Asian Art Forums - Reply Message

Asian Art Forums

Group: Message Board

Sotheby�s denies selling fake Phai paintings

Posted By: Thuy Vi
Posted Date: Nov 23, 2008 (10:46 PM)

Message
VietNamNet Bridge � In a letter to the Vietnam News Agency correspondent in Hong Kong, the spokesman of Sotheby�s, Hong Kong branch, stated that they don�t sell fake paintings by well-known Vietnamese painter Bui Xuan Phai.

The statement of Sotheby�s Hong Kong was released after the media reported that the son of the late painter, Bui Thanh Phuong, said that at an auction of Southeast Asian modern and contemporary paintings on October 16, 2008, Sotheby�s Hong Kong sold counterfeit Phai paintings.

Sotheby�s completely rejected Phuong�s allegation. It said that all paintings by Bui Xuan Phai that Sotheby�s sold in summer and autumn auctions this year were authentic.

In the auction in early October, Sotheby�s Hong Kong offered five paintings by Phai, and three were sold. According to Bui Thanh Phuong, only �Red Cat� was his father�s.

The �Red Cat� painting was sold for HK$50,000 (over $6,000) while the two others at HK$150,000 (over $19,000) and HK$162,500 (over $20,000).

In an auction this April, Sotheby�s Hong Kong also sold a Phai painting worth $124,216, named �Before the show�. According to Tran Khanh Chuong, Chairman of the Vietnam Art Association, that painting is �surely fake� because the real one is now at the Vietnam Art Museum.

Sotheby�s Hong Kong affirms that it has not sold fake paintings by late painter Bui Xuan Phai.

According to its press releases, Sotheby�s Hong Kong was proud that its auction in early October was a great success with income reached over HK$71 million (over $9.1 million), outstripping its expectations.

In its letter to VNA, Sotheby�s Hong Kong stressed that it is the world�s leading auctioneer and it would continue introducing Vietnamese artworks to the world.

Painter Bui Thanh Phuong said he is considering suing Sotheby�s for copyright infringement.

In 1997, Christie�s sold a Phai painting which was later proven to be a fake by a Vietnamese painter. Christie�s had to return money and apologise to the buyer.

(Source: TTXVN)

Note that we are now reviewing postings before posting due to the large volume of SPAM and inappropriate postings on the forum. The validation process may take up to 12 hours.

Post a Reply
Name:
Email:
Group:	Message Board
Subject:
Message:
Link URL:	Enter here the complete URL of any site, page or image you would like to show other visitors.
URL Title:	Enter here the title of the link you've given above. This will appear to the visitor. Eg., if you are linking another picture, enter "Another picture". The link will not appear without a title.
Image URL:	Enter here the URL of an image if it is already uploaded on the web. The image will appear with your posting. Do not post pictures which are not yours without permission from the copyright holder. It is the responsibility of each poster to make sure they have permission to use any photos they post.
Image:	You may upload up to three images. If you would like to upload more images to this message please do so by replying to this same message. Please make sure the file type is JPEG or GIF and the filename does not contain spaces. Use the Browse button to find an image (jpg or gif) on a local drive on your computer to upload for including with your message. Do not upload images with file names containing spaces. Please do not upload files larger than 500 KB in size. Do not post pictures which are not yours without permission from the copyright holder. It is the responsibility of each poster to make sure they have permission to use any photos they post. Check the "email notification" box below if you would like to be notified of any responses to your message. Check here for email notification.
Security Code:	Please type in the code you see in the image directly above this input box.

Responses: