NEW YORK, NY.- Film Forum presents the U.S. theatrical premiere of Arne Birkenstock’s Beltracchi: The Art of Forgery beginning Wednesday, August 19. 60 Minutes called Wolfgang Beltracchi a “con man of epic proportions” and dubbed him and his wife Helene, “the Bonnie and Clyde of the art world.” For nearly 40 years the charming and effervescent Beltracchi produced hundreds of meticulous works of art, forgeries of early and mid-20th century artists, using old canvases and distressed frames scoured from flea markets and paints whose pigments he ground himself. Amazingly, he didn’t reproduce known paintings, but, working in an artist’s style, would create entirely new “masterpieces.”
A large Max Ernst that took him three days to produce could easily fetch $5 million. Beltracchi was put on trial in 2011, but he readily admits that the handful of forgeries for which he was held accountable are just the tip of the iceberg. Many others remain on the walls of some of the world’s greatest art museums and private collectors. Filmmaker Arne Birkenstock, whose father was Beltracchi’s attorney, has unprecedented access to the controversial forger, capturing his unique personality: a bizarre mix of candor and cunning, insouciance and joie de vivre.
Beltracchi: The Art of Forgery will have a two-week engagement, August 19 – September 1, at Film Forum, 209 West Houston Street (W. of 6th Avenue), with screenings daily at 12:30, 2:40, 4:50, 7:15 & 9:30.
“One of his forgeries hung in a show at the Met. Steve Martin bought another... So how did a self-described German hippie pull off one off the biggest, most lucrative cons in art-world history?” –Joshua Hammer, Vanity Fair
“A highly enjoyable look at a career spent duping the art world. Offers plenty of behind-the-scenes secrets. Walks us through the tricks of his trade, in this case buying a genuine but worthless old painting at a flea market and using the signs of authenticity on the canvas to bolster his illusion. This process is fascinating.” – John DeFore, The Hollywood Reporter
