Slightly over a 12 months in the past, the New York Metropolis artwork seller Robert Rogal acquired a go to to his non-public showroom from a younger girl, who appeared keen to dump a household heirloom.
Introducing herself as Karolina Bankowska, she carried a framed portray signed by Andrew Wyeth, resembling the watercolor landscapes the celebrated artist had accomplished early in his profession. Intrigued, Rogal accepted the piece on consignment, figuring it’d fetch between $20,000 to $30,000 at public sale.
“The provenance was a bit fuzzy,” he stated. “However she appeared credible. It wasn’t an apparent counterfeit.”
In actual fact, Rogal now believes the portray was a faux — one in all at the very least 200 fastidiously designed imitations that federal prosecutors say Bankowska, 26, and her father Erwin Bankowski, 50, tried to go off to unwitting consumers.
On Tuesday, the duo pleaded responsible to defrauding their victims — together with a few of New York Metropolis’s most outstanding fantastic artwork public sale homes — of at the very least $2 million.
The counterfeits, which have been cast in Poland by an unnamed co-conspirator, have been typically reproductions of lesser-known works by outstanding and prolific artists, like Banksy and Andy Warhol, prosecutors stated.
Their most worthwhile faux, purportedly by the artist Richard Mayhew, was offered by the public sale home DuMouchelles final October for $160,000.
A consultant for DuMouchelles stated that they had cooperated with federal authorities however weren’t approved to debate the sale additional. A number of different public sale homes focused within the scheme, together with Bonhams, Phillips, Freeman’s and Vintage Enviornment, both declined or didn’t reply to inquiries.
The daddy and daughter — Polish residents residing in New Jersey — face costs of wire fraud conspiracy and misrepresenting Native American–produced items, a cost stemming from their duplication of the Luiseño artist, Fritz Scholder.
They face the potential for greater than three years in jail underneath federal pointers, along with $1.9 million in restitution and doable deportation to Poland.
In courtroom on Tuesday, Bankowska informed a decide that her “conduct was flawed and I’m responsible.” Her lawyer, Todd Spodek, stated his shopper had positioned greater than $1 million in an escrow account.
By way of a Polish interpreter, Erwin Bankowski additionally apologized. His lawyer, Jeffrey Chabrowe, added that his shopper had “regrettably made a horrible determination in an effort to help his household.”
As information of the fakes reverberated across the artwork world, consultants described the scheme as a traditional of the style — one that’s much more prevalent than some within the trade want to admit.
“The one uncommon factor about this case is that the forgers acquired caught,” stated Erin Thompson, a professor of artwork crime on the Metropolis College of New York.
“Folks consider the artwork world as a genteel place filled with cultured individuals who simply need to share the surprise of gorgeous artwork,” she added. “You must assume there are much more fakes on the market.”
Prosecutors stated the daddy and daughter started commissioning a Polish artist in 2020 to create the faux artworks. Utilizing vintage paper, in addition they cast stamps to connect to the work, adopting the names of since-shuttered galleries the place a given artist might need plausibly proven their work.
It wasn’t lengthy earlier than the gross sales started to attract scrutiny. In March 2023, representatives for the artist Raimonds Staprans caught wind of a cast portray, “Triple Boats,” on the market by an public sale home.
A number of days after the reps contacted the public sale home, the portray offered to a purchaser for $60,000, prosecutors stated.
Thompson, the professor of artwork crime, observed different irregularities as effectively. The gallery stamp on the again of the faked Wyeth, for instance, listed its 12 months as 1976, however included a zoning handle quantity that had been phased out in 1962.
Coincidentally, maybe, the faux stamp bore the title and handle for M. Knoedler & Co. Considered one of New York’s oldest and most esteemed business galleries, Knoedler closed down in 2011 amid allegations of cashing in on forgeries of work by Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko and others.
In the end, Rogal stated he by no means listed the Wyeth, partly as a result of the stamp on the again was “too clear.” When he known as Bankowska and informed her to select it up, she by no means responded.
On Tuesday, in a Queens warehouse brimming with consigned artwork items, Rogal reexamined the portray underneath the sunshine.
“You attempt to do a service and supply it accurately,” he stated. “Can we be fooled? Completely.”
