The Famous Forger Fooled Us!

In 2007, a man named Mark Landis called the museum and wanted to donate a work of art in honor of his father, who was from Lexington. He sent us the watercolor, supposedly by Paul Signac, along with a copy of the page for the Christies' catalogue when the piece was purchased.  With this verification we accepted this gift. We later accepted a painting from him as well, at a meeting in Laurel Mississippi.

Meeting with Mark Landis, 2007

Fake catalogue page

When we saw "our" Signac pictured in another museum's newsletter as a gift from him, we knew he had swindled someone.  But what was real? Our registrar Barbara Lovejoy, who has an eye for meticulous detail, has always maintained that the one he sent us was exactly like the one in the catalogue! As more stories came out and the frauds were exposed, she kept wondering. Now she has obtained an copy of the original catalogue and can see that he faked the catalogue page as well, putting a photo of his fake copy over the real Signac.  Now we are wondering where the real one is! It's always something......