by Le Huong
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Marked as art: An audience looks at a painting by the late painter Tran Van Can at an exhibition featuring Can's works in Ha Noi. — VNS Photo Doan Tung |
The Vietnamese fine-arts world has been plagued by fake paintings, raising the necessity for a special centre to concentrate on verifying artwork.
Vietnamese fine arts may be rather young in comparison with other countries, but it still remains susceptible to forgeries and trade in fake paintings.
Painter Nguyen Duc Hoa, son of popular painter Nguyen Trong Hop, was once invited to examine a painting said to be his father's work at a collector's house.
He discovered the painting was a fake as soon as he saw a title that read: Da Lat - 1967.
"This was nonsense because my dad has never been to Da Lat [in the Central Highlands]. And in 1967 my family was evacuated to Ha Bac Province [former Bac Ninh and Bac Giang provinces in northern Viet nam] to avoid American bombs," Hoa said, "The painting is surely a fake."
The collector, who had paid US$80 for the painting, was disappointed to realise that he hadn't snagged the art-bargain of the century.
The Portrait of a Woman by Nguyen Sang was also subject to forgery. It was auctioned together with other 37 paintings by Vietnamese artists at an auction in Singapore in 1997.
The painting had a set price of $12,000.
However, the auctioned painting was discovered to be a fake after the original kept by the woman in the painting – Nguyen Thi Ngoc Ha – a former teacher at the Diplomatic Academy of Viet Nam revealed it was still in her possession.
In 1978 Nguyen Sang drew her portrait on silk and gave to her as a gift. The painting became slightly damaged over the time. In 1995, a painter visited her house and enthusiastically offered to help restore it.
Ha paid him some money, but little repair work seemed to have been done to the painting so she took it home. She did not realise that the painting had been copied and sold to an overseas Vietnamese for $2,000.
"I think a centre to verify all works of fine arts to avoid these problems is a necessity," Hoa said.
Help centre
The first centre for that purpose has been established at the Fine Arts Museum of Viet Nam in Ha Noi.
"The centre will act as a referee, contributing to improving the country's fine arts," said Vi Kien Thanh, an official from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism's Fine Arts Department.
Art works, if verified by the centre, would be certificated, providing legal proof of originality benefiting sellers, buyers and artists alike. "A problem for the new centre is that it won't be able to send any staff to study verifying art-pieces because no institute offers training," Thanh said. "Machines will be used to help identify the age of the canvas and number of colour layers but they can't tell us anything about the content and style of the painting."
Only when using expert advice can paintings be verified as being the product of a particular artist, primarily based on the style and content of the work, he said.
"We are still on the way to establishing a network of collaborators for future verifications. A new verification council will be set up for each case, which will consist of proper specialists." Le Quoc Huy, deputy head of the centre told Viet Nam News, "We have built up fairly abundant information on Vietnamese folk art genres and artists based on the existing stock held by the museum and continue to gather more." Huy implied that the centre would go into full swing if a fine arts auction house is established. Most fine art dealings so far have been carried out through private sales. Hoang Minh Thai, deputy head of the culture ministry's Legislation Department, held that the regulations the museum has introduced are too simplistic.
The museum should issue a realistic policy, outlining financial issues, investment, operations, and personnel, he said.
According to Huy, the centre is currently compiling a list of necessary equipment for examining art works in order to ask for a budget from the culture authority.
The Public Security Ministry's Criminal Science Institute will help the centre. The centre has also received an offer of consultation from Queensland University's Fine Arts History Department in Australia.
"The price for verifying art works may vary according to each case," Huy said, "The centre will discuss this with customers directly. To a work with bigger value, our responsibility is more and of course, we will have to spend more time and labour on that." — VNS