A Little Art Mystery–in the Style of Marc Chagall

How do you tell a real painting by Marc Chagall from a faux?

Maybe it’s in what you appreciate–true or not?

I stopped to visit my friend Cathleen at the Redwood Gospel Mission where she oversaw special donations to the mission’s thrift shop.

A painting on her desk leaned against the wall.

“I’ll take it,” I said.

I’ve ever said something like that upon first laying eyes on a painting.

For those of you with any art background, who do you think the painter might be?

“It looks like a Chagall,” I said.

Cathleen smiled like a satisfied cat. “We think it may be a Chagall, and no, not yet.”

And such is the beginning of, not madness exactly, but a quest.

The painting is unsigned, but it has many characteristics of the work of Marc Chagall, a Russian-French painter from the last century (he died in 1985). I’m not an art historian, but even I could see them.

Look at these Chagalls–do you see similarities?

“How do you determine who painted it?” I asked.

Most significant paintings have a “provenance” (from the French word provenir–“To come from”), a carefully documented list of owners to verify ownership and ensure people do not unwittingly purchase a forgery. As it turns out, there’s an entire website about Marc Chagall forgeries.

Who knew there was such a big business in Chagall forgeries?

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This particular painting–it’s a watercolor about 16 inches by 22 inches–was donated to the Redwood Gospel Mission when a local resident’s home was dismantled following a death.

Because it wasn’t the usual type of donation–clothing, housewares or appliances–Cathleen received it and needed to determine if the painting should be evaluated, and thus sold, at a higher than normal price.

“We’ve sent a letter and photos of the painting to the San Francisco Musem of Modern Art. They told us they could not make a determination and suggested we contact Bella, Chagall’s granddaughter, who lives in New York City,” Cathleen explained.

Bella is very busy and doesn’t have time to look at every potential Chagall, so she recommended they contact the committee in Paris. If they thought it might be a “real” painting by her grandfather, she’d take a look.

Friends in Paris?

“Do you know anyone in Paris by any chance?” Cathleen asked.

As a matter of fact, I did.  My art major niece was spending a semester abroad in Paris.

“Do you think we could send the painting to her and then she could walk it into the Chagall Committee in Paris to ask them to evaluate the painting?” Cathleen’s eyes danced.

“Possibly, but a better choice would be her sister who is going to visit in early December. She could hand carry it.”

“Great idea.” Cathleen nodded. “Where does the sister live?”

Now it was my turn to smile. “New York City.”

Cathleen’s eyes lit up. “If she lives in New York, do you think she would mind stopping in and seeing Chagall’s granddaughter with the painting? And if the granddaughter wasn’t interested, she could just say she was taking it on to the committee in Paris.”

This is the subject line on the e-mail I sent my niece Avtar:

“A Mission–hopefully not impossible–in NYC and Paris; are you up for a possible adventure?”

But then I had second thoughts and I included the following:

“I realize this sounds like the opening chapter in a spy novel–you know beautiful young woman gets a mysterious request from an elderly aunt about a work of art– but I have NO reason to think this might be dangerous.

“But then, isn’t that what they all say?”

Well, what would you do if your aunt asked you?  🙂

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