Hubertus Butin Art Forgery - The Deceptive Object of Desire Including a chapter about Dirk Dietrich Hennig and the forger Carl Gerhardt Rudolf In 2015, London's Dulwich Picture Gallery put its visitors to the test. Instead of the 1769 oil painting "Portrait of a Young Woman" by Jean- Honoré Fragonard, it hung a forgery produced for a mere seventy pounds. The public was invited to spot the fake artwork among the exhibits. The result was astonishing: on the one hand, only ten percent recognized the deception—on the other hand, visitor numbers quadrupled. Art forgeries and the interest in them are booming. For the globalized art world, however, they have become a challenge. Mass forgeries not only cause considerable financial damage, but they also repeatedly lead museums and researchers down embarrassing dead ends. Hubertus Butin shows that the phenomenon cannot be reduced to individual perpetrators. Like doping in sports, forgery in art is a systemic problem. Using numerous, sometimes absurd, and even previously unknown case studies, Hubertus Butin investigates the causes, describes the methods of famous forgers such as Wolfgang Beltracchi, and explains how we can better protect ourselves against fraud and deception. Press reviews Nonfiction Bestseller List April 2020 DIE ZEIT, March 25, 2020 "Not least in this respect, a moral appeal is made that strikes at the heart of society's self-understanding, far beyond the realm of art. It is delivered by an author who doesn't simply present theses, but rather substantiates his arguments with evidence. Thus, Hubertus Butin's book is both gripping reading—and, as a report on the current situation, the definitive standard work." Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Rose-Maria Gropp "Illuminates the topic of art forgery from all sides." As gripping as a crime novel. ART News On the lax handling of art fraud Deutschlandfunk Kultur, Eva Hepper, March 18, 2020 "I see a new forgery every week" Der Spiegel, Interview with Hubertus Butin by Ulrike Knöfel, March 12, 2020 Invisible Hands Süddeutsche Zeitung, Jens Bisky, March 9, 2020 Suhrkamp © 2020 Suhrkamp Verlag AG, All rights reserved Hubertus Butin: Art Forgery The Deceptive Object of Desire Germany: €28.00 Austria: €28.80 Switzerland: CHF 38.50 Published: March 9, 2020 Hardcover, 476 pages ISBN: 978-3-518-42911-22015 © dirkdietrichhennig.com 2025