Date:
07 August 2011 07:00 Producer: Esté de
Klerk
Presenter: Derek Watts
Researcher: Leila Dougan
Show: Carte Blanche
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video clip online
Father Frans Claerhout: "I
am very happy that they will always remember my life not
as a priest alone, not as an artist alone, but as Father
Claerhout: priest and painter."
The life of Belgian painter and priest Frans Claerhout
was characterised by humility and an extraordinary zest
for life. He settled in South Africa as a Catholic
missionary in the 1940s and for the next 50 years became
well-known for his simplistic paintings of ordinary
people in the sun-drenched Free State. He died in 2006,
but lives on in his works.
Alice Pitzer: "He loved to paint people and things that
he saw around him. And he had a heart for the people."
Rosa Jonker: "He was an artists, yes... great artist!
But people forgot that he was also a person."
Four years before Father Claerhout's death, allegations
of forgery surfaced. At the centre of them was
Bloemfontein art dealer Rosa Jonker, whom Claerhout had
regarded as a daughter. At the time, it was alleged that
the artist himself spoke out about the forgeries.
Derek Watts (Carte Blanche presenter): "But there's
another twist to this tale. Almost ten years ago Rosa
apparently admitted to Father Claerhout that she was
forging his work and said that she wanted to shoot
herself."
However, Rosa denied this and the police investigation
into these forgeries was inconclusive.
Robert Badenhorst (Artist & gallery owner): "Nowadays
because of the market being affected by fakes and that
sort of thing, his values have dropped considerably."
Artist and gallery owner Robert Badenhorst is passionate
about Claerhout's works. From 2009, he began noticing
that large numbers of original Claerhouts were being
sold on an Internet site. They originated from an art
dealer called Paranovalty, also known as Leo van Hirtum,
none other than Rosa Jonker's brother. Robert bought two
paintings from Leo, one for R3 000 and another for R1
000.
Robert: "I bought them because I knew they were
irrefutably fake, they bare a slight resemblance to
Claerhout's work, but the stylized faces are not there."
Without mentioning names, Robert posted a warning
against fake Claerhouts on the site. Paranovalty took it
personally.
Robert: "Initially I was a bit careful in how I put it
to them. I tried to give a general warning. They came to
the party though and took me on in a way that they
identified themselves as people that were possibly
guilty of what was going on."
We had the paintings analysed by art expert, Dr Fred
Scott.
Dr Fred Scott (Art expert: "They were not made by the
hand of Claerhout and they are actually horrendous
fakes."
Alice Pitzer is a well-known and reputable Claerhout art
dealer and has been for years. She knew Father Claerhout
and bought all the paintings in her gallery directly
from him.
Alice: "I mean, wouldn't I be the first to buy them?"
Derek: "What's bad about them?"
Alice: "They are not good."
Derek: "Not even good copies?"
Alice: "Ja, they are not at all... no! Especially that
one, that one looks like a child draw that one... it was
like wow! Not even good fakes."
Dr Scott: "If I can point out this figure here -
Claerhout would never have painted a painting with a
face on the side. There are some examples with faces on
the side, but they are always inward-looking. The white
paint there, it is just one brush-stroke, and if one
compare it to his original paintings, he always layered
white. So one would never see something like that in his
paintings. And, also, the way that this house here is
painted, that straight line down there - Claerhout was a
very good observer and the perspective of that house is
completely wrong. And this here, is just so amateurish
that it is not true."
Derek: "Now some of these art dealers will give you a
certificate of authenticity. It is dated 2003, it is a
copy and it is actually signed by Father Claerhout."
In 2003, Father Claerhout wrote this letter to Rosa and
Leo's mother, Klara, presumably to authenticate her own
collection. But now, a copy of it accompanies all the
so-called Claerhout paintings bought from Rosa and Leo
on this website.
Robert: "There was a painting up for auction which I
wanted to buy to use as evidence. The auction closed
early and I contacted them by way of email and said that
I so desperately want that painting. They said to me
they unfortunately can't give it to me, they already
sent it off. First thing the next morning I received an
email saying: 'Go and look at Bid-or-Buy, you will find
a similar one for you.' The next day it was with me and
I was very excited to find that the paint was still
wet."
Strange that the paint was still wet, because the
painting has a personal message from Claerhout on the
back - dated 2002.
With our evidence, we went to Bloemfontein to confront
Rosa Jonker and her brother Leo van Hirtum. But Rosa
wasn't pleased to see us arriving at their small
holding.
Derek: "Good morning. Can we come and speak to you?"
Rosa Jonker: "No, I don't know what is going on here!"
Derek: "Okay, I will tell you what is going on here. We
want to talk to you about Father Claerhout, your
relationship with him."
Rosa: "Yes?"
Derek: "And all the paintings you are selling."
Rosa: "Yes?"
Derek: "Could we come and talk to you?"
Rosa: "But I don't want the camera. Why, why must the
camera be here?"
Derek: "Because we are a television show."
Leo was ill, but Rosa eventually agreed to do an
on-camera interview. She denied having ever forged
Claerhout's works.
Rosa: "Wouldn't do it, wouldn't do it, would never do
it."
Derek: "Never faked a Claerhout?"
Rosa: "No, I have never faked a Claerhout and Father
never, never said to anyone that I had faked it."
Derek: "So, you say it wasn't a direct quote when Father
Claerhout said that Rosa Jonker had been falsifying some
of his paintings."
Rosa: "Not at all. Father would never have said that and
he did not ever say it."
Instead she said, Claerhout had given her permission to
'assist' him with his paintings.
Rosa: "This was written by Father for me and I am just
going to read it... and then you might understand:
Bloemfontein, 18 Maart 2002 - hiermee verklaar ek, Vader
Frans Claerhout dat sekere van my werke bekend as smeer
wat Mevrou Rosa Jonker aan die handel verskaf het, in
geen geval vervalsings of namaaksels is nie. Die tegniek
deur my ontwikkel om kleur aan te bring op swart-op-wit
tekeninge het deur my swak gesondheidstoestand te veel
vir my alleen geword. Met my toestemming en leiding het
Rosa Jonker gehelp om die kleurwerk verder te voer. Geen
bedrog is hiermee gemoeid nie. Geteken: F Claerhout."
Derek: "Where do you get all the stock from?"
Rosa: "Being with Father for so many years, my parents,
Frans and Klara van Hirtum were very, very close friends
and mom bought a lot, mom got a lot..."
Derek: "But you have sold what, over a thousand?"
Rosa: "Yes, when dad died, we cleaned mom's house up and
there was, I mean, under mattresses..."
Derek: "So, have you got thousands left still to sell?"
Rosa: "We have still got a few left to sell, yes."
Derek: "Thousands?"
Rosa: "Why thousands? No."
Derek: "Robert's advise is if it the painting looks like
it has just come of the easel, it probably did."
Derek: "Rosa, this painting arrived, Bobby ordered it,
his real name is Robert by the way, and the paint was
still wet."
Rosa: "Where was the paint wet?"
Derek: "You can see here; it is actually smudged here
and over there."
Rosa: "No, I don't see that the paint was still wet."
Derek: "It is fresh of the easel."
Rosa: "No, I don't think so."
Dr Scott: "This specific painting - the paint is still
wet on it."
Derek: "That is a give-away, isn't it?"
Dr Scott: "Certainly, that is enough; one needn't even
look at the style."
One painting Robert bought was painted on a Dala canvas.
But Dala's Nikki Seddan said these weren't available in
Claerhout's heyday. The attached letter of authenticity,
written by Claerhout indicates that these paintings were
pre-2003.
Nikki Seddan (Dala representative): "Well, the odd thing
about it is that is has our Dala branding on it, so it
cant be 2003, because we didn't have it in the country
until 2006. And unfortunately the artist died in the
June of 2006 and our first purchase was only in the
November of 2006."
Derek: "Rosa, many people in the art world are very
worried about these fake Claerhouts."
Rosa: "I should think so."
Derek: "The prices are going down of the originals."
Rosa: "Yes."
Derek: "Do you deny putting any fakes into the market?"
Rosa: "I do."
Derek: "And you are saying that these are original
Claerhouts?"
Rosa: "Yes."
Derek: "Despite the fact that the canvas wasn't
available?"
Rosa: "With that, you know, there can be slip-ups."
Derek: "Oh, so you are saying that there can be
slip-ups?"
Rosa: "Not from my side, please, would you? Understand,
if this is proven not to be, then I don't know. I
really... But, this to me is such a classic Claerhout on
the front."
Derek: "So, Rosa, we are getting somewhere. You are
saying that this could be a fake, but this one is
genuine?"
Rosa: "Oh that one is genuine, oh yes."
Derek: "And you are saying this one could be a fake
because you are admitting that the Dala canvas only came
out..."
Rosa: "I am not admitting, I don't know anything about
Dala, okay?"
Derek: "Okay."
Alice: "You can see a copy from a mile, it is like if it
is not done by Claerhout, it is not done by Claerhout."
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