Reviewed by: Gary from Fernandina Beach, Florida, USA on Feb 8, 2009



THE DEAD DON'T SCULPT
All so-called sculptures in bronze, attributed to Edgar Degas, are posthumous -counterfeits-. You see, Edgar Degas was some three or more years dead (d. 1917) when those 2nd to 3rd-generation-removed counterfeits were posthumously reproduced in bronze with counterfeit -Degas- signatures applied between 1920 to 1936 or later. The dead don’t sculpt, much less sign anything. This factual perspective is confirmed in the National Gallery of Art’s published 1998 Degas at the Races catalogue. On page 180 in Daphne S. Barbour’s and Shelly G. Strum’s “The Horse in Wax and Bronze” essay, these authors write: “Degas never cast his sculpture in bronze, claiming that it was a “tremendous responsibility to leave anything behind in bronze — the medium is for eternity.” Additionally, on the National Gallery of Art’s http://www.nga.gov/education/degas-11.htm website, it states: “By comparing the sculpture to stylistic changes in Degas’ paintings and pastels, we are developing a chronology for the sculpture, which Degas did not date or sign.” In the United States the Association of Art Museum Directors endorses the College Art Association’s ethical guidelines on sculptural reproductions. In part, those ethical guidelines state: “any transfer into new material unless condone by the artist, is to be considered inauthentic or counterfeit and should not be acquired or exhibited as works of art.” Finally, two more thoughts to consider: 1) Degas never worked exclusively in -wax-, therefore his work could not be directly reproduced into bronze and 2) the bronzes, falsely attributed to a dead guy, are 2nd to 3rd-generation-removed forgeries with the founder and his workers fingerprints on them, not Degas’. To learn more, link to: http://garyarseneau.blogspot.com/2007/05/all-degas-bronze-sculptures-are-fake.html Gary Arseneau artist & scholar Fernandina Beach, Florida garyarseneau.blogspot.com
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