 The article, I receive the most comments about, is the story, I wrote about Marie Charlot. I have several paintings, signed with the name, Marie Charlot. Marie Charlot was thought to be an unknown Belgian artist, apparently favoured, by Napoleon Bonaparte. Shortly after posting the article, an art historian, in the USA was trying to provenance, a work, supposedly by Marie Charlot. Since then, I have received over twenty enquiries, from owners of Marie Charlot paintings. It seems, the mystery has been solved by a chap in America, called Dave, who sent me this email, recently; ‘Marie Charlot was a fictional painter hired by Collector’s Corner Inc. back in the early 70′s. Painters from China were hired by this company and given a list of names for the painter to put on the painting when finished. People were more likely to purchase from an English, American or French name than they would if it were signed by a Chinese name. That was the market back then. These painting were done on a massive scale not always by the same artist. Painters were shown a reference piece and painted slightly different versions. China is still selling these types of painting each day, now you can find them on ebay with many names close to someone who is noted artist.’ |
I hope, you are not too disappointed. The value of art, is in the pleasure, it gives to the owner. My Marie Charlot has given me decades of pleasure and will continue to so.
My name is Steve Howard. You have been reading the digital circus.
digital circus 