Wolfgang Beltracchi

Wolfgang Beltracchi (born Wolfgang Fischer in 1951) is a German art forger and artist,^[1] who has admitted to producing hundreds of fake paintings. Beltracchi, his wife, and two accomplices sold these as original works by famous artists including Max Ernst, Heinrich Campendonk, Fernand Léger and Kees van Dongen. In 2011 Beltracchi was sentenced to six years in prison.^[2][3]

Biography

Wolfgang Fischer was born 4 February 1951 in Höxter^[4][5] and grew up in Geilenkirchen. His father was an art restorer and muralist.^[1]

According to his own statements, Beltracchi copied a Pablo Picasso painting when he was 14 years old. He was expelled from school when he was 17, and went to art school in Aachen. He said that as a young man, he used drugs such a LSD and opium and started doing art forgeries "a little". He travelled through Europe and lived in Amsterdam and Morocco.^[3]

He also lived in Mallorca, Spain and France.^{[citation needed]}

In the 1980s for a short time Beltracchi ran an art gallery together with a business partner. The two had a falling-out and his partner accused Beltracchi of burglary and stealing paintings from his house. Beltracchi vehemently denies this.^[3]

Fischer met Helene Beltracchi in 1992, and after marrying her in 1993 adopted her surname.^[3]

Forgeries

Police have identified 58 paintings they suspect have been forged by Beltracchi. Beltracchi himself has stated he has forged hundreds of paintings by over 50 artists.^[2]

Fictional collections

To provide a provenance for their fake works of art Beltracchi and his associates fabricated stories about their grandparents who supposedly had been art collectors in the 1920s: the Sammlung Knops and Sammlung Werner Jägers.

The Sammlung Knops (Knops Collection) had allegedly belonged to master tailor Johann Wilhelm Knops from Krefeld, grandfather of Otto Schulte-Kellinghaus.

Sammlung Werner Jägers (Werner Jägers Collection) had allegedly belonged to Werner Jägers, Helene Beltracchi's grandfather.

Both Johann Wilhelm Knops and Werner Jägers were made up to have been customers of Alfred Flechtheim, and many forgeries were labelled with his name.^[6]

List of known forgeries

The Bundesverband Deutscher Kunstversteigerer (German Federation of Art Auctioneers), as a section of their database of known forgeries^[7] has published a catalogue of works from the fictional Sammlung Jäger which have been investigated by the LKA. The catalogue lists 54 paintings as per October 2012, fakes presented as works by 24 different artists, including Heinrich Campendonk, Max Ernst, Auguste Herbin, Louis Marcoussis, André Derain, Jean Metzinger, Raoul Dufy, Kees van Dongen and Fernand Léger.^[8]

Notable cases

Porträt Oskar Schlemmer by Johannes Molzahn

In 1987 Loretto Molzahn, widow of Johannes Molzahn, paid a Berlin dealer DM60,000 for a portrait her husband had painted in 1930 of Oskar Schlemmer. The dealer had acquired the painting from Wolfgang Fischer. The painting proved to be fake and the Berlin dealer was given a suspended sentence in 1998.^[1][2][9]

Bouquet varié by Moïse Kisling

In 2012 Bouquet varié (bouquet of flowers), purportedly a 1937 painting by Moïse Kisling, was listed by French auctioneers Millon to be auctioned in Dubai on 22 October 2012, with an estimate of $150,000–200,000. As its provenance were listed Sammlung Jägers, Köln, Sammlung Beltracchi, Palma, and an auction on 23 March 1994 at Sotheby's in London. The painting was withdrawn from auction when questions were raised about its authenticity. When asked about the painting, Beltracchi commented he "had painted many bouquets of flowers during his life".^[10]

Research by Die Zeit revealed that two versions of the painting exist. The painting offered in Dubai had actually been sold by Sotheby's in 1993. The painting sold by Sotheby's in 1994 is different and its whereabouts are unknown.^[11]

La Forêt (2) by Max Ernst

In 2004 Beltracchi and his associates sold La Forêt (2), a fake 1927 Max Ernst oil painting, to a dealer for €1.8 million after Werner Spies had appraised it and had issued a certificate of authenticity. Galerie Cazeau-Béraudière lent it to the Max Ernst Museum (de) for a 2006 exhibition and subsequently sold it to collector Daniel Filipacchi for $7 million.^[12] The painting is now listed as a forgery from the Sammlung Jägers^[8] and is one of the five Max Ernst paintings Beltracchi during the 2011 trial admitted to forging.^[13]

Nature morte by Fernand Léger

Early 2006 Otto Schulte-Kellinghaus tried, unsuccessfully, to sell this painting via Parisian art dealers. Together with a forged André Derain painting it was taken to Kunstmuseum Ahlen in July 2009 where it was shown to prospective customers, including Christie's, which rejected it. Provenance of the painting was the fictional Sammlung Jägers. A deal was being negotiated to sell the painting for €5.8 million to an unknown buyer, when it was seized in the museum by police 25 August 2010.^[14] It is one of the fourteen paintings Beltracchi admitted to forging.^[15]

Landschaft mit Pferden by Heinrich Campendonk

In July 2004 Steve Martin paid Paris gallery Cazeau-Béraudière €700,000 for Landschaft mit Pferden (Landscape with horses), supposedly painted by Heinrich Campendonk in 1915. In February 2006 Martin sold the painting through Christie's to a Swiss businesswoman for €500,000.^[16][17] The painting is now listed as a forgery from the Sammlung Jägers^[8] and is one of the fourteen paintings Beltracchi admitted to forging.^[18]

Rotes Bild mit Pferden by Heinrich Campendonk

In November 2006 Beltracchi and associates sold Rotes Bild mit Pferden (Red Picture with Horses), supposedly a 1914 painting by Heinrich Campendonk, to Trasteco, a Maltese company, for €2.88 million through Lempertz (de) auctioneers in Cologne. In 2008 a scientific analysis showed the painting contained titanium white, which was not yet available in 1914. Experts identified old gallery labels on the back of the painting as fake.^[3] The painting is now listed as a forgery from the Sammlung Jägers^[8] and is one of the fourteen paintings Beltracchi admitted to forging.^[19]

Trasteco sued for damages, and 28 September 2012 a court in Cologne ruled in its favour: Lempertz was to reimburse Trasteco the full amount. Lempertz announced it would appeal.^[20]

December 2012 the case was settled, with some of Beltracchi's real estate being sold to repay Trasteco €2 million. Lempertz reimbursed Trasteco its €800.000 sales commission as well as some additional costs. This is the first instance of Beltracchi refunding a buyer of one of his forgeries.^[21]

Arrest and trial

Wolfgang and Helene Beltracchi were arrested 27 August 2010 in Freiburg.^[3] Otto Schulte-Kellinghaus was arrested 1 December 2010.^[14]

During the trial in autumn 2011 Wolfgang Beltracchi admitted forging 14 paintings: 3 by Heinrich Campendonk, 2 by André Derain, 1 by Kees van Dongen, 5 by Max Ernst, 1 by Fernand Léger and 2 by Max Pechstein.^[22]

27 October 2011 Wolfgang Beltracchi was sentenced to 6 years in jail. His wife Helene was sentenced to 4 years, and his accomplice "Otto S.K." to 5 years. Helene's sister "Jeanette S." was given a suspended sentence of 21 months in jail.^[6][23]

Aftermath

Wolfgang and Helene Beltracchi are allowed to serve their sentences in an open prison, as long as they have regular jobs. They have been employed by a friend's photostudio, leaving prison in the morning and returning after work.^[3] While serving his sentence Wolfgang Beltracchi in collaboration with a photographer has produced a number of mixed-media works, paintings embedding photographs of himself.^[24] The collaboration ended September 2012.^[25] Helene Beltracchi was released from prison February 2013.^[26]

In 2012, journalists Stefan Koldehoff and Tobias Timm published a book about the Beltracchi case.^[27] Koldehoff and Timm were awarded the 2012 Annette Giacometti Prize for their work.^[28]

In January 2014, Helene and Wolfgang Beltracchi published two books: an autobiography^[29] and a collection of letters the pair wrote each other while in prison.^[30]

Filmmaker Arne Birkenstock, whose father Reinhard Birkenstock is Wolfgang and Helene Beltracchi's legal counsel, is working on a documentary about the Beltracchi case.^[31]

Burkhard Leismann, director of the Kunstmuseum Ahlen, was charged 19 February 2013 with being an accomplice in the attempted sale of a fake Fernand Léger painting titled Nature morte while knowing the painting to be fake. Leismann denied the charges.^[32]

A French tribunal ruled on 24 May 2013 that Werner Spies and gallery owner Jacques de La Béraudière are to pay an art collector € 652,883. The collector had bought Tremblement de terre, a fake painting by Max Ernst, after Spies had declared it to be a genuine Max Ernst painting.^[33]

Notes and references

Further reading

• Koldehoff, Stefan; Timm, Tobias (2012). Falsche Bilder Echtes Geld: Der Fälschungscoup des Jahrhunderts – und wer alles daran verdiente [False Pictures Real Money: The fake art coup of the century - and who made money from it] (in German) (1st ed.). Berlin: Galiani. ISBN 978-3-86971-057-0. 
  Translations:
  • Koldehoff, Stefan; Timm, Tobias (2013). L'Affaire Beltracchi : Enquête sur l'un des plus grands scandales de faux tableaux du siècle et sur ceux qui en ont profité (in French). Jacqueline Chambon Editions. ISBN 978-2330018283. 
• Beltracchi, Helene; Beltracchi, Wolfgang (2014). Selbstporträt (in German). Rowohlt. ISBN 978-3498060633. 
• Beltracchi, Helene; Beltracchi, Wolfgang (2014). Einschluss mit Engeln: Gefängnisbriefe vom 31.8.2010 bis 27.10.2011 (in German). Rowohlt. ISBN 978-3498044985. 

External links

• Homepage Wolfgang Beltracchi
• Beltracchi Project