Thus, many believe the need for validation and attention drove his drive to deceive. And, he is easily distracted by details a womans bracelet, an ornate door hinge, the authenticity of a vintage movie poster which command all his attention. Matthew C. Leininger, a museum professional with over 15 years of experience as a registrar, singlehandedly investigated and solved the strange case of Mark Augustus Landisuncovering his art forgeries, multiple identities, and national donations of fake masterpieces. Home Opinions Local Columns Birney Imes: The curious case of Mark Landis, Things are seldom as they seem; skim milk masquerades as cream., Mark Landis quoting Gilbert and Sullivan. ), He also seems unaware of his own artistic gifts. Resides in Warren, MI. The interesting thing with the now fourth alias at Loyola, is that Landis had presented himself as Landis at Loyola ten years earlier, and had gifted the institution ten forgeries: all paintings that he had created, and which he passed off as valuable originals. Landis Sims, a 10-year-old boy born with no hands or lower legs, joined Alex Rodriguez and the Yankees for a day of baseball. The phrase dont look a gift horse in the mouth takes on a new meaning. beforeAfterContainer.BeforeAfter(options); startPoint: data.images.startPoint, Obituary. "[Mother and Dad] liked to go out, and I'd be left alone in the hotel room," Landis says. Leininger did his due diligence and found out that other museums had some of the same works. Father Scott offered to pay for a good frame and hinted that more paintings and perhaps some money might come the museums way from his family. leftButtonText: data.footer.button.leftButtonText, Website designed and maintained by IA&As Design Studio. Let me be clear: Unlike art forgers who do what they do for financial gain, Landis (who employed a variety of pseudonyms) never asked for or received any remuneration for his work. rightCredit: data.images.right.rightCredit, Leininger earned a BA from Wright State University and an MFA in Printmaking from Ohio University, becoming the Curatorial Department Head at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art and then Chief Registrar at the Cincinnati Art Museum. Mr. Bassi knew Mr. Landiss mother, Jonita Joyce Brantley, who was born and raised in Laurel and was a member of the museum. and I do not know his wealth or how he could make his travels over the years. The obituary was featured in News-Leader on January 31, 2011. Sam Cullman/Courtesy of Oscilloscope Laboratories Once you select Rent you'll have 14 days to start watching the movie and 48 hours to finish it. "To them Mark was a symbol of hope and wellness and productivity," says Loll. The Hilliard University Art Museum discovered that they had been given a fake within hours when examining the painting under a microscope and ultraviolet light. I've copied works by artists like Picasso and Walt Disney and, posing as a philanthropist (or sometimes an executor of a will or a Jesuit priest), donated them to institutions such as the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, the Art Institute of Chicago, and others. John Landis may be recognized for his comedies like The Blues Brothers and National Lampoon's Animal House, but the director is also respected in the horror genre thanks to An American Werewolf in London. The verso of a fake Charles Courtney Curran painting that Mark A. Landis presented, with a label from a defunct Manhattan gallery. Landis thought for a moment, then said, Well , Elayne., A woman who attended Thursdays screening wrote in an email later, its almost charming to find a tale of deceit in the 21st century that has absolutely nothing to do with money, power or sex. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. Mark Landis (Mark Augustus Landis) was born on 10 March, 1955 in Norfolk, Virginia, United States. I still cultivate a dossier of Landis contacts, sightings, and forged works. Sam Cullman/Courtesy of Oscilloscope Laboratories. Designated as P-22 by wildlife officials, the cat. Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. } There are 90+ professionals named "Mark Landis", who use LinkedIn to exchange information, ideas, and opportunities. On the below images, click and drag the slider to compare Landiss versions (at left) to the original masterpieces (which can be uncovered Master of Arts in Political Science, Rutgers University, 1967. The family lived in London, Paris and Brussels, and Mark, an only child, attended St Mary's Town and Country School, a progressive school in Swiss Cottage, for two years. His house in Laurel, Miss., is extremely cluttered, but his scams are well-organized. As far as I know, he last tried to donate a painting in November 2010, when he presented himself, and a forged drawing, to the Ackland Art Museum in North Carolina, again in the guise of Father Scott. His materials including magic markers and frames from Wal-Mart are not those of a "proper" forger, says filmmaker Sam Cullman. Matt was the guy trying to bring justice to the world. After a decade of exhausting three aliases, he returned to deceive the university once again, using a new alias. For an optimal experience visit our site on . Mark Landis is somewhat of a chameleon. Landis, now in his fifties, is a painter and former supposed gallery owner, and a most unusual type of personone who has yet to break a law, and as I mentioned, gained financially. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. IE 11 is not supported. Once I was there, I was able to convince myself I really was a wealthy benefactor. He takes nothing more in return for them than an occasional lunch or a few tchotchkes from the gift shop. The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional". His skills with a pencil or paintbrush are undeniable. That may be just as remarkable as his talent.. Earlier this month, Loll, the filmmakers and Landis attended a screening of Art & Craft at a conference for mental health professionals and families affected by mental illness. Antiquities Art Crime Impressionism . Genealogy for Johannes Jacob Landis (1667 - 1730) family tree on Geni, with over 230 million profiles of ancestors and living relatives. He's a shut-in who craves interaction. She's organized a touring exhibition of works by five notorious forgers, including Landis. [1] The best four summaries of the case appear in The New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/12/arts/design/12fraud.html?pagewanted=all), The Art Newspaper (http://www.theartnewspaper.com/articles/%E2%80%9CJesuit-priest-donates-fraudulent-works/21787), the Financial Times (http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/5905c640-2359-11e0-8389-00144feab49a.html#axzz1iaLh3QxA), and Maxim (http://www.maxim.com/amg/STUFF/Articles/Art+Forger+Mark+Landis), and it is largely on these articles that this section is drawn. His last known attempt to pass off a forgery occurred in mid-November, when he presented himself, again as Father Arthur Scott, at the Ackland Art Museum at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, bearing a French Academic drawing. Its fake, he said. Mark Edward Landis, 43 of Bloomington, MN, passed away Sunday, March 20th, 2022 suddenly after a long battle with several heart issues. Landis was diagnosed with schizophrenia at age 17. Kel Landis III died . He arrived in a big red Cadillac and introduced himself as Father Arthur Scott. A new documentary called Art & Craft tells the story of notorious art forger Mark Landis (above) and the museum registrar who spent more than three years hunting him down. Numerous attempts to contact Mr. Landis at phone numbers listed for him in public records and at numbers he provided to museums were unsuccessful. It seemed that a Father James Brantley, who looked remarkably like Landis, had donated an oil-on-copper painting, Holy Family with Saint Anne ostensibly by 16th century painter Hans van Aachen. I go and solve problems for the church.. A slight 59-year-old man with Alfred E. Newman ears and an unprepossessing mien, Landis crisscrossed the country presenting counterfeit art to museums not to enrich himself . Mark Landis No Crime Committed For thirty years, Mark Landis (b. His story began in the late 1980s when he moved back into his mother's house at the age of 33 after experiencing various commercial failures. The painting was by American Impressionist Charles Courtney Curran. In the documentary, when the two finally meet, Landis asks Leininger, "Did I get the colors right? Mark Landis of Laurel gives a short introduction to "Art and Craft," a documentary about his life as an art forger. Id believe it myself until I was on my way home.. Sam Cullman/Courtesy of Oscilloscope Laboratories rightButtonText: data.footer.button.rightButtonText Landis did not respond, but the Father James Brantley sightings abruptly ceased until February of 2012, when he came out under his fourth alias, Marc Lanois. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously. (He tends to favor lesser-known artists but occasionally tries his hand at a Picasso, a Watteau or a Daumier.) (function($) { But the fact is he gave it to the museum for free. His only prize was personal enjoyment in being catered to by the art world, that his own works were being accepted into established collections and lauded as originals, gifted in his parents memories. "Mark is one of those people that are so unusual that you kind of don't know what to make of when you meet him," says Cullman. They get a letter in the mail of a promised gift of art and then it shows up via FedEx or in person, as he did while I was in Oklahoma City, along with a photocopy of an auction catalogue entry for provenance reasons showing he was the owner. Among famous art forgers, he's in a class by himself, says Colette Loll, an art fraud investigator. To be charged with fraud, a victim has to suffer a loss. For a full comparison of Standard and Premium Digital, click here. Next Page. showButton: data.footer.button.showButton, It is the confidence of gifting his forgeries gaining no financial advantage in addition to playing on the reliance of museums on donations that makes the trick so successful. Birney Imes III is the immediate past publisher of The Dispatch. . Everyone benefits. [1] He was carrying a painting that he intended to gift to the museum in memory of his mother, whom he told the staff was Helen Mitchell Scott, who he said was a Louisiana native. Frankly, there are only two things we know for sure about Landis' birth. The owner of the object now possesses a great treasure, to keep or sell for huge profit. and other data for a number of reasons, such as keeping FT Sites reliable and secure, He was dressed in a black suit, with a Jesuit pin on his lapel. or SEND FLOWERS. And Art and Craft has brought his way even if he long ago stopped being able to fool the countrys top museums. More than 45 museums could not tell the difference between Landis' copies and original works, from his sketches of academic nudes to his Charles Schulz characters from Peanuts. Sam Cullman/Courtesy of Oscilloscope Laboratories 2013 International Arts & Artists. Her doctor couldn't pinpoint a cause. This is how he does it, no and I dont mean making the forgeries but making others believe what they are gifted is authentic. If youd like to retain your premium access and save 20%, you can opt to pay annually at the end of the trial. Landis' mom learned that her son would have no hands and feet from an ultrasound picture taken when she was about eight months pregnant. He has charted Mr. Landiss travels to 19 states and his contacts, either in person or by phone or letter, with more than 40 museums since then, including large institutions like the National Portrait Gallery in Washington and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other. The principal had become suspicious and contacted Leininger, who has become the go-to researcher for all things Landis. Pierce contextualised Landis in relation to Honor de Balzac's character, Lucien Chardon, who struggled to read and . The real Landis is living on disability. rightCredit: data.images.right.rightCredit, And now that Landis brings his family into his scam by changing their names, not legally but verbally when the gifts are made, is this truly honoring his parents? His conversation is peppered with quotes from old TV shows and movies. where he continues to make his forgeries he calls them his arts and crafts often while watching television. Hes very well read and knows a lot about art history, and so he can be very convincing, he said. In Art & Craft, we also learn that Landis is a huge fan of old movies and TV shows. They look the same, you know?. offers FT membership to read for free. Mr. Tullos of the Hilliard said his museum would like to find a way to stop him in case Mr. Landis decided to adopt another identity and keep up his campaign. Master of Public Administration in Urban Affairs, Princeton University, 1969. He used detail elements, like the worn label on the back of the fake Curran, to pass initial examination, but not close scrutiny. leftCredit: data.images.left.leftCredit, It wasn't like Landis went in and said, 'Here, I want to give you this fabulous painting by Picasso and you need to pay me $100,000 for the painting.' Tell them Im not a bad guy. analyse how our Sites are used. According to Gapper, the manager shared Landis lived with his mother in an apartment.