Vietnamese Art Gains Attention, As Do Fakes
HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam — The exhibition at the Fine Arts Museum in Ho Chi Minh City was billed as a triumphant homecoming for works by some of Vietnam’s most influential artists.
But Nguyen Thanh Chuong, a prominent artist himself, was stunned by what he saw.
Hanging on the wall was a painting he recognized as his own, a Cubist-inspired portrait he did in the early 1970s.
But the canvas bore the signature of one of Vietnam’s best-known artists, Ta Ty, and the date 1952. “I could not believe my eyes,” he said.
Mr. Chuong’s discovery highlighted an embarrassing truth: The Vietnamese art market, where prices of prewar paintings have broken the million- dollar mark, is rife with fraud. Some of Vietnam’s greatest artists are enjoying increasing world attention.
Vietnam’s newly rich, who have begun to pay high prices for local artists, are a prime target for scammers.
The Fine Arts Museum in Ho Chi Minh City, where the disputed painting by Ta Ty, who died in 2004, was part of the exhibition “Paintings Returned From Europe,” rents its walls to private collectors.
The 17 paintings in the exhibition last year belonged to Vu Xuan Chung, a Vietnamese art dealer. After questions surfaced about the paintings, the museum determined that none of the 17 paintings were created by the painters claimed by the exhibition. Museum officials apologized and said they would hold the paintings for an investigation. But that never happened. The museum quietly returned the paintings to their owner, Mr. Chung, who insists the paintings are authentic. He recently sold one for more than $66,000.
All 17 paintings had been certified as genuine by a French art expert, Jean-François Hubert, a consultant at Christie’s. Mr. Hubert appears to have had a conflict of interest. The 17 paintings had belonged to him, and he had sold them to Mr. Chung, his friend, Mr. Chung said.
Mr. Hubert declined to comment but said by email, “As a general principle I abide by the most stringent standards.”
A spokesman for Christie’s said that the company had nothing to do with the show.
But in an email to a Vietnamese journalist while the exhibit was underway, Zineng Wang, then a Christie’s curator, said that he and Mr. Hubert were “absolutely convinced that the works presented by Mr. Chung are authentic and genuine.”
In Vietnam, many paintings lack proper documentation. And there is no lab that analyzes artwork or has a database of the materials and pigments that artists used during war- time. That leaves a heavy reliance on expert opinion.
In response to the uproar over the supposed Ta Ty painting in show, Mr. Hubert distributed a photograph that he said was taken in 1972 showing the painting hanging in a room near four well-known Vietnamese art figures. He said the painting had come from the son of one of them.
But it quickly became apparent the photo had been altered. Two people posted the original, which does not show the painting, on Facebook. Mr. Hubert did not reply to questions about the photo. It is not known who altered it.
Even as Mr. Chung continued to insist the 17 paintings were genuine, he returned the supposed Ta Ty to Mr. Hubert for one he could sell.
Mr. Chung said: “Who is going to determine whether a painting is real or not? The police? They know nothing about what is real or not.”