A painting owned by the Tokushima Modern Art Museum as a work by Jean Metzinger titled “At the Cycle-Race Track”
14:08 JST, August 7, 2024
Two art museums in Shikoku might be the victims of a master forger.
The Tokushima Modern Art Museum in Tokushima announced on July 12 that an oil painting believed to be a work by French painter Jean Metzinger (1883-1956) is suspected to be a fake.
Owned by the prefectural museum, the work is titled “At the Cycle-Race Track.” It is 55 centimeters tall and 46 centimeters wide.
The museum stopped exhibiting the painting at the Kyoto City Kyocera Museum of Art, and it is investigating whether the painting is genuine or not.
Metzinger was a painter of Cubism, an art movement launched in France by Pablo Picasso and others in the early 20th century.
“At the Cycle-Race Track” is considered one of Metzinger’s outstanding works from early in his career, and it is believed that the piece was painted from 1911 to 1912.
The Tokushima museum purchased the painting for ¥67.2 million via mediation by an Osaka gallery in 1999.
The museum has exhibited the painting about 40 times, mainly in exhibitions from its collection. It has also lent the painting to other art museums nationwide, including the National Museum of Western Art in Tokyo.
In early June, the museum obtained information from a person in the art world saying that there is an article on the internet claiming the painting is a fake.
Then museum officials found an article noting that the painting was produced by Wolfgang Beltracchi, who is an internationally famous forger. It is said that he raked in billions of yen by forging paintings of famous painters’ works.
Although officials at the museum said that the online article was written more than 10 years ago and the validity of the content is unclear, they asked the seller and art-related organizations that make catalogs of Metzinger’s works to provide information as part of its investigation into the issue.
The painting was being displayed in a Cubism exhibition at the Kyoto City Kyocera Museum of Art from March 20, but the Tokushima museum pulled the painting on June 17.
Although the museum had planned to show the painting as a notable artwork in an exhibition from its collection that was scheduled to start on July 27, it will not exhibit it.
“We will collect information broadly and want to confirm whether it is fake or not as soon as possible,” a museum official said.
Another suspicious work
A painting titled “Girl with Swan” suspected to be a fake
The Museum of Art, Kochi announced on July 12 that it is investigating whether an oil painting in its collection is a fake.
The work in question is “Girl with Swan” by German painter Heinrich Campendonk. The museum said it purchased the painting from a gallery in Nagoya in 1996.
The Tokushima Modern Art Museum confirmed that a work in its collection was on an online list of artworks forged by Beltracchi, and since “Girl with Swan” was also on the list, it notified the Kochi museum in mid-June.
“Girl with Swan” is believed to have been painted in 1919. The Kochi museum has lent the painting to other art museums nationwide and exhibited it in its exhibition to commemorate the 30th anniversary of its opening, held in November last year.
Museum officials believe it is highly possible the painting is a fake. It will conduct a probe into the gallery from which it bought the painting and analyze materials used in the paints.
The museum said it will announce the result around autumn this year.
