In 1994 a woman previously unknown in the world of fine art walked into one of the oldest and most revered galleries in New York City. She carried under her arm a previously unknown masterpiece by Mark Rothko, one of fine arts most sought after mid-century masters. So began a relationship that would last 17 years and involve dozens of paintings that brought in more than 80 million dollars. But they were all fake. The resulting fallout would shock art world and see the once vaunted Knoedler Gallery closed overnight and the perpetrators under federal indictment. Join host Alec Baldwin for season one of ART FRAUD as we investigate the rise and fall of The Knoedler Gallery.
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Episode Transcript
The art world. It is essentially a money laundering business.
The best fakes are still hanging on people's walls. You know,
they don't even know or suspect that their face. I'm
Alec Baldwin and this is a podcast about deception, greed
and forgery in the art world. I just walked in
and saw this bright red painting presuming to be a rothko.
(00:26):
Of course, art forgeries only happen because there's money to
be made, a lot of money. I'm listening to how
what they're paying for these things. It was an incredible
man of money. We sent him a check for one million,
one thousand, but he said to us that he thought
the picture was now worth three million, and he was
(00:47):
gonna sue us for that much money. The art market
is ripe for cons because it's inherently subjective. I just
couldn't even look at it because as it was so
garish and so not by Rothkoe. You've got to prove
that the paintings are fake, and you've got to prove
(01:08):
that someone who sold them knew that they were fake.
There were an unusually large number of prominent people who
seemingly were going to stand by the paintings and say
that they were real. You knew the painting was fake. UM.
Listen to Art Fraud on the I Heart Radio app,
(01:30):
Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
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