27/11/2001

On the 22nd of November French police seized faked artworks attributed to French sculptor César from an unknown Paris gallery. Around 40 sculptures and drawings were seized with three people in Marseilles (the artist’s hometown) suspected of involvement in the racket. Police reports state that nearly thirty faked works have already been sold in France and Belgium for millions of dollars in ill-gotten gains, many of them accompanied by forged authenticity documents. César, died in 1998, and achieved notoriety for his “compressions” of cars into squashed cubes and “expansions” (liquid plastic which solidifies with air contact). A journalist and a Belgian art dealer have also been charged. (Andrew Moore)