[MSN] Montreal forensic analyst and art restorer Peter Paul Biro, hired to help authenticate two purported Jackson Pollock paintings in recent years, is convinced he's being accused of using forged fingerprints on one of the works.

[MSN]

Art restorer points own finger
Montreal's Peter Paul Biro denies allegations of forgery
 
CAMERON SKENE
Freelance

Friday, May 09, 2008

Montreal forensic analyst and art restorer Peter Paul Biro, hired to help
authenticate two purported Jackson Pollock paintings in recent years, is
convinced he's being accused of using forged fingerprints on one of the
works.

Biro was the subject of a 2006 documentary as well as a 60 Minutes segment
after finding a fingerprint match to Pollock on a painting bought by truck
driver Teri Horton at a garage sale for $5.

The Fine Art Registry, a private company based in Tucson, Ariz., claims in a
press release on its website that forgery was used to bolster an
authentication case for another Pollock, then owned by a New York family. An
undisputed Pollock can be worth around $100 million at auction.
Biro, who has published a rebuttal on his website, called the press release
"libelous" and said he has mandated a lawyer to sue FAR.
"To me it appears they clearly benefit from the media exposure... and the
fingerprint examiner... gets to talk about something sensational without
having offered any substantial proof," Biro said in a telephone interview.

A fingerprint expert hired by FAR, Pat Wertheim of Arizona, checked Biro's
work and "concluded that the fingerprints on the painting were forged,
placed there by means of an inked rubber stamp," FAR's statement says.

"Fingerprints (were) found on an alleged Jackson Pollock painting which had
been 'authenticated' by ... Peter Paul Biro of Montreal, Canada," the press
release says. "The investigation ... has revealed a conspiracy to use forged
'forensic' evidence to authenticate art."
FAR is a commercial enterprise that encourages artists to buy identification
stickers for artworks to be added to the FAR database. It also is a gallery
for works on the database. Its slogan is "Helping bring order to the world
of art."

Fingerprint forgery, while a subject found frequently in fiction, is
extremely rare. Wertheim himself said in an email interview that only one
such example exists on record. He claims to have found the only other one,
the Pollock painting in question.
"Fingerprint (analysis) is kind of a dark art," says Harry Moses, producer
of Who the #%&* is Jackson Pollock?, a feature documentary. Moses, a veteran
investigative journalist for CBS, says he "interviewed Paul (Biro) at some
length and spent hundreds of hours with him (during filming). I had no
reason then, and no reason now not to trust him."

Ken Parker, then-owner of the painting, approached Biro in 2004. He says
Theresa Franks, CEO of FAR, "appears (to have) an agenda to discredit Paul
Biro," and is seeking publicity for her business. "I don't think Paul had an
agenda," Parker adds. "He wasn't promised a percentage of the sale of the
painting - he didn't even ask."
Franks, who responded "get in line" when asked about the threatened legal
action, claims that "no one is saying that Biro put those prints on there,
but if he wants to take that on..."

FAR's accusation and Biro's response have been the subject of an article in
the New York Post and on art website forums.
FAR was hit with a defamation lawsuit on April 11. Park West Galleries of
Michigan, involved in auction sales on cruise ships, is suing FAR for
damages from "false and defamatory statements," the lawsuit says, made on
FAR's website and elsewhere, and "civil conspiracy" to destroy Park West's
reputation. With innuendo and unseemly name-calling in the froth of legal
action, the contradictory fingerprint reports remain.

The Teri Horton Pollock remains unsold. The Parker Pollock was sold
privately for an undisclosed sum weeks before FAR issued its press release.

To read FAR's accusation and Biro's response, go to: www.fineartregistry.com
and www.forensicstudiesinart.com/

http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/


toncremers at museum-security.org
http://www.museum-security.org
http://www.museumbeveiliging.com
http://www.handboekveiligheidszorgmusea.nl