/ARTS WEEKLY/ART-MEXICO: Quality Copies of Masterpieces at a Modest Price

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Diego Cevallos

MEXICO CITY, Dec 17 2002 (IPS) - Museum quality reproductions of the works of old masters like Leonardo da Vinci, Vincent van Gogh, Claude Monet and Pierre Auguste Renoir can now be purchased legally in Mexico at affordable prices ranging from 4,000 to 15,000 U.S. dollars.

The handpainted imitation pieces by world-class copyists are exhibited and sold by the Le Musée Imaginaire, Mexique, located on the southside of the Mexican capital.

For a reasonable sum, art lovers can decorate their living rooms with faithful replicas of works that are worth over 50 million dollars and can only be seen in museums like the Louvre in Paris, El Prado in Madrid, or London’s National Gallery.

Only the author’s signature, tiny details that purposely differentiate the copies from the originals, and the certificate that they are legal reproductions indicate that they are copies.

”The only thing these paintings lack is that they are not originals,” Fernando Montes de Oca, the owner of Le Musée Imaginaire, Mexique, told IPS.

Montes de Oca, a businessman who moved into art from the world of insurance, bought the rights for Mexico of the ”imaginary museum,” the brainchild of Italian artist Daniel Ermes Dondé, who brought together, in the mid-1980s, a group of painters who produce high-quality legal copies of the works of the world’s most famous artists.

In September, Montes de Oca began to exhibit the oil reproductions of 40 famous paintings, which he says have had smashing success among the public. However, the complete exhibit of 110 paintings can only be seen by appointment.

”The idea is to make this school of work known in Mexico, and to put it at the disposal of connoisseurs,” said the insurance man. ”We are not dealing with the public at large, but are focusing on art-lovers, who can come and enjoy the collection, and, if they wish, buy one of the reproductions.”

The replicas are so good that care has to be taken against theft by someone who might have the idea of selling them as originals, he pointed out.

Among the first copies that can be purchased or simply viewed in the ”museum” are the ”Mona Lisa” by Italy’s da Vinci, ”Self-Portrait” by Dutch master van Gogh, and classic works by French artists Edgar Degas (”Blue Dancers”), Monet (”The Artist’s Garden”), and Renoir (”Girl With Dog”).

”Self-Portrait” is one of the most outstanding copies, and sells for just under 15,000 dollars – compared to the 71.5 million dollars that the original fetched at an auction in 1998.

The works now on exhibit in Mexico are by 10 Italian, French and British artists considered the world’s best copyists of masterpieces, who use the same materials employed by the masters themselves to recreate classic works of art.

Bringing Dondé’s project to Mexico was not an easy task. It took more than a year and a half of negotiations and preparations, said Montes de Oca, who pointed out that the exhibit is the first of its kind in Latin America.

Dondé’s project is an itinerant museum that travels the world, setting up shop for around two weeks in hotels in posh resort towns during tourist season.

But Montes de Oca wanted to create the first fixed location to show the reproductions.

The history of art is chock full of cases in which falsifications were passed off as the real thing, which cast a shadow on the work of reputable copyists.

Italian painter Guiseppe Salzano is another famous copyist who promotes, especially in Europe, legal sales of high-quality replicas of the world’s finest works of art. ”This is also art, and it has a very important mission,” says Salzano.

The artists who create legal reproductions of masterpieces and those who show and sell their paintings say their only aim is to bring the world’s great works of art to the general public.

Everything is legal, out-in-the-open, and no deception is involved, Montes de Oca underlined.

The Universal Encyclopedia of Painting and Sculpture published by the Sarpe publishing house in Spain states that copies of famous works of art are as old as art itself, although it clarifies that rarely are they good enough to be truly convincing.

According to the encyclopedia, the reproductions should not be classified as ”falsifications”, because there is no intention of deceit.

Although the imitation pieces that are currently on exhibit in Mexico are known as ”legal falsifications,” they are actually quality replicas that are recognised as such, Montes de Oca stressed.

/ARTS WEEKLY/ART-MEXICO: Quality Copies of Masterpieces at a Modest Price

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Diego Cevallos

MEXICO CITY, Dec 17 2002 (IPS) - Museum quality reproductions of the works of old masters like Leonardo da Vinci, Vincent van Gogh, Claude Monet and Pierre Auguste Renoir can now be purchased legally in Mexico at affordable prices ranging from 4,000 to 15,000 U.S. dollars.
(more…)