Open Letter on Expertise of Dali Works

by Robert P. Descharnes

English Translation

Twenty years after the death of the surrealist master (January 1989), a second wave of prints is creating a scandal. During the eighties, an outbreak of fake prints invaded the market. Robert Descharnes, at the head of the Demart organization, founded at the request of the artist (1986), led the war in close collaboration with the police. It was in the USA that the affair had the greatest repercussions, culminating in the conviction of a gallery in the early nineties: the paper had been manufactured since 1980 whereas Dalí did not sign prints in series after 1979. The signatures were therefore unarguably false!

Today a questionable trade in prints has come under the spotlight. It's again the Descharnes, with Frank Hunter, US expert in Dalí's published graphic works, who are rallying to the aid of proceedings against a gallery that's selling prints in international waters, sheltered from view and beyond legal jurisdiction. The source which is under suspicion has already been the object of an inquiry in Germany which was left unresolved, and of many media scandals after arousing indignation amongst Dali collectors (1).

An appraiser, whose expertise is limited to appraising the value of artworks, Bernard Ewell, has given his blessing to all the prints sold by this gallery, and also lends his approval to the collection of paintings, drawings and other Italian originals of the collectors and suppliers of prints.

The misplaced wanderings of Bernard Ewell in his blog have as their purpose the poisoning of the future jury of the US Federal Court in charge of the proceedings against the implicated gallery. His strange and unfounded false statements with regard to experts, propounded in vulgar fashion, go as far as to refer to Sotheby's and Christie's as "highwaymen" and "pirates" (2). That shows grave lack of seriousness in the face of adversity.

In 2001 (3) the Gala-Salvador Dalí Foundation (FGSD) entered into an agreement with the Albarettos of Torino to examine their collection: "In the event that a work should be classed as fake, it will be destroyed before a notary," declared the Director of the private Spanish Foundation. An article was again published in 2004 (4) which states that the Foundation had not yet issued any opinion about the Albaretto collection. On its website the Foundation asserts that it does not examine prints.

The head of the Gala-Salvador Dali Foundation does not collaborate with the investigators and historical experts - Fine Art Registry®, Descharnes and Hunter. The said head of the Foundation is in contact with the public Salvador Dalí Foundation in St. Petersburg (FL, USA) which could no longer open its archives to the American document expert, William Flynn, for his investigation into the signatures in question.

It has been more than a decade that the suspect prints have been on sale at sea on the cruise ships....

Robert P. Descharnes, 16 December 2009

(1) Saurat, Marie-France, 'Expo Dalí scandale!', Paris Match, 13 Feb. 1997 (French)
(2) B. Ewell blog Tuesday, September 15, 2009
(3) Fernández, V., 'La Fundación Dalí pide la destruccíón de las obras falsas de los Albaretto', La Razón, 28 Apr. 2001 (Spanish)
(4) Fernández, V., 'Los Albaretto, de nuevo investigados por supuestas falsificaciones', La Razón, 12 Sept. 2004 (Spanish)

Some Facts

Publications about Dalí by Bernard Ewell:

• None (0)

Publications about Dalí by Albert Field, assisted by Frank Hunter:

• Field, Albert, The Official Catalogue of the Graphic Works of Salvador Dalí, The Salvador Dalí Archives, New York, 1996 (English)

Publications about Dalí by Robert Descharnes, including those in which he was assisted by Nicolas Descharnes:

• Descharnes, Robert, Dalí de Gala, Edita, Lausanne, 1962 (French)
• Descharnes, Robert, Il Mondo di Salvador Dalí, Garzanti, Milan, 1962; Original edition: Dalí de Gala, Edita, Lausanne, 1962 (French)
• Descharnes, Robert, The World of Salvador Dalí, Harper and Row, New York, 1962 (English);Original edition: Dalí de Gala, Edita, Lausanne, 1962 (French)
• Descharnes, Robert, Dalí de Gala (Japanese trans.), Bijitsu Shuppan-Sha, Tokyo, 1963; Original edition: Dalí de Gala, Edita, Lausanne, 1962 (French)
• Descharnes, Robert (ed), Oui 1: la Révolution paranoïaque-critique, Éditions Denoël, Paris, 1971 (French)
• Descharnes, Robert (ed), Oui 2: l'Archangelisme scientifique, Éditions Denoël, Paris, 1971 (French)
• Dalí, Salvador, Dix recettes d'immortalité, Editions Audouin-Descharnes, Paris 1973 (French with a translation in English at the end of the book)
• Descharnes, Robert, Salvador Dalí, Nouvelles Editions Françaises, Paris, 1973 (French)
• Descharnes, Robert, Tadao, Ogura, Salvador Dalí, Shueisha collection l'Art Moderne du Monde, Tokyo, no. 25, 1974 (Japanese)
• Descharnes, Robert, Salvador Dalí, Belgrade, Yugoslavia, 1976 (Yugoslavian); Original edition: Salvador Dalí, Nouvelles Editions Françaises, Paris, 1973 (French)
• Descharnes, Robert, Salvador Dalí, Dumont, Cologne, 1974 (German); Original edition: Salvador Dalí, Nouvelles Editions Françaises, Paris, 1973 (French)
• Descharnes, Robert, Salvador Dalí, The Library of Great Painters, Harry N. Abrams, New York, 1976 (English); Original edition: Salvador Dalí, Nouvelles Editions Françaises, Paris, 1973 (French)
• Descharnes, Robert (ed), Sí, Ariel, Barcelona, 1977 (Spanish); Original edition: Oui 1: la Révolution paranoïaque-critique, Éditions Denoël, Paris, 1971 (French)
• Descharnes, Robert, Salvador Dalí, Bijitsu Shuppan-Sha, Tokyo, 1978 (Japanese)
• Descharnes, Robert, Terayama, S., Dalí: The Book of Great Masters, Shogakukan, Tokyo, 1978 (Japanese)
• Descharnes, Robert, Dalí, l'œuvre et l'homme, Edita, Lausanne, 1984 (French)
• Descharnes, Robert, 'Die Eroberung des Irrationalen', Dalí, sein Werk, sein Leben, Dumont, Cologne, 1984 (German); Original edition: Dalí, l'œuvre et l'homme, Edita, Lausanne, 1984 (French)
• Descharnes, Robert, Dalí, La obra y el hombre, Tusquets/Edita, Barcelona, 1984 (Spanish); Original edition: Dalí, l'œuvre et l'homme, Edita, Lausanne, 1984 (French)
• Descharnes, Robert, Dalí, the Work, the Man, Kodansha, Tokyo, 1984 (Japonese); Original edition: Dalí, l'œuvre et l'homme, Edita, Lausanne, 1984 (French)
• Descharnes, Robert, Dalí, the Work, the Man, (trans. Mrs Eleanor R. Morse), Harry N. Abrams, New York, 1984 (English); Original edition: Dalí, l'œuvre et l'homme, Edita, Lausanne, 1984 (French)
• Descharnes, Robert, Descharnes, Nicolas, Dalí, Edita, Lausanne, 1993 (French)
• Descharnes, Robert, Néret, Gilles, (Michael Hulse, trans.), Salvador Dalí, 1904-1989. The Paintings, Benedikt Taschen, Cologne, 1993 (English); Published simultaneously in French
• Descharnes, Robert, Néret, Gilles, Salvador Dalí, 1904-1989. L'Oeuvre peint, Benedikt Taschen, Cologne, 1993 (French); Published simultaneously in English
• Descharnes, Robert, Salvador Dalí, The Library of Great Painters, Abradale Press, Harry N. Abrams, New York, 1993 (first edition 1976) (English); Original edition: Salvador Dalí, Nouvelles Editions Françaises, Paris, 1973 (French)
• Descharnes, Robert, Clément, Jean-Yves, Hofmarcher, Arnaud (eds.), Dalí: Pensées et anecdotes, Le cherche midi éditeur, Paris, 1995 (French)
• Descharnes, Robert, Descharnes, Nicolas, Dalí, coll. Arts, Trois-Continents, Lausanne, 1996 (French)
• Descharnes, Robert, Clément, Jean-Yves, Hofmarcher, Arnaud (eds.), Dalí, pensaments i anècdotes, Edicions La Campana, Barcelone, 1997 (Catalan); Original edition: Dalí: Pensées et anecdotes, Le cherche midi éditeur, Paris, 1995 (French)
• Descharnes, Robert (ed) with Yvonne Shafir (trans.), Oui 1: The Paranoid-critical revolution, writings 1927-1933, Exact Change, Boston, 1998 (English); Original edition: Oui 1: la Révolution paranoïaque-critique, Éditions Denoël, Paris, 1971 (French)
• Descharnes, Robert, Dalí, L'Héritage Infernal, Éditions Ramsay-La Marge, Paris, 2002 (French), Dalí, La Herencia Infernal, La Marge, Ajaccio, 2003 (Spanish)
• Descharnes, Robert, Descharnes, Nicolas, Dalí, Le dur et le mou, Sculptures et objets, Eccart, Azay-le-Rideau, 2003 (French)
• Descharnes, Robert, Descharnes, Nicolas, Dalí, the Hard and the Soft: Sculptures and Objects, Eccart, Azay-le-Rideau, 2004 (English); Original edition: Dalí, Le dur et le mou: Sculptures et objets, Eccart, Azay-le-Rideau, 2003 (French)

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