I hope you remember that perspective someday if you are unfortunate enough to receive counterfeit money instead of the real thing. You may not think it matters but the moment you try to use it, the Secret Service will.

Additionally, if a Loyola University student brought something to class they didn’t create, much less sign, and tried to pass it off as if they did and got caught, what would happen?

Finally, at least 29 of the 35 odd so-called Rodins were posthumously forged between 1925 and 1995 some 14 to 84 years -Auguste Rodin (d. 1917)- and listed in the Cantor Foundation’s catalogue as “Signed A Rodin.”

How’d he do that?

Respectfully,

Gary Arseneau
artist, creator of original lithographs & scholar
Fernandina Beach, Florida

Similarly, I have no special respect for the statues cast or carved in Rodin’s lifetime if they look bad — and since that’s how many such “originals” appear to me, I get the feeling that Rodin himself had a laissez-faire attitude towards the dissemination of his work as long as he got paid. (example: the awful cast of “The Kiss” that accompanied the Edvard Munch exhibit at the A.I.C. this year)

I welcome exhibits of good reproductions, although the quality does depend so much on the eye of the curator.

Coincidentally, L.U.M.A.’s inaugural exhibit, back in 2005, featured life-size photo reproductions of the work of Caravaggio. A great idea! But regretfully, the harsh back-lighting washed out all the subtle half-tones.

If anything, these bad Rodin exhibits should at least give us greater respect for the anonymous foundry workers who often did such a good job a hundred years ago.

They should be honored as artists — just like the famous Classical musicians who give such wonderful performances of work they did not compose.

The Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation’s “Rodin: In His Own Words” exhibition, at Loyola University Museum of Art, contains -no- sculptures.

This avarice does contain just six possible lifetime reproductions with at least twenty-nine posthumous (1925-1995) forgeries, falsely attributed to Auguste Rodin (d 1917) with counterfeit “A Rodin” signatures applied.

The dead don’t sculpt, much less sign anything.

Therefore, in the interest of Auguste Rodin’s true legacy, legitimate sculptors and the public as a whole, my posted online monograph documents that in violation of Auguste Rodin’s 1916 Will, a corrupt Musee Rodin: 1) does not reproduce in bronze from Auguste Rodin’s original plasters, 2) posthumously applies counterfeit “Rodin” or “A. Rodin” signatures to their second-generation-removed -FAKES-, 3) does not limit editions to twelve as promoted, 4) has allowed the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation to pick the color/patina of a bronze they in turn promote as an original Auguste Rodin and 5) falsely attributes life-casts and altered work to Auguste Rodin.

The link to my monograph is: http://garyarseneau.blogspot.com/2007/05/29-fake-rodins-at-gibbes-museum-of-art.html

Gary Arseneau
artist, creator of original lithographs & scholar
Fernandina Beach, Florida