I suppose that my efforts over these past few years may have gone some way towards rooting out quite a few of the phoney “Clifford Halls” that are floating around out there in the shady world of small time provincial “fine art”auctions, antique fairs and carboot sales. Well, of course, they have gone some way – God knows how dire the situation would be if I hadn’t bothered at all; but I must say, it can be a deeply depressing business dealing with just this tiny portion of all the crooked nonsense that is going on these days. Getting the fake “Clifford Halls” off ebay is really a doddle by comparison.
The latest miserable assault on my father’s reputation that I have come across is this:
“Lot 247, FOLLOWER OF CLIFFORD HALL, OIL ON CANVAS LAID TO BOARD River landscape, bearing signature and dated. (31cm x 35.5cm) ” Source
“Follower of” indeed! The signature it bears is a forged Clifford Hall signature:
And that makes it a forgery, plain and simple. “Follower of” is not a euphemistic term for fake.
“Follower of”: A work executed in the artist’s style but not necessarily by a student, or anyone who worked directly with the artist. Source
It doesn’t matter who the artist concerned is or was, if you sign his or her name on a picture which isn’t by that artist, without his/her express permission, you are most definitely in the business of fine art forgery. You are a crook. A con merchant. A fraud.
“But, what does it matter?” you may ask, “It obviously isn’t the real thing. Only a fool could possibly think it was.”
Well, that might “possibly” be the case now – but what about in a hundred, or two hundred, years’ time? Will anybody care then? I don’t know. But I can’t help feeling if I allow this ill-concealed chicanery to go on unchallenged, the chances of anyone caring in a hundred or two hundred years’ time are likely to be greatly diminished. Basically, I know these dogs are crapping on my lawn and I don’t like it.
And of course it isn’t just my lawn either – skimming through the catalogue I am minded to ask myself: “Is there anything in this auction which isn’t fake?” There’s a “follower of” Mervyn Peake; Vanessa Bell; Ken Howard (he’s still alive for pity’s sake); John Aldridge: Francis Picabia: Jane Perserson (do they mean Jane Peterson?); Patrick Hayman; Ken Moroney (he’s still alive too!); Prunella Clough, etc.etc.etc. It’s a veritable cornucopia of cheap knock-offs.
I certainly don’t intend to brave the current lockdown restrictions and travel to High Wycombe to witness this sale of fakes, forgeries and misattributions at Swan “Fine Art” Auctions on July 2nd & 3rd 2020, but I’ll definitely be checking in online that day to see if any of this dodgy stuff actually sells.
If you are interested in purchasing a genuine Clifford Hall painting at a reasonable price, please contact me: contact
I have quite a few in stock. I am also happy to advise anyone who has spotted, or actually acquired one, elsewhere, as to whether it is the genuine article or not.
UPDATE – July 3rd 2020
LOT 427 was withdrawn from the sale. This is obviously because I emailed Swans about it, although they did not reply to that email.. At least 28 other definite fakes of various artists which I have identified were sold on the second day of this auction. I will be writing a new, more detailed, blog post about this presently.
UPDATE – July 13th 2020
Despite withdrawing this “masterpiece” from their last auction on July 3rd, these jokers at Swan Fine Art Auctions have decided to have another go at selling it in a “Catalogue Only Auction” which cannot be viewed online:
So they know it’s a forgery and they know I know it’s a forgery. And they still don’t care. Isn’t that interesting?
For the avoidance of doubt, here is a link to their website: The Swan
Caveat emptor.