The Great Dali Art Fraud and Other Deceptions

Fort Lee, NJ: Barricade Books, 1992. viii, 417 pages, [16] pages of plates, illustrations, portraits; 24 cm. Firm binding, clean inside copy. Spine slightly rolled at the crown. Age toning, top edge lightly soiled. Dust jacket, with a small corner crease/back flap, protected in a mylar cover. "The Great Dali Art Fraud and Other Deceptions deals with the world of art professionals who reap millions of dollars in illicit profits. It's a mesmerizing tale of corruption and connivance in acts that include forging, counterfeiting, phony valuations and large-scale theft. These highwayman robberies are only possible with the cooperation of the artist. In Salvador Dali, the scam world found someone who clearly looked the other way. High speed presses churn out photo-lithographed prints by the thousands. These are never touched by the hands of the artist. They are sold by galleries and art corporations who pick the pockets of the amateur collector public by selling them as costly signed limited editions 'sure to increase in value.' Could it be, asks author Lee Catterall, that Salvador Dali, the outlandish Spaniard with the waxed mustache, never made an original print? Never drew onto a printing plate his esoteric assortment of tree-branch crutches, flexible violins, lobster telephones and melting clocks? Could it be that all he ever did was sign a mind-boggling 350,000 sheets of high-quality acid-free paper to be later imprinted with forged work of others? Could it be that Salvador Dali, driven by avarice and the urging of his paramour wife and financial wizard, Gala, was thoroughly seduced by the gold harvested from his art? Or could it be that his charming and volatile managers, Irish Captain J. Peter Moore and the Catalonian ex-photographer Enrique Sabater, were responsible for the frauds - and the horror stories of the swindled buyers? In the Great Dali Art Fraud and Other Deceptions, Lee Catterall offers the facts needed to solve this intriguing mystery. The Great Dali Art Fraud and Other Deceptions will be vital reading to anyone who ever bought a print, lithograph, water color or oil painting from a gallery." - Publisher.. 1st. Hardcover. Very Good/Very Good. 8vo.