French artist Serge Mendjisky was the victim of a rare blunder which led him to purchase a worthless copy of one of his works. Mendjisky, born in 1929, bought at auction a painting which he had himself authenticated as by his hand only to discover after the sale that it was a cheap reproduction laid on canvas. Acting on behalf of a French gallery Mendjisky paid 85 000 FF (US $ 15,500) for this copy and later sued Paris auctioneer Francis Briest in an attempt to get his money paid.
In fact the original painting was bought in 1967 by a publisher who had obtained the artist's authorisation to reproduce it in limited numbers. One of these reproductions was offered by the publisher to one of his friends and years later the latter's son, convinced that it was an original work, asked Mendjisky to confirm its authenticity. The artist was only submitted a photography and sent back a letter confirming he was the author of the work. The owner then entrusted Francis Briest to sell it and none of the auctioneer's aides noticed that it was a mere reproduction as they simply relied on the artist's letter. The work was sold on July 11th 1990 and ironically the buyer was Mendjisky himself who was acting as advisor to the Galerie de l'Orangeraie in Saint Paul de Vence, Southern France. It was only after he took possession of his purchase that Mendjisky was horrified to discover that it was merely a reproduction. He then tried to have the sale cancelled and seized a court which only granted him 25,000 FF ($ 4,500) last year on the grounds that he was partially responsible for the blunder. The artist lodged an appeal against that decision but the court of appeal decided in September 1998 that he could not act as joint plaintiff with the gallery. The court stressed that in fact the gallery should have sued him as he was in some way responsible for the mistake. As a result, the decision of the appeal court has been adjourned.
French artist Serge Mendjisky was the victim of a rare blunder which led him to purchase a worthless copy of one of his works. Mendjisky, born in 1929, bought at auction a painting which he had himself authenticated as by his hand only to discover after the sale that it was a cheap reproduction laid on canvas. Acting on behalf of a French gallery Mendjisky paid 85 000 FF (US $ 15,500) for this copy and later sued Paris auctioneer Francis Briest in an attempt to get his money paid.
In fact the original painting was bought in 1967 by a publisher who had obtained the artist's authorisation to reproduce it in limited numbers. One of these reproductions was offered by the publisher to one of his friends and years later the latter's son, convinced that it was an original work, asked Mendjisky to confirm its authenticity. The artist was only submitted a photography and sent back a letter confirming he was the author of the work. The owner then entrusted Francis Briest to sell it and none of the auctioneer's aides noticed that it was a mere reproduction as they simply relied on the artist's letter. The work was sold on July 11th 1990 and ironically the buyer was Mendjisky himself who was acting as advisor to the Galerie de l'Orangeraie in Saint Paul de Vence, Southern France. It was only after he took possession of his purchase that Mendjisky was horrified to discover that it was merely a reproduction. He then tried to have the sale cancelled and seized a court which only granted him 25,000 FF ($ 4,500) last year on the grounds that he was partially responsible for the blunder. The artist lodged an appeal against that decision but the court of appeal decided in September 1998 that he could not act as joint plaintiff with the gallery. The court stressed that in fact the gallery should have sued him as he was in some way responsible for the mistake. As a result, the decision of the appeal court has been adjourned.
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