A New Show in London Is Exploring the Art of Forgery by Presenting Works That Are—You Guessed It—All Fake

Min Chen | artnet news | 24th May 2023

Does an artwork have aesthetic value if it turns out to be a fake? London’s Courtauld is well placed to offer an answer as its collection includes a generous number of fakes. Some of these have fooled generations of experts, leaving the show’s curators with an unenviable choice. A fake cannot carry the same meaning as a genuine work. However, if a work is sufficiently affecting, the name of the artist shouldn’t matter. Sadly, in the end, “often we see what we want to see.”