A collection of Russian modern art worth millions. But is it fake? - BBC World Service Documentaries
Over the past twenty years, dozens of paintings from a private collection of Russian and Ukrainian modern art have been sold to museums and private collectors around the world.
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The collection is said to include over 200 oil paintings by revered avant-garde artists like El Lissitzky, Alexandra Exter, and Liubov Popova.
It’s one of the biggest collections of its kind in the world. But there are growing suspicions that the story behind the provenance of the paintings in the collection is made up, and that many of them could be worthless fakes.
The BBC follows the art detectives and scientists, trying to get to the truth about the Zaks collection and its mysterious owner.
The BBC’s Grigor Atanesian investigates.
00:00 Introduction
02:14 A fascination with Russian modern art
03:24 The importance of the Russian avant-garde
07:44 The Zaks collection
10:17 Collectors of the avant-garde
14:28 The 'Lissitsky', or is it?
15:52 The world's leading expert on Lissitsky
20:06 Why provenance is so important in the art world
30:42 Will AI prove it's a fake?
38:56 Looking for Leonid Zaks
41:47 A surprise phone call
44:41 An important lesson for buyers
46:20 Museums react
48:40 The ‘expert’ opinion behind some of the works
57:06 'It's all a bit dirty'
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Superb, superb documentary and brilliantly produced. Thank you very much !
One of these pieces was given to Boris Johnson for his work with the ex KGB Colonel in Italy. It is held in safekeeping in a vault in Gibraltar.
I am very pleased the BBC took the time to sub this and educate us on this topic. 🎉
The problem is that the researchers do not even suggest who made these paintings
Is it possible that the paintings, documented by the Russians as lost, do exist? This book sheds light on the incredible story of undocumented rediscovered oil paintings. It follows the order given by the Stalin regime to liquidate art masterpieces, by the greatest artists, that were referred to as the "enemy of the people".
Excellent documentary . Recently , fake Picassos are being bought in auction houses by museums . A Picasso drawing with a size of 22 by 25 is completely fake. Picassos' drawings are typically smaller than 22 by 25.
WoW, super interesting. Thankyou BBC Subbed 😊
Very interesting . We must admit that Zaks is Genius: to sell so many paintings for a lot of money and than… disapear 😅
Спасибо! Крайне интересно !Эта выставка кажется 20 года, очень хотелось бы посетить, но...😢😢😢😢 Отличная работа!
There are russan archive documents of many thousands of avant garde paintings that were sent to destruction in 1929 1930 . All shipments of avant garde from Moscow to Ukraine were lost. You forgot who Stain was and what he did
Very interesting documentary! Going to check out the Gallery in Zurich.
the vedio of the bbc is wrong. Russian Propaganda but i expect this comment to be removed
@@davidharel3445 убрать и держаться подальше от окон🤣
I found this interesting and quite educational. The chemical analysis of paintings has progressed so much providing valuable forensic evidence. Provenance stressed but is it 100% foolproof? I will relax and enjoy my Kandinsky prints in peace.
Banger
Fascinating
очень интересно. спасибо
Очень интересно. Спасибо
very similar to the Igor Toporovski collection of fakes and the scam he pulled on the SMAK museum in Gent (Belgium).
The Toporovski collection is one of the most wonderful paintings ever
NICE DOCUMENTARY BBC.👏👏👏👏🤳🤳🤳
Why I'm not surprised that Mr Zaks ended up in Israel
Russia is not known for their honesty
Some underpaid people linked to Orlando Gallery painted all this collection, that's all !!! They should have started a carreer in their own names.
it is impossible to forge a100 year old painting and not be detected.
Amazingly good documentary!
no it not a good documentary everything presented is wrong.
@@davidharel3445 Even I, as a complete novice in these subjects, can tell that all of it ìs not wrong.
подозрение😂
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Malevich was not Russian. He was a Pole born in Ukraine, and was not part of any Russian art movement. Kandinsky, too was not Russian. This narator is promoting RUssian nationalist propaganda, not knowledge about art.
Malevich was a Pole born near Kiev (Ukraine when it was part of the Russian Empire), he also lived in Kursk (Russia) and then moved to study in Moscow (also Russia), he also taught art in Vitebsk (Belarus), in Leningrad (Russia) and then in Kiev (Ukraine) but when the repression began he fled from Ukraine to Leningrad (Russia).. Ukrainians started claiming him to be Ukrainian only in 2010s. Before that, no one gave a shit about his nationality. Should I add that neither Russia, nor Ukraine, nor Belarus were separate countries with their own identities during Malevich's lifetime?
@@vintovkin I assume they were all USSR, which equates very much with the Russia of today. Today's Stalin is Putin.
@@cattymajiv when Malevich was born, it was the Russian Empire, then they all (the present-day Russia, Ukraine and Belarus) were the USSR.
@@cattymajiv historical analogies and parallels are harmful for any future forecasts and any adequate understanding of the present
Better header would be “is it russian”? The term is super incorrect, considering that majority are not russian at all
Pointless trying to watch this, all in Russian 😮
turn the subtitles on, dear, it is not rocket science.
@@w.urlitzer1869There’s already subtitles built into the video from what I can tell 💀
can i reply ?
@@davidharel3445 To whom? About what? It's obvious you can, but will you?
the vedio of the bbc is wrong. Russian Propaganda but i expect this comment to be removed
Fooled you!