Image of the artist-falsificator in world prose

Abstract

This article engages the research of prose works about art forgers. The type of the art forger in the
world prose is peculiarly represented by Agatha Christie, Luigi Guarnieri, Dina Rubina, Jessie Burton and
Natalia Alexandrova. Masters of the word try to reveal the motives of the copy artist by looking into the
worldview and character of him. The authors focus on the opposition between the true artist and the forger,
the influence of the copies created by him on the personality and creativity of the artist himself, the problem
of commercialisation of culture, the transformation of pieces of art into saleable and purchasable goods.
Alongside genuine artists there are also the enterprising but cynical and greedy pseudo-artists who cleverly
and successfully capitalise and profit from the pieces of art.
The true artist creates – he is unconditionally devoted to art. Painting is his spiritual calling, inspiration, a
reference point of life. The art-forger takes as a basis not the originality of the artistic handwriting. He turns
the art into the object of the commercial activity. He unceremoniously and without remorse, appropriates for
himself what was not created by him, but by others. Careerism, cynicism, and unsatisfied artistic ambitions prevent him from serving the visual arts. Completely given up to the temptation, the artist-forger loses the
sense of self-demanding behaviour, creative frenzy and the search for the ideal.
Key words: artist-falcificator, painting, creative atrocity, original.