Divine Comedy? Divine Tragedy? Or Divine Farce? - Case Study

Printing Techniques and Authenticity of the Prints Themselves

Joseph Barabe examined the prints under the microscope and confirmed that they were genuine woodblock prints. All three experts checked watermarks and the printing techniques and confirmed that there was no reason to believe that these were not genuine prints of the French edition of Dali's Divine Comedy. According to the single "tirage" page present in the set, this was edition 2343 of the commonest and most available series of the woodcuts.

None of the three experts doubted that these were genuine prints, in fair condition.

Anomalies in the Set of Prints

On the surface, the set of prints examined by the experts consisted of a full set of Salvador Dali's Divine Comedy woodblock prints, each one bearing a penciled "Dalí" signature at the lower right of the print, the blind stamp of Jean Estrade, founder of Les Heures Claires publishers who published the prints, and a penciled signature of Jean Estrade on the verso.

But closer examination of the set showed a number of anomalies.

1. The sets of prints which were bound in books were not signed in the block (see Albert Field The Official Catalog of the Graphic Works of Salvador Dali pages 189-200). A good percentage of the prints in the set sold to Sharon and Julian were signed in the block. The rest are not. There is no possible explanation for this mixture of prints signed in the block and prints not signed in the block which does not directly contradict the Certificate of Authenticity, the Appraisal and the description of the items sent by Morris Shapiro to Julian Howard and Sharon Day, all of which state that the set of prints is "in original folios as issued". Or, as Shapiro states it in his email to Julian, "They were issued in 1964 in the same manner they currently exist." There is no record of any set of prints bound in folios and published in six volumes which would for any reason contain a mixture of prints signed in the block and not signed in the block (except for the first print in the series, Inferno #1, which has a printed signature in it, whether bound in the books or published in suites). There has to be another explanation for the mixture of prints signed in the block and unsigned in the block. We are trying to find that explanation. Whatever it is, it will make a liar out of the author of the Park West Gallery Certificates of Authenticity, Appraisal and description of the set provided by Morris Shapiro.
   
   
2. There are two justification or tirage pages missing from the set. There is one tirage page in the second volume of the L'Enfer prints. There should also be one in the second volume of Le Paradis and the second volume of e Purgatoire. They are not there. This is highly suspicious. Each one would have the series number "2343". What happened to the other two?

Signatures - Forgeries

The most damning aspect of the experts' examination of the Divine Comedy prints was the fact that both Nicolas Descharnes and Frank Hunter were of the definite, unanimous opinion that the pencil signatures on each print were all by the same hand, but that hand was NOT the hand of Salvador Dalí.

Nicolas Descharnes stated that not only were these signatures NOT by the hand of Salvador Dali, but that he had never seen this particular version of forgery of Dali's signature, despite a great deal of experience with Dalî forgeries, including work with the United States Postal Service and the Federal Trade Commission.

Frank Hunter said that in the 40 years he had been examining and looking at Dali signed originals and prints (including the set of prints he himself commissioned Dali to produce, number and sign), he had never seen such a signature.

Joseph Barabe commented that the penciled signature on the prints was very easy for anyone to write, unlike the real Salvador Dali signatures which were printed in some of the prints.

The experts had no question in their minds that the pencil signatures on the prints were forgeries.

One book of the six was kept untouched so that the woodcuts can be examined for fingerprints. Since exemplars of Dali's fingerprints exist, it should be possible to compare fingerprints found on the woodcuts to those of Dali.

CONTINUED

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By Fine Art Registry®   |   January 10, 2009  |   Discuss Story on FAR® Forum   |   Print   |  

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