“It is easy to make a Tanguy.”
Pablo Picasso
This is a preliminary working draft
Gordon Onslow Ford recounts the following story: “at the Café Flore at the time when he was painting Giernica, Picasso one day said: “It is easy to make a Tanguy.” He proceeded to draw an horizon and some free form outlines on a piece of paper.”[1] The story continues: “Jeanette [Tanguy’s wife] naturally furious, picked up a chair and hit, not Picasso, but Dora Maar.”[2] Dora Maar was Picasso’s current companion, and to whom Yves was also attracted.[3] It might be that Jeannette’s pique was directed more at Dora because of her husband’s infatuation, rather than at Picasso for his drawing (This was certainly the case when a suspicious and jealous Jeannette threw a piece of fish at P.G. who was also having an affair with Tanguy at the time.[4]) Nevertheless, Picasso was correct that Tanguy’s drawings are particularly easy to fake or forge. They require in most cases few supplies (paper, pen and ink). Today, his line drawings are easily reproduced using modern printing technologies. His drawings are frequently without the documentation (bills of sale, gallery records, provenance, etc.) that accompany more expensive oils and they are less likely to receive scholarly attention or undergo the scientific examination and materials analysis to which his much more expensive oils are often subjected. These factors make Tanguy’s drawings very easy to fake or forge.
An authentic work of art is one that is produced by the hand of or under the supervision of the artist who designed it and it incorporates the artist’s choice of method or medium. A fake or forgery is the deliberate manufacture of a work of art with the intent to deceive as to the date and/or authorship. For purposes of this catalogue, a fake work of art is an unauthorized duplication, an alteration of, or an addition (or modification) to an image by Yves Tanguy. A forgery is a work done by another artist that is falsely attributed to Tanguy. These forged works may have no relationship to authentic works by the artist, may incorporate some of Tanguy’s iconography from authentic works, or are pastiches made from fragments of original works of art.[5] Most of the works in this section have been described as “after”, “in the manner of “, “school of”, “attributed to”, “studio of”, “circle of”, “style of”, “reproduction of”, “a copy of”, “art print” or “art copy”, have been misattributed works of another artist, or are reproductions from books that are represented as original works. These works are therefore considered Fakes or Forgeries until further research and documentation documents otherwise. These works are denoted in this catalogue by “F-” prefixed catalogue numbers.
Images of works attributed to Tanguy which are considered Fakes or Forgeries are presented in the following sections:
- Images based on paintings, prints or drawings by Tanguy. These works may be an exact reproduction of Tanguy’s work, or may also be modified with the addition of color, additional lines, a signature, or a dedication. These works meet the definition of a fake. This group of drawings is divided into three subsections:
1a. Drawings based on Tanguy paintings, prints or drawings
1b. Drawings based on works attributed to Tanguy that require additional research
1c. Drawings based on illustrations in Le Mythe de la Roche Perçée by Yvan Goll.
- Reproductions from texts that are represented by the sellers as original works.
- Images not related to known Tanguy works. These works may employ iconography that resembles that of Tanguy or may be totally unrelated to any of Tanguy’s imagery. These works meet the definition of a forgery.
- Works of another artist that are misattributed to Yves Tanguy.
- Other works attributed to Tanguy.
If you believe that a work in this section is not a fake or forgery, please contact the Yves Tanguy Drawings, LLC at YvesTanguyDrawings@gmail.com and attach documentation to support your assertion that the drawing is by the hand of Yves Tanguy.
Footnotes:
[1] Onslow-Ford, Gordon. Tanguy and automatism. Inverness, CA: Bishop Pine Press, 1983. Page 19.
[2] Miller, Stephen. Gordon Onslow Ford, 90, the Last of the Surrealists. Obituary in the New York Sun. [http://groups.google.com/group/alt.obituaries/browse_thread/thread/5beb0b558761090e/f5a6caebd4aac6b7%3Flnk=st%26q=surrealism%2Bpainting%26rnum=16%26hl=en (accessed June 21, 2012)]
[3] In the auction, three letters were included with a small drawing dedicated to Dora Maar. One letter dated in late 1936 witnesses to the violent passion by Tanguy for Dora Maar. It is unclear if this passion was shared, though probably not, since she became Picasso’s companion earlier that year. [However she did keep Tanguy’s letters. During that same period Dora Maar made a superb portrait of Yves (# 104) See MISC-1301. In 1938, Tanguy also gave Dora a watercolor dedicated to her. (see also MISC-1301).]
[4] See Mistress of Modernism=== throwing fish at P.G. etc p146 this is B-3156.
[5] Noah Charney- The Art of Forgery
Website Updated: May 4, 2020
Text File:13. Fakes and Forgeries (07).docx