The Art Forger

One of the central themes of The Art Forger is the question of what makes a work of art original and how much of its value depends on its provenance. Concerns about originality in art are always tied to capitalistic determinations of value. Any work of art can be reproduced a theoretically infinite number of times—whether by hand, using artisanal techniques as Claire does, or by industrial, mechanized processes—but there can only ever be one original. This scarcity, combined with the cultural prestige of the specific work, equates to monetary value.

In the novel, Claire earns money by painting reproductions of famous artworks for an online store, reproductions.com. Though not regarded as original, her work commands a far higher price than the prints made by machines. The source of this higher value is scarcity. There are few people with Claire’s skills, and her work takes time. Reproductions of this kind are therefore harder to come by than mechanized prints, which can be turned out by the hundreds. Claire’s hard-earned skill allows her to earn a living even as it forces her to spend her time doing work that does not express her own vision.

The second component of an artwork’s value is its cultural prestige, which is much more subjective and harder to define. Early on, Claire is frustrated that her own original paintings go unsold while reproductions of famous names sell reliably. She has technical skill on par with some of the most famous artists of all time, but this technical skill is not enough to make her a valued artist in her own right. The era in which artists were valued primarily for their technical skill ended with the advent of photography, if not before. The value of art in the modern world derives in large part from the perception of originality in its ideas, style, and methods. In this context, Claire’s adherence to classical techniques of representational realism already puts her at a disadvantage in accumulating cultural prestige, and her gender in a male-dominated art world disadvantages her further.

The ease with which experts throughout the book are deceived points to the subjective nature of judgments about art. When Markel asks Claire to forge a work by Edgar Degas, she is initially offended, despite regularly making Degas reproductions. In her view, a reproduction is ethically distinct from a forgery in that it does not infringe on the original work’s claim to originality. However, as Claire examines the painting she has been asked to forge, she begins to believe that the “original”—praised for over a century as a demonstration of Degas’s mastery—is in fact a somewhat clumsy fake. Just as this copy has been misperceived as original, Claire’s own original work is mislabeled as a copy. When she seeks to prove that she is the artist behind 4D, she is asked to reproduce the work in front of witnesses. The work is then submitted to a panel of experts, who deem it a copy of Isaac Cullion’s original work. These events suggest that originality is a cultural construct subject to the biases of those in authority. The very fact that After the Bath hangs in the prestigious Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum leads people to perceive it as original, just as Isaac Cullion’s status as a famous male artist makes it easier for the experts to trust his claims over those of an unknown woman.

Claire’s journey reflects her own changing views of this theme. At first, she’s motivated by the promise of a show and recognition; essentially trading her integrity for chance at success. But as she works on the forgery and investigates the “original,” she becomes deeply uneasy. She is forced to re-examine what art means to her, what she wants to be, and whether her talent merits recognition without the deception. The crime of forgery becomes not only a legal/moral issue but an aesthetic and existential one. Ultimately Claire comes out on top; the process of forgery helps her refine her own artistic skill and develop her work for the Markel G show. When she is finally free of the two After the Bath paintings, she feels that the weight of many years of self-doubt has been lifted from her. When Claire finally has her own show at the end of the book, though, she still questions whether her recognition is due to her actual talent, or due to the notoriety she has gained from weathering multiple scandals. Her immersion in questions of originality has led her to recognize that much of the value of an artwork resides in the story behind it.