Ernest Durig | |
---|---|
Born | 1894 |
Died | 1962 (aged 67–68) |
Occupation | Sculptor |
Known for | Art forgery |
Ernest Durig (1894–1962) [1] was a sculptor and art forger, known for his faking of drawings by Auguste Rodin. [2]
Durig claimed to have been a pupil of Rodin, but the only documentation of their having ever met is a single photograph. [2]
As a sculptor, Durig, no doubt helped by his claimed link to Rodin, modelled busts for a number of notables in the United States establishment. [2] His sitters included Mussolini, [3] US President Harry S. Truman, and the actor Will Rogers. [4] He sculpted a peace memorial for Greenwood, Wisconsin, [5] [6] from an artificial stone made using concrete and fine white sand. [7] Unveiled in 1937, it was restored in 1982. [7]
In July 2016 BBC Television screened an episode of Fake or Fortune?, in which a privately held watercolour of a Cambodian dancer, supposedly by Rodin, was exposed as a Durig fake. [2]
The New York Museum of Modern Art holds a collection of his drawings. [2] Others, previously thought to be by Rodin, are in the Musée d'Orsay in Paris. [2] Durig's extensive career of forgery was first exposed in the 4 June 1965 issue of LIFE. [3]