Guy Hain
Guy Hain is a French art forger who produced number of fake bronze sculptures.
Guy Hain began as a seller of veterinary products. In his job he met a number of
Hain approached the
Since the bronzes were based on the original moulds, the experts could not see the difference. Some of the bronzes were also made based on production plaster copies used 75–90 years previously.
Hain sold thousands of new bronzes to art dealers as originals, using the signature of Alexis Rudier, the original caster for Rodin. He earned equivalent to FFR 130 million ($18.2 million). He later claimed that he had a contract to use the name of Alexis but the Rudiers contested that.
He expanded to the production of copies from other sculptors like
In January 1992, police inspectors from Dijon, in Burgundy, arrested Hain and seized about twenty metric tons of bronze sculptures in various foundries in Burgundy and Paris.
On 17 January 1996 Hain appeared in court in Lure, central France, accused of forgery. On 28 June 1997 he was sentenced to four years in jail but served only 18 months.
The auctioneers Rey et Faure of Rambouillet were also charged with complicity for selling the bronzes of Hain in their auctions between 1987 and 1991. They had sold copies worth about $3 million. A big would-be-Rodin bronze called "The Kiss" was sold for Fr4.5 million (about US$800,000). Charges were later dropped.
Other auction houses such as Christie's and Sotheby's had also sold copies by Hain to their customers.
On 27 January 2006 a public auction organized by DNID (Direction Nationale d'Interventions Domaniales) was held in Dijon, France, with 73 bronzes in the exhibition. Five pieces were removed from the sale and 68 remained. "Angélique et Roger montés sur l'hippogriffe", "after" Antoine Barye, unmounted, sandcast bronze sculpture without inscription was adjudged €54,000.[1] An original piece was sold for a record price of $310,000.00 at Christie's on 25 April 2003.[2]
When Hain was released, he continued the practice: he had the bronzes produced in stages, one foundry doing the casting, one the
Hain was rearrested in 2002 and appeared in court in April. Evidence collected by the Dijon police department included some 1,100 copies of the works of 98 different French sculptors. The prosecutor asked for five years in prison and a fine of two million Francs.
Many art dealers and collectors became very suspect of bronze works. Art expert Gilles Perrault calculated that Hain had produced over 6,000 copies beyond those the police had found and confiscated. Only one-third of the copies had been traced.
Notes
- ^ Public auction result at ventes-domaniales.fr Archived 2013-02-13 at archive.today (in French)
- ^ Les prix des animaliers galopent toujours (in French)