had suggestions, right, maybe was 229 00:16:15,720 --> 00:16:19,280 Speaker 1: it this? Was it that? So she threw out things 230 00:16:19,320 --> 00:16:23,200 Speaker 1: that they could then use. Once again, the con artists here, 231 00:16:23,360 --> 00:16:26,280 Speaker 1: your job is to listen and to figure out, Okay, 232 00:16:26,320 --> 00:16:30,160 Speaker 1: what do I need to change? What are they reacting to, 233 00:16:30,320 --> 00:16:35,440 Speaker 1: what's working, what's not working? David Herbert working wonderful. Let's 234 00:16:35,480 --> 00:16:38,040 Speaker 1: keep him in and try to figure out, you know how, 235 00:16:38,160 --> 00:16:40,680 Speaker 1: how we can change the story to the elements that 236 00:16:40,680 --> 00:16:44,080 Speaker 1: aren't working, to fill in the parts of the narrative 237 00:16:44,120 --> 00:16:49,480 Speaker 1: that are causing us problems. Now, the other element, of course, 238 00:16:49,640 --> 00:16:51,720 Speaker 1: is if you're an how in the world do you 239 00:16:51,760 --> 00:16:55,680 Speaker 1: not see this. One of the things that I've argued 240 00:16:56,000 --> 00:17:00,360 Speaker 1: over and over again is that it's impossible to judge 241 00:17:00,480 --> 00:17:03,840 Speaker 1: from the outside, because from the outside your objective. From 242 00:17:03,880 --> 00:17:06,000 Speaker 1: the inside, once you're already in the middle of it, 243 00:17:06,080 --> 00:17:10,320 Speaker 1: once you're already emotionally involved, your objectivity is gone. It's 244 00:17:10,440 --> 00:17:14,320 Speaker 1: really difficult. It takes a very specific, strong person who 245 00:17:14,359 --> 00:17:17,880 Speaker 1: probably would not have gotten into the situation to begin with, 246 00:17:18,200 --> 00:17:20,560 Speaker 1: to be able to see clearly in the heat of 247 00:17:20,600 --> 00:17:24,280 Speaker 1: the moment, and most people just cannot do that. I 248 00:17:24,320 --> 00:17:28,000 Speaker 1: think that she was already so deep in the con 249 00:17:28,760 --> 00:17:31,879 Speaker 1: that it didn't strike her as weird. It just struck her. 250 00:17:31,920 --> 00:17:34,960 Speaker 1: As we're getting more information, it's on a need to 251 00:17:35,000 --> 00:17:38,400 Speaker 1: know basis, as I need to know more, they tell 252 00:17:38,440 --> 00:17:41,080 Speaker 1: me more. Whereas for us, when we're looking at this, 253 00:17:41,200 --> 00:17:43,440 Speaker 1: we're shaking our heads and thinking, wait, no, no, you're 254 00:17:43,480 --> 00:17:47,160 Speaker 1: not allowed to change the story. If you're and you're thinking, oh, okay, 255 00:17:47,200 --> 00:17:57,120 Speaker 1: that makes sense, great, wonderful. David Herbert, Now, the key 256 00:17:57,240 --> 00:18:00,840 Speaker 1: figure in the back story was a brilliant race He 257 00:18:00,960 --> 00:18:04,080 Speaker 1: was a real person whose modest life and times fit 258 00:18:04,160 --> 00:18:07,240 Speaker 1: the larger story a dealer many in the art world 259 00:18:07,320 --> 00:18:12,560 Speaker 1: had known. Almost certainly, Anne had heard about Herbert through 260 00:18:12,640 --> 00:18:16,399 Speaker 1: Haimi Andrade, since Herbert had been Andrada his best friend 261 00:18:16,760 --> 00:18:21,960 Speaker 1: for decades. Also convenient, David Herbert had died just seven 262 00:18:22,080 --> 00:18:28,879 Speaker 1: years prior. In his executor none other than Heimi Andrade. 263 00:18:29,359 --> 00:18:34,000 Speaker 1: Into Andrade's hands went all of Herbert's files upon his death. 264 00:18:34,640 --> 00:18:39,000 Speaker 1: Possibly those files contained bits that might embellish gafa's story 265 00:18:39,400 --> 00:18:43,840 Speaker 1: of mister and Mrs X. From what Anne now understood, 266 00:18:43,920 --> 00:18:47,520 Speaker 1: David Herbert had been more than a middleman between downtown 267 00:18:47,680 --> 00:18:51,399 Speaker 1: artists and Mr X, setting up sales and taking commissions. 268 00:18:51,880 --> 00:18:55,560 Speaker 1: Herbert had been Mr X's lover during long periods in 269 00:18:55,560 --> 00:18:59,920 Speaker 1: the nineteen fifties in New York. Once again, for Ann, 270 00:19:00,000 --> 00:19:05,240 Speaker 1: and the result was the opportunity to access newly discovered masterpieces. 271 00:19:07,440 --> 00:19:10,320 Speaker 1: One key link between David Herbert and the art world 272 00:19:10,359 --> 00:19:15,080 Speaker 1: he inhabited was the legendary dealer Sydney Janis. After a 273 00:19:15,160 --> 00:19:18,399 Speaker 1: humble start in the garment industry, Janis had made his 274 00:19:18,440 --> 00:19:22,800 Speaker 1: fortune by inventing a two pocket men's Oxford shirt. His 275 00:19:22,920 --> 00:19:26,879 Speaker 1: true passion however, was contemporary art that led him to 276 00:19:26,880 --> 00:19:30,719 Speaker 1: become a dealer, eventually representing many of the mid century greats. 277 00:19:31,240 --> 00:19:35,040 Speaker 1: In eight he opened a fifth floor gallery on Street, 278 00:19:35,480 --> 00:19:39,440 Speaker 1: down the hall from another emerging and important dealer, Betty Parsons. 279 00:19:40,440 --> 00:19:43,679 Speaker 1: Much to parsons indignation, by nineteen fifty two, some of 280 00:19:43,680 --> 00:19:46,359 Speaker 1: her top artists had left her stable and moved down 281 00:19:46,359 --> 00:19:49,919 Speaker 1: the hall to Sydney Janis. She was more of an 282 00:19:50,040 --> 00:19:54,119 Speaker 1: artist than a dealer. She couldn't quite sell any of 283 00:19:54,240 --> 00:19:58,320 Speaker 1: the works of the artist. That was the problem. That's 284 00:19:58,359 --> 00:20:01,639 Speaker 1: Carol Janis, one of Sydney Janis's two sons, who worked 285 00:20:01,640 --> 00:20:04,520 Speaker 1: in the gallery with his father for years. One of 286 00:20:04,560 --> 00:20:07,040 Speaker 1: the artists who came down the hall from Betty Parsons 287 00:20:07,320 --> 00:20:11,720 Speaker 1: was Jackson Pollock. Carol's father liked Pollock's work. He was 288 00:20:11,760 --> 00:20:15,159 Speaker 1: also sympathetic to the struggles that came with being an artist. 289 00:20:16,000 --> 00:20:21,120 Speaker 1: He bought a little painting from him during that year four. 290 00:20:21,560 --> 00:20:25,760 Speaker 1: He told me that he bought it because Pollock was 291 00:20:25,840 --> 00:20:29,439 Speaker 1: so poor that he just felt that he should buy something. 292 00:20:30,880 --> 00:20:35,399 Speaker 1: To Betty Parsons lifelong fury. Pollock would move to the 293 00:20:35,520 --> 00:20:39,720 Speaker 1: Sydney Janis Gallery for the remainder of his career. Mark 294 00:20:39,800 --> 00:20:43,359 Speaker 1: Rothko came down the hole too. After issuing a modest plea, 295 00:20:43,880 --> 00:20:46,719 Speaker 1: he told Sydney Janie that he had to earn seventy 296 00:20:47,320 --> 00:20:50,440 Speaker 1: dollars a year to support his family. Could the Janis 297 00:20:50,440 --> 00:20:54,160 Speaker 1: Gallery promise him that much? Janis thought it was possible. 298 00:20:55,280 --> 00:20:59,600 Speaker 1: In the first year he made fifteen fans and wow, 299 00:21:00,040 --> 00:21:05,000 Speaker 1: he that was big money in nineteen fifty two, over 300 00:21:06,040 --> 00:21:11,399 Speaker 1: thousand dollars. Today, most downtown artists survived on a lot less, 301 00:21:12,000 --> 00:21:15,159 Speaker 1: some so strapped that they sold paintings out of the 302 00:21:15,160 --> 00:21:18,840 Speaker 1: back door, as it were, privately, without the involvement of 303 00:21:18,880 --> 00:21:23,240 Speaker 1: their dealer. That was how David Herbert played into the story. 304 00:21:25,400 --> 00:21:29,280 Speaker 1: Herbert was no figment of Ann Friedman's imagination. He was 305 00:21:29,320 --> 00:21:32,119 Speaker 1: an art insider who, at different times in the nineteen 306 00:21:32,160 --> 00:21:36,680 Speaker 1: fifties worked for both Betty Parsons and Carol's father, Sidney Janice. 307 00:21:37,000 --> 00:21:42,320 Speaker 1: Herbert brought clients to various artists studios, introduced those clients 308 00:21:42,359 --> 00:21:45,760 Speaker 1: to the artists, and handled the occasional back door selling 309 00:21:45,760 --> 00:21:49,120 Speaker 1: of paintings to help them scrape by in tough times. 310 00:21:49,920 --> 00:21:52,760 Speaker 1: He was about five nine. I think he had a 311 00:21:52,760 --> 00:21:57,280 Speaker 1: little mustache. He worked with Betty for a couple of years. 312 00:21:57,359 --> 00:22:02,080 Speaker 1: I suppose partly as ann handler and partly to talk 313 00:22:02,200 --> 00:22:06,320 Speaker 1: the clients coming in. He was not very successful with Penny, 314 00:22:06,520 --> 00:22:11,040 Speaker 1: but Betty came over and somehow take my dad into 315 00:22:11,040 --> 00:22:13,399 Speaker 1: giving him a job, which he did give him. He 316 00:22:13,640 --> 00:22:17,520 Speaker 1: was also gregarious and liked to talk to the clients. 317 00:22:18,040 --> 00:22:23,000 Speaker 1: Everybody started to do was to take clients to artists 318 00:22:23,080 --> 00:22:27,520 Speaker 1: studios and tried to sell them works out of the studios. 319 00:22:28,680 --> 00:22:32,520 Speaker 1: At first, Sydney Jannis didn't mind. It was something he 320 00:22:32,600 --> 00:22:35,679 Speaker 1: was doing and as long as he was doing it 321 00:22:35,720 --> 00:22:38,840 Speaker 1: with any of the hundreds of artists in New York 322 00:22:39,040 --> 00:22:46,359 Speaker 1: who were not with the gallery and didn't say anything. Unfortunately, 323 00:22:46,840 --> 00:22:49,840 Speaker 1: David Herbert's eagerness to help these far flung artists and 324 00:22:49,960 --> 00:22:52,880 Speaker 1: perhaps to profit from them, led to a bad end. 325 00:22:54,640 --> 00:22:58,439 Speaker 1: Carol recalls Herbert handling money for one very important artist 326 00:22:58,440 --> 00:23:01,719 Speaker 1: who was in fact a Jenna artist, Willem de Kooning. 327 00:23:04,119 --> 00:23:06,560 Speaker 1: Gave to then and they asked him for an advance 328 00:23:06,800 --> 00:23:09,720 Speaker 1: for his studio. He had gave him what he asked for, 329 00:23:09,760 --> 00:23:13,600 Speaker 1: fifty dollars, and then the next year he came and 330 00:23:13,640 --> 00:23:17,320 Speaker 1: he asked again for not a fifty and then that 331 00:23:17,520 --> 00:23:19,920 Speaker 1: was quite a lot in those days. They told him no, 332 00:23:20,119 --> 00:23:24,200 Speaker 1: he wouldn't lend into him. So that meant cooning at 333 00:23:24,280 --> 00:23:28,080 Speaker 1: the start, selling out of his studio because he needed 334 00:23:28,119 --> 00:23:31,760 Speaker 1: the money to pay for the gallery. Yeah, and the 335 00:23:33,400 --> 00:23:36,520 Speaker 1: handle that directly because he loved the coon, and the 336 00:23:36,760 --> 00:23:39,440 Speaker 1: ning loves the gallery. And now they were at as 337 00:23:39,480 --> 00:23:42,600 Speaker 1: because he was selling out of his studio but not 338 00:23:42,760 --> 00:23:47,439 Speaker 1: giving the gallery of commission, and David Herbert was in 339 00:23:47,480 --> 00:23:49,840 Speaker 1: the thick of it, paying the cooning for works the 340 00:23:49,880 --> 00:23:54,000 Speaker 1: painter was selling for money he desperately needed. Herbert had 341 00:23:54,040 --> 00:23:58,040 Speaker 1: to go. So one my dad found out about Mattie Well, 342 00:23:58,080 --> 00:24:03,679 Speaker 1: he let him go of imediately. It was easy to 343 00:24:03,760 --> 00:24:07,080 Speaker 1: imagine how Anne Friedman could have believed the story of 344 00:24:07,480 --> 00:24:10,760 Speaker 1: a feckless art handler who bought and sold works on 345 00:24:10,840 --> 00:24:14,719 Speaker 1: his own. By the nineteen seventies and eighties, almost everyone 346 00:24:14,760 --> 00:24:18,040 Speaker 1: in the art world knew of David Herbert. He remained 347 00:24:18,040 --> 00:24:21,800 Speaker 1: a droll character from the same Demi mond As, Alfonso 348 00:24:21,840 --> 00:24:26,600 Speaker 1: Asorio and Jim Andrade. Painter Bill Draper would give two 349 00:24:26,680 --> 00:24:29,879 Speaker 1: day parties, as one dealer says, and Herbert would be 350 00:24:29,920 --> 00:24:33,399 Speaker 1: there along with his dear friends him Andrade and Richard 351 00:24:33,400 --> 00:24:38,200 Speaker 1: brown Baker. There too would be brook Aster, Mayor John Lindsay, 352 00:24:38,320 --> 00:24:42,480 Speaker 1: and art Maven Marian Javits. It was an indulgent and 353 00:24:42,720 --> 00:24:47,920 Speaker 1: freer time. By then, Herbert had begun to struggle. He 354 00:24:47,960 --> 00:24:50,679 Speaker 1: threw in with the distinguished dealer Richard Faken for a 355 00:24:50,720 --> 00:24:56,840 Speaker 1: short lived venture no managerial skills at all. Fiken later grumbled. 356 00:24:57,840 --> 00:25:01,040 Speaker 1: Despite his lack of funds, her Bert never lost his 357 00:25:01,119 --> 00:25:04,000 Speaker 1: sense of humor. He would come into the Knoedler and 358 00:25:04,080 --> 00:25:07,320 Speaker 1: pretend he was a collector. It calls a Knodler staffer. 359 00:25:08,080 --> 00:25:11,360 Speaker 1: Herbert would say, I'm furious that Kndler has not delivered 360 00:25:11,440 --> 00:25:14,480 Speaker 1: my art for three months. I've been calling. I've paid 361 00:25:14,480 --> 00:25:18,440 Speaker 1: for it already unquote. He was funny, says the staffer. 362 00:25:19,800 --> 00:25:25,160 Speaker 1: By the time David Herbert died, he'd become almost a destitute. 363 00:25:25,800 --> 00:25:28,960 Speaker 1: He had a very hard last couple of years, recalls 364 00:25:29,000 --> 00:25:32,000 Speaker 1: a friend from his gallery. He was basically living on 365 00:25:32,160 --> 00:25:37,199 Speaker 1: friends and really had no retirement money. As long as 366 00:25:37,280 --> 00:25:40,480 Speaker 1: David Herbert was alive, these paintings weren't going to come out, 367 00:25:40,720 --> 00:25:44,359 Speaker 1: and Friedman said in vanity fair quote. The fear was 368 00:25:44,400 --> 00:25:46,880 Speaker 1: that if the paintings came out, while Herbert was alive, 369 00:25:47,400 --> 00:25:50,600 Speaker 1: Herbert might have been extremely upset and he might have 370 00:25:50,640 --> 00:25:53,639 Speaker 1: revealed the identity of the owner. There's no question that 371 00:25:53,680 --> 00:25:56,399 Speaker 1: the paintings would have been paid for with cash. Tax 372 00:25:56,520 --> 00:25:59,960 Speaker 1: is not paid, assets not declared, and you can go 373 00:26:00,040 --> 00:26:06,280 Speaker 1: to jail for that end quote. So sure was Anne 374 00:26:06,280 --> 00:26:09,560 Speaker 1: about the newly modified back story that she even gave 375 00:26:09,600 --> 00:26:12,960 Speaker 1: a new name to the paintings coming from Glypia Rosalis. 376 00:26:13,480 --> 00:26:17,800 Speaker 1: The paintings, she said, now constituted the David Herbert collection 377 00:26:19,320 --> 00:26:23,159 Speaker 1: once David Herbert passed away, and said, that's when Mr 378 00:26:23,440 --> 00:26:27,640 Speaker 1: x Jr. Felt he could release these paintings. More than 379 00:26:27,760 --> 00:26:32,520 Speaker 1: one Knodler staffer saw a victim in retrospect, him Andrade. 380 00:26:33,400 --> 00:26:36,720 Speaker 1: Perhaps Andrade had told Anne stories of his old friend 381 00:26:36,800 --> 00:26:40,679 Speaker 1: David Herbert. Maybe he had acknowledged that Herbert might have 382 00:26:40,760 --> 00:26:44,080 Speaker 1: sold some of these paintings on the slide. Still, if 383 00:26:44,080 --> 00:26:46,960 Speaker 1: he had colluded with Anne and Glyphia, where was the 384 00:26:47,040 --> 00:26:51,439 Speaker 1: profit in it for him? Himie did not profit from it. 385 00:26:51,720 --> 00:26:54,119 Speaker 1: He never got a commission, so there's nothing on him, 386 00:26:54,240 --> 00:26:57,760 Speaker 1: says an ex Nodler staffer. He was horrified by all 387 00:26:57,800 --> 00:27:01,200 Speaker 1: that happened. The staffer adds, I you're very sorry for him. 388 00:27:01,280 --> 00:27:04,920 Speaker 1: He's a gentleman of the older kind. And now all 389 00:27:05,000 --> 00:27:09,199 Speaker 1: and Ratty had was a ghostly cobweb department filled with 390 00:27:09,280 --> 00:27:13,240 Speaker 1: South American art next door to the gallery he loved 391 00:27:13,320 --> 00:27:18,600 Speaker 1: so much. As for David Herbert, he too seemed a victim, 392 00:27:18,640 --> 00:27:22,720 Speaker 1: even if a posthumous one. It's very easy to put 393 00:27:22,760 --> 00:27:25,680 Speaker 1: something on him, because he's not around to dispute it, 394 00:27:25,720 --> 00:27:29,239 Speaker 1: said Herbert's friend from the gallery. What should have been 395 00:27:29,320 --> 00:27:32,920 Speaker 1: early red flags at the Knoedler Gallery, those early deep 396 00:27:32,960 --> 00:27:36,640 Speaker 1: and Corn drawings, that brilliant Rothko and now the returned 397 00:27:36,720 --> 00:27:42,200 Speaker 1: Levy Pollock instead remained art world secrets. For now, none 398 00:27:42,240 --> 00:27:45,479 Speaker 1: of them stirred any attention because sales of the works 399 00:27:45,520 --> 00:27:49,720 Speaker 1: remained confidential. As it turned out, the Levy Pollock that 400 00:27:49,800 --> 00:27:53,080 Speaker 1: I far had judged to be not a legitimate work 401 00:27:53,480 --> 00:27:56,800 Speaker 1: was actually one of several Pollocks that Ann Friedman would 402 00:27:56,800 --> 00:28:10,679 Speaker 1: eventually snatch up from Gfia Rosales more art fraud in 403 00:28:10,720 --> 00:28:15,919 Speaker 1: a minute, No one knew the true story of the 404 00:28:15,960 --> 00:28:21,879 Speaker 1: Knodler Galleries finances. Later, when the galleries money manager testified 405 00:28:21,880 --> 00:28:24,600 Speaker 1: at trial, he would say that the paintings of the 406 00:28:24,680 --> 00:28:28,160 Speaker 1: David Herbert collection were not merely helpful to the galleries 407 00:28:28,200 --> 00:28:34,000 Speaker 1: bottom line. They were essential. Without those sales, the k 408 00:28:34,000 --> 00:28:37,280 Speaker 1: Nobler would have been losing big money. By two thousand four, 409 00:28:38,080 --> 00:28:42,080 Speaker 1: thanks to his paintings, the Kndler was at least getting by. 410 00:28:43,800 --> 00:28:47,360 Speaker 1: Joe Stephens, the Notler's long serving art handler, sensed the 411 00:28:47,400 --> 00:28:49,880 Speaker 1: true state of the gallery when he was abruptly fired 412 00:28:49,920 --> 00:28:53,960 Speaker 1: after nearly forty five years on the job. My heart 413 00:28:54,000 --> 00:28:56,400 Speaker 1: and soul was in that place. I'd love to work 414 00:28:56,440 --> 00:29:00,600 Speaker 1: in there, and I was good at it. To be honest, 415 00:29:00,760 --> 00:29:05,160 Speaker 1: I wanted to kill her. I hated hug Guts and 416 00:29:05,200 --> 00:29:09,520 Speaker 1: I don't hate anybody, but she made life miserable for 417 00:29:09,680 --> 00:29:12,400 Speaker 1: me and the girls by keeping him there. Everything. She 418 00:29:12,560 --> 00:29:17,560 Speaker 1: walked three blocks and she's home. I think she knew that. 419 00:29:17,680 --> 00:29:21,400 Speaker 1: I knew things were going on. That's probably why I 420 00:29:21,480 --> 00:29:25,120 Speaker 1: got dumped. I don't know for sure. Can we put 421 00:29:25,120 --> 00:29:32,000 Speaker 1: it that way as your suspicion? And was now squarely 422 00:29:32,000 --> 00:29:35,479 Speaker 1: focused on selling works from the David Herbert collection, and 423 00:29:35,560 --> 00:29:41,240 Speaker 1: that was becoming a very dangerous enterprise. By two thousand five, 424 00:29:41,360 --> 00:29:45,480 Speaker 1: the contemporary art market had soared thanks to a fivefold 425 00:29:45,600 --> 00:29:49,680 Speaker 1: increase in new billionaires since the nineteen eighties, and the 426 00:29:49,720 --> 00:29:55,520 Speaker 1: billionaires loved contemporary art. They loved the status it conferred to. 427 00:29:56,400 --> 00:29:59,520 Speaker 1: Most of all, they loved the profits many contemporary artists 428 00:29:59,520 --> 00:30:03,640 Speaker 1: were general rating. The new meme was art as an asset. 429 00:30:05,080 --> 00:30:07,120 Speaker 1: The market was now more than a place to buy 430 00:30:07,120 --> 00:30:11,280 Speaker 1: and sell art. It was a lifestyle. Wealthy collectors jetted 431 00:30:11,320 --> 00:30:14,160 Speaker 1: to art fares around the world, greeting each other like 432 00:30:14,240 --> 00:30:18,040 Speaker 1: old friends. They attended glittering parties held by the biggest 433 00:30:18,080 --> 00:30:21,680 Speaker 1: and most powerful dealers at the Venice Bionale at Art 434 00:30:21,680 --> 00:30:25,120 Speaker 1: Basel in Switzerland, and at the Freeze Fairs in London, 435 00:30:25,480 --> 00:30:28,840 Speaker 1: l A and New York. Entree to the club didn't 436 00:30:28,840 --> 00:30:33,320 Speaker 1: require old money or expertise in art, not anymore. All 437 00:30:33,360 --> 00:30:35,440 Speaker 1: you needed to join the club with money and a 438 00:30:35,440 --> 00:30:39,560 Speaker 1: willingness to spend it. Art has become the status symbol, 439 00:30:39,640 --> 00:30:42,880 Speaker 1: as dealer Gavin Brown put it, the lingua franca of 440 00:30:42,960 --> 00:30:47,600 Speaker 1: the wealthy. At some point in the early two thousands, 441 00:30:48,040 --> 00:30:51,360 Speaker 1: Cfra and Carlos attempted to open their own gallery in 442 00:30:51,400 --> 00:30:55,240 Speaker 1: the Chelsea neighborhood of New York City. It was aloft 443 00:30:55,360 --> 00:31:00,360 Speaker 1: on Nineteenth Street. Carlos called it King's Fine Art. Records 444 00:31:00,520 --> 00:31:05,320 Speaker 1: suggest he staged exactly one opening a trio of Cuban 445 00:31:05,320 --> 00:31:12,360 Speaker 1: American artists who went nowhere found the gallery ridiculous. You know, 446 00:31:12,480 --> 00:31:15,880 Speaker 1: he was a show off, and he wants to presume 447 00:31:16,000 --> 00:31:19,480 Speaker 1: that he was a businessman. Of course, did you work 448 00:31:19,480 --> 00:31:22,760 Speaker 1: with him at that gallery or now? It? Well, not really, 449 00:31:22,800 --> 00:31:25,640 Speaker 1: like I said, It was occasionally in and he was 450 00:31:25,680 --> 00:31:32,280 Speaker 1: the one who was putting it together. The Chelsea Loft 451 00:31:32,520 --> 00:31:35,360 Speaker 1: that Carlos opened was a bush league effort to join 452 00:31:35,440 --> 00:31:39,440 Speaker 1: the art market in earnest serious dealers. Those who, for 453 00:31:39,560 --> 00:31:43,080 Speaker 1: starters dealt in authentic art were in a whole other world, 454 00:31:43,600 --> 00:31:48,600 Speaker 1: one that Carlos and could only dream of. By now, 455 00:31:48,840 --> 00:31:53,080 Speaker 1: the best abstract expressionist works were all but impossible to 456 00:31:53,160 --> 00:31:58,360 Speaker 1: acquire unless she were willing to pay stratospheric prices. Hedge 457 00:31:58,360 --> 00:32:01,720 Speaker 1: fund manager Ken Griffin would become famous for buying a 458 00:32:01,800 --> 00:32:05,160 Speaker 1: dacooning and a pollock in a package deal for five 459 00:32:05,240 --> 00:32:11,720 Speaker 1: hundred million dollars. With all this frenzy, the contemporary art 460 00:32:11,720 --> 00:32:15,280 Speaker 1: market rose from roughly twenty billion in two thousand to 461 00:32:15,360 --> 00:32:18,600 Speaker 1: sixty three billion in two thousand eight. In the midst 462 00:32:18,640 --> 00:32:22,600 Speaker 1: of this hyperactive market, Anne had begun publicly showcasing works 463 00:32:22,880 --> 00:32:26,800 Speaker 1: from the David Herbert collection. The mecca for New York 464 00:32:26,920 --> 00:32:30,240 Speaker 1: art dealers was the annual Armory Show, hosted by the 465 00:32:30,320 --> 00:32:33,400 Speaker 1: Art Dealers Association of America or a d a A. 466 00:32:34,680 --> 00:32:37,920 Speaker 1: The Park Avenue Armory is a vast, high vaulted space 467 00:32:38,360 --> 00:32:42,520 Speaker 1: that once sheltered Union military troops and their horses. Any 468 00:32:42,560 --> 00:32:45,160 Speaker 1: dealer worth their salt was compelled to rent a booth 469 00:32:45,200 --> 00:32:50,400 Speaker 1: at the Armory Show, seemingly confident that her latest works 470 00:32:50,400 --> 00:32:54,200 Speaker 1: from the David Herbert collection were genuine, and began displaying 471 00:32:54,200 --> 00:32:57,920 Speaker 1: the paintings at each a d a a Show. Every 472 00:32:57,920 --> 00:33:00,760 Speaker 1: time we got a painting from Glyphira, we'd hang it 473 00:33:00,840 --> 00:33:03,720 Speaker 1: in the Knodler's booth at the Armory, and later told 474 00:33:03,800 --> 00:33:08,560 Speaker 1: Vanity Fair had anyone found anything wrong, she noted, believe me, 475 00:33:08,600 --> 00:33:11,400 Speaker 1: I would have been told take that down off the wall. 476 00:33:12,480 --> 00:33:14,760 Speaker 1: She would never take more than one of those to 477 00:33:14,840 --> 00:33:18,800 Speaker 1: the Armory Show, notes one ex staffer. It might be 478 00:33:18,920 --> 00:33:21,680 Speaker 1: flanked by a great Milton Avery landscape, or maybe a 479 00:33:21,760 --> 00:33:24,760 Speaker 1: Robert Motherwell, so it was surrounded by the creme de 480 00:33:24,840 --> 00:33:29,440 Speaker 1: la creme with impeccable provenance. It wasn't some po dunk Pollock. 481 00:33:30,680 --> 00:33:33,920 Speaker 1: Another ex staffer rolls his eyes at that there was 482 00:33:33,960 --> 00:33:36,400 Speaker 1: either a Pollock or a Newman on display at the 483 00:33:36,440 --> 00:33:40,320 Speaker 1: Kndler booth. The staffer recalls of one year's display. People 484 00:33:40,360 --> 00:33:43,440 Speaker 1: began whispering, you have to go look, but don't say anything. 485 00:33:44,080 --> 00:33:47,200 Speaker 1: Everyone knew it was fake. Everyone was laughing about it, 486 00:33:47,880 --> 00:33:50,320 Speaker 1: But as Patricia Cohen of The New York Times notes, 487 00:33:50,800 --> 00:33:53,520 Speaker 1: they were all instructed by lawyers not to say anything. 488 00:33:54,040 --> 00:34:00,200 Speaker 1: Why the fear of being sued. As those brilliant but 489 00:34:00,240 --> 00:34:03,840 Speaker 1: baffling works kept popping up, Freedman's fellow dealers made a 490 00:34:03,880 --> 00:34:06,400 Speaker 1: blood sport and speculating about which, if any, of the 491 00:34:06,440 --> 00:34:09,680 Speaker 1: paintings in the David Herbert collection were real, and why 492 00:34:09,680 --> 00:34:13,160 Speaker 1: did Anne Freeman keep promoting pictures one after another that 493 00:34:13,280 --> 00:34:19,719 Speaker 1: had no provenance, as one Armory show followed another, and 494 00:34:19,840 --> 00:34:24,719 Speaker 1: believe that her paintings were acquiring provenance by simply being exhibited. 495 00:34:26,560 --> 00:34:30,520 Speaker 1: Dealers found that absurd bullshit, that it's a building block 496 00:34:30,640 --> 00:34:35,319 Speaker 1: toward authentication. One dealer snorted, she kept trotting out this 497 00:34:35,400 --> 00:34:38,719 Speaker 1: ship at the Armory shows. I saw the Barnet Newman there, 498 00:34:38,840 --> 00:34:42,120 Speaker 1: the roth Coo there, the Pollock there. All were fake, 499 00:34:42,400 --> 00:34:46,839 Speaker 1: the dealer muttered to his colleagues. Yet Anne seemed oblivious 500 00:34:47,080 --> 00:34:51,200 Speaker 1: to their inauthenticity. The dealer said, if you don't have 501 00:34:51,280 --> 00:34:53,520 Speaker 1: an eye, and you don't have the ability to discern 502 00:34:53,600 --> 00:34:57,839 Speaker 1: differences in an artist's work, you're lost. I don't care 503 00:34:57,840 --> 00:35:03,160 Speaker 1: how much secondary research you do, and left those Armory 504 00:35:03,200 --> 00:35:07,840 Speaker 1: shows with a sense of exultation. Her masterpieces had survived 505 00:35:07,920 --> 00:35:11,839 Speaker 1: another gauntlet. A few of her rival dealers even through 506 00:35:11,880 --> 00:35:15,480 Speaker 1: her a word of affirmation, a vague word or two, 507 00:35:15,600 --> 00:35:19,560 Speaker 1: but enough for Ann to go on the Levy Pollock 508 00:35:19,680 --> 00:35:23,320 Speaker 1: declared all but fake by e far had incensed Anne 509 00:35:24,440 --> 00:35:27,600 Speaker 1: worse and had jeopardized the business she'd worked so hard 510 00:35:27,800 --> 00:35:34,239 Speaker 1: to keep afloat The Nodler needed a miracle. Magically, GPA 511 00:35:34,320 --> 00:35:37,759 Speaker 1: would conjure up a Jackson Pollock painting so brilliant that 512 00:35:37,800 --> 00:35:41,560 Speaker 1: no one would cast doubt on its authenticity, one that 513 00:35:41,600 --> 00:35:45,640 Speaker 1: would ultimately command the highest price ever paid for a work. 514 00:35:45,719 --> 00:35:51,480 Speaker 1: Emerging from Patient Kwan's garage in Queens must have been 515 00:35:51,560 --> 00:35:54,560 Speaker 1: January two twenty and he started talking to me about 516 00:35:54,560 --> 00:35:57,440 Speaker 1: the Nobler case. He was warning a tuxedo so as 517 00:35:57,480 --> 00:36:00,359 Speaker 1: I was a big formal wedding, and I and well, 518 00:36:01,120 --> 00:36:04,520 Speaker 1: somebody told me that Pierre Legrange was a really stupid person. 519 00:36:05,320 --> 00:36:08,360 Speaker 1: I said, I think that buying a painting for Man Friedman, 520 00:36:08,600 --> 00:36:11,760 Speaker 1: he must be a real dumb shit. He got screwed 521 00:36:11,840 --> 00:36:14,040 Speaker 1: for seventeen million dollars. And he looked at me and 522 00:36:14,040 --> 00:36:19,440 Speaker 1: he said, on Pierre Le Grand, the seventeen million dollar 523 00:36:19,600 --> 00:36:24,960 Speaker 1: Jackson Pollock. That's next time on Art Fraud, Love Last 524 00:36:25,360 --> 00:36:31,600 Speaker 1: at a King HEGs, don't be the thing on the 525 00:36:31,640 --> 00:36:41,359 Speaker 1: Street of Dreams, Dreams broken into can't be made like 526 00:36:41,600 --> 00:36:49,760 Speaker 1: new on the Street of Dreams. Art Fraud is brought 527 00:36:49,760 --> 00:36:53,799 Speaker 1: to you by my Heart Radio and Cavalry Audio. Our 528 00:36:53,880 --> 00:36:58,840 Speaker 1: executive producers are Matt del Piano, Keegan Rosenberger, Andy Turner, myself, 529 00:36:59,200 --> 00:37:02,920 Speaker 1: and Michael sn Ayerson. We're produced by Brandon Morgan and 530 00:37:03,000 --> 00:37:07,720 Speaker 1: Zach McNeice. Zach also edited and mixed this episode. Lindsay 531 00:37:07,760 --> 00:37:12,400 Speaker 1: Hoffman is our managing producer. Howard Writer is Michael Schneyerson.