Artful scoundrels
Afew years ago, I found myself browsing the movie options while settling in for a flight to Nova Scotia. I decided upon Catch Me If You Can, a boisterous film based on the life of con man and forger Frank Abagnale Jr., who operated in the 1960s.
Abagnale was incredibly skilled at writing fake cheques, and over several years he bilked businesses and banks out of millions of dollars. The story left me wondering, how could someone be so adept at deception?
It turns out that cheque forging is just the tip of the iceberg. In this issue we delve into the nefarious secret world of art forgery — and we discover that some well-known historical works of Canadian art may not be the real deal.
“Ingenious Imitations,” by writer and art collector Jon Dellandrea, reveals the existence of a cottage industry devoted to creating fake versions of paintings by nineteenth-century artist Cornelius Krieghoff. The Dutch-Canadian lived and worked in Quebec in the mid-1800s and regularly sold paintings of everyday life in what was then the Province of Canada.
Dellandrea’s story takes us from Brighton, England — which at one time was home to several notorious art forgers — all the way to private collections and art galleries in Canada, where some “Krieghoff ” paintings may actually be clever fakes. In fact, Dellandrea himself was duped into buying one of the faux Krieghoffs.
Elsewhere in the issue, we seek to ascertain the long-term ramifications of the ongoing COVID19 pandemic by examining the lessons of past disease outbreaks. During the twentieth and early twenty- first centuries, Canada faced several major pandemics, including diphtheria, smallpox, polio, and SARS. Examining how Canadians in the past dealt with these public-health crises may offer important insights that help us navigate COVID19 both now and into the future.
Other stories in this issue include a biography of one of Canada’s top political cartoonists and the tale of a harrowing flight from the Soviet Union by Ukrainian immigrants to Canada in the 1920s.
As a bonus, please check out our annual Summer Reading Guide. We’re sure you’ll find a perfect page-turner for your upcoming socially distanced summer vacation.