A fake Giacometti case shakes a prestigious museum (Swiss Press Text 2012, by Claude Ansermoz) - Swiss Press Award

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24 heures et la Tribune de Genève

Winner

Text

2012

Claude Ansermoz

Geneva's Rath Museum exhibited a bronze during a retrospective of the artist's work, which the Alberto and Annette Giacometti Foundation deemed to be a counterfeit. The case was brought before the Geneva courts, which dismissed the Foundation's claim, deeming the evidence insufficient. The investigation illustrates the difficulties of an art market where the number of copies of Giacometti's works is exploding, with no clear way of distinguishing between genuine and fake works.

* Correction

An unfortunate cut in the article dedicated to the prize received by our colleague Claude Ansermoz (24heures on Saturday, April 28) obscured essential information: in the Giacometti bronze affair reported in the award-winning investigation, published on January 13, 2011, the Swiss courts dismissed the Alberto and Annette Giacometti Foundation (FAAG)'s claim on February 4, 2011, which considered the bronze on display to be a fake. The FAAG had to pay the legal costs. We cannot therefore say, as we did, that the bronze on display was a fake. We apologize for this inaccuracy.

Thierry Meyer
Editor-in-chief 24 heures