Oops! Was Salvador Dalí's Signature on "Rare and Valuable" Authentic Park West Gallery Albaretto Divine Comedy Prints Lifted from Somewhere Else?

Dali Fakes #5

Did someone forget to remove the color from inside the loop of the "D" in Dali's signature when they carefully applied it to a print in the Park West Gallery catalog of "The Divine Comedy, Sacra Biblia, Albaretto Collection, A Selection of Original Drawings?" Another possible explanation would be that after Dali did his "full signature in sepia China ink" he then went back and watercolored in some color in the loops of the "D" to make it look prettier. Maybe Dalí was into painting by numbers...

But let's look at the facts.

There is a catalog published by Park West Gallery in 2005 that looks like this (right).

This is a thick, glossy paperback book, printed no doubt on Park West's own presses. It contains an introduction to Park West Gallery, biographies of Salvador Dali, Albert Scaglione and others. Then follows an entire section on Dali's "Divine Comedy" series of woodcuts.

Following the edition information is a whole page entitled "Wood Engravings With Full Signature in Ink."

Very interesting. This incredible package of valuable prints that just sat in storage for all those years. Sounds almost too good to be true. Especially with so much money involved.

Some examples of these prints are actually pictured in this lush catalog. There is a small section beginning on page 131, shown here.

This is followed by some beautifully reproduced examples of the extremely rare and valuable prints, each perfectly signed in ink by Salvador Dali. It's amazing how carefully he signed each one so that the signatures are almost exactly the same on all of them.

So far so good.

But don't look too closely at the signatures. If you do, you are likely to see this.

Now bear in mind that this is a direct scan from an original copy of the catalog. No changes have been made except to enlarge a section of the print to show the signatures.

Look carefully (if you have to, it's pretty obvious) at the "D" of Dalí. How do you explain the different color inside the loops of the D? This is hand-signed in sepia ink, mind you. Did he carefully blot the ink dry and then take up a paintbrush and some light wash of another color than the underlying paper and carefully paint in the loops of the "D"?

Or is this a photographically lifted and applied signature and someone forgot to remove the background color from inside the D? It's easy to do in Photoshop. I could show you.

Here it is closer up.

Just think it through for yourself.

And then there's a more subtle one. Have a look at this. Isn't that some kind of discoloration in the loop of the "D"?

Look inside the loop of the "L" too.

I am sure there is a perfectly good explanation which demonstrates how it is possible for these hand signatures in sepia ink to have this strange coloration inside some of the letters.

I just can't think what that would be right now, though. Can you?

Article by David Phillips, December 1, 2008   |   Discuss Story on FAR® Forum   |   Print   |  

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