WE'VE ALL heard of mil-
‘itary intelligence, harmoni-
ous discord, jumbo shrimp,
postal service, beautiful
tyrant — those scemingly
contradictory terms known
as oxymorons — well,
here’s another one to wrap
your mind around: original
reproduction.

By Evelyn Jacob
News Reporter

In other words, the art of the
Great Masters faked by nameless
copycats,

They may not be well known to
Canadians but original reproduc-
tions are as big in Europe as metal
woods are on local fairways.

Say goodbye to mechanical
prints in runs of 10,000 and tacky
posters that curl up around the
edges. Now you can have an exact
hand-painted duplicate of a
priceless Rembrandt or Monet for
a fraction of the cost.

While not all of us can own a
masterpiece, a phony piece is
within range.

Van Gogh’s Irises, for example,
recently went for $49 million, but
in London and New York you can
head down to ersatz galleries and
pick up close to the real thing for
as little as $2,000.

if fake furs and costume jewelry
are acceptable, these dealers argue,
what’s wrong with take art?

THE PRICE of real Manets has faller on the stock exchange but the market for original reproduc-
tions is booming. The whole subject is a controversial one, but Leslie Fennern-Tisdale of West

Vancouver isn't losing any sieep over it.

Others in the art world, how-
ever, worry that the reproductions
have become so convincing, peo-
ple will try to pass them off as
originals. They also argue it
undermines the idea of artwork as

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West Vancouver's Lestic Fen-
nern-Tisdale, who has just begun
importing original reproductions
to Canada, however, isn’t losing
any sleep over the debate.

PRINTS

CHALLIS & POLYESTER
Allin store stock dated and
received prior to April 1, 1993

NEWS photo Miko Wakefleld

“In the art community you have
one (original) piece of art and
that’s it. The trouble is, not
everyone can see it. The art com-
munity wants (o keep it thar way,
but I think it’s nice to share,’’ she

F master works

says.

Surrounded by duplicates of
Manet's At the Cafe, Renair’s The
Skiff, Degas’ At the Races and
other Impressionist. masterworks,
Fennern-Tisdale’s paintings are so
accurate they even contain the ex-
act duplicate of the original ar-
tist’s signature. But beneath them
lies the signature of the ‘copy-cat
artist which can be detected
through X-ray.

As well, her clients must sign an
agreement vowing not to re-sell a
work us an original.

Surprising to many, there is
nothing iegal about tie practice
as long as the fakes are clearly
marked as such. Unless, of course,
the work is protected by copy-
right.

Fennern-Tisdale works with a
gallery in London called The Ar-
tists Hand, which she stumbled
upon while she was working as an
executive for Motorola.

“ft thought, wouldn’t it be great
to offer this to the public?”

The Artists Hand hires painters
to go into the world’s  greit
museums and galleries and
carefully study work by famous
artists.

“We pick the very finest paint-
ers in the world. They go into
museums. in London, Paris,
Arasterdam to make sure of the
accuracy, check for color so it
looks ideniical to the original
painting."

Fennern-Tisdale's paintings go
for anywhere between $2,000 and

See Frames page 38

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