The Avant/Garde Diaries
Mark Landis is a philanthropist who for the better part of thirty years donated art to nearly fifty art institutions in over twenty states. The works he gave were copies of little known, nineteenth-century American impressionists that he forged.
Referring to himself strictly as a philanthropist, Landis never profited from this particular compulsion since he always “donated” the works in honor of his deceased parents or a distant relative.
His ruse was also abetted by the unassuming appearance of the man himself – which he habitually refined by dressing as a Jesuit priest. By the mid-2000s, Landis had set up a veritable assembly-line production of forgeries that he created from the comfort of his dim bedroom.
Mark Landis is a philanthropist who for the better part of thirty years donated art to nearly fifty art institutions in over twenty states. The works he gave were copies of little known, nineteenth-century American impressionists that he forged.
Referring to himself strictly as a philanthropist, Landis never profited from this particular compulsion since he always “donated” the works in honor of his deceased parents or a distant relative.
His ruse was also abetted by the unassuming appearance of the man himself – which he habitually refined by dressing as a Jesuit priest. By the mid-2000s, Landis had set up a veritable assembly-line production of forgeries that he created from the comfort of his dim bedroom.
