V&A Police Exhibition Extended

Thu, 11 February 2010 Courtesy of: Metropolitan Police

Following the recent successful opening of the Metropolitan Police Service's display of fakes and forgeries at the V&A, we are pleased to announce that it will now be opening for an additional two weeks due to popular demand.

The display showcases investigative methods used in detecting and preventing art crime and is being held in the V&A's Studio Gallery. Originally planned to run between 23 January and 7 February 2010, the display has now been generously extended by the V&A to run until 22 February, catering for anyone wishing to visit during the school half term break.

In a UK first, members of the public can exclusively view a collection of police investigations into fakes and forgeries. As part of this, the MPS's Art and Antiques Unit have recreated the workshop of the most diverse art forger known in history, Shaun Greenhalgh.

“art crime is not just a topic for historic consideration”

"The Metropolitan Police Service's Investigation of Fakes and Forgeries" offers a rare insight into how the police investigate crimes against the art market. It is designed to heighten awareness of art crime, educate people about what to look out for and to encourage further reporting of these crimes among professionals, collectors and enthusiasts alike. In total over 100 objects will be on display, including forged versions of paintings and sculptures by well known artists, which if real, would be worth in excess of £4 million.

Art forgery has become an increasingly sophisticated type of crime and this display will look at the financial and cultural impact it inflicts on today's society. It will explore the policing of art fraud and provide insight into real criminal cases, both historic and contemporary.

Criminal networks are increasingly looking for new ways to finance and further their criminal endeavours and experience shows that art fakes and forgeries are one method used for achieving this. This type of crime can cause significant financial loss to collectors and dealers in London and has the potential to even distort the historical study of art and cultural property.

Objects on display will include the work of Shaun Greenhalgh, the most diverse art forger in history, who produced fake "masterpieces" ranging from an Egyptian Amarna princess to Lowry paintings. Officers have reconstructed the workshop shed from which Greenhalgh made many of the items on display, including the Risley Park Lanx, Barbara Hepworth Goose, Thomas Moran paintings and many more that have never been seen outside of the courtroom. Other cases on display will include fake Banksy prints, paintings by John Myatt and Robert Thwaites, antiquities by John Andrews and fake and forged silverware by Ashley Russell.

The display delves deeper than just the artwork, taking an in-depth look at what defines a fake or a copy, the impact art crime has on modern society, techniques used by police and industry experts to identify fakes and forgeries, as well as the extreme lengths criminals go to provide a fake provenance.

Detective Sergeant Vernon Rapley, head of the MPS Art and Antiques Unit said: "This display demonstrates that art crime is not just a topic for historic consideration. It reveals a situation very much alive and at the forefront of the Art and Antique Unit's priorities today. We hope that by highlighting some of the new techniques criminals use, we can educate people in what to look out for and encourage greater reporting of these crimes to police."

Specially guided tours of the display will be available until 7 February daily at 14:45. These will last approximately 30 minutes and will be taken by a member of the Met's Art and Antiques Unit.