Art Forgery Stories New York
When Chagall saw David Stein’s Chagalls
A suspicious dealer brought six works to prosecutors. Chagall himself confirmed they were false.
David Stein dealt from a Park Avenue gallery-apartment stocked with genuine works as well as the pictures that attracted the attention of prosecutors. One dealer, Irving Yamet, grew suspicious and took six supposed Chagalls to the district attorney.
Chagall confirmed the works were false. TIME reported that detectives searching Stein’s apartment found unfinished paintings, stamps used for fake certificates and a photograph of Stein at an easel painting a supposed Chagall.
Stein was indicted in 1967. The case brought the artist whose name appeared on the works into the investigation, then produced an unusually direct image of how that name had reached the canvas.
