Two men face court again over Brett Whiteley fakes
TWO men hid out in a Melbourne studio and painted exact replicas of famous artworks and sold them for millions.
IT’S one of the most crazy art thefts imaginable.
Two men hid out in a Melbourne studio, painting exact replicas of Brett Whiteley’s paintings and then sold them for millions of dollars.
Whiteley won the Archibald, Wynne and Sulman prizes twice and died in 1992 after overdosing on opiates.
Art restorer Mohamed Aman Siddique and dealer Peter Gant were found guilty in May on charges of obtaining and attempting to obtain financial advantage by deception over the fakes.
Barristers said at a pre-sentence hearing on Thursday that Gant would never work in the industry again because of extra punishment he suffered due to publicity around the trial.
Sydney Swans chairman Andrew Pridham fell victim to the art fraud and bought a fake of Whiteley’s Big Blue Lavender Bay painting, which he thought was an original, for $2.5 million.
The men also replicated Orange Lavender Bay and sold it for $1.1 million and they were gearing up to sell a third, Through the Window, for almost $1 million.
A lawyer for the art dealer who sold Whiteley forgeries for millions has told a judge his client shouldn’t have go to prison while an appeal is processed.
Defence barrister Trevor Wraight told the pre-sentence hearing he would make an application for a stay on the sentence because of a strong argument against the jury’s verdict.
He told Justice Michael Croucher an appeal would be filed the day the sentence is handed down and he didn’t think his client should have to go to jail — if a custodial sentence is imposed — while the appeal is processed.
“We say it is an exceptional circumstance that there men should go to jail when there’s a powerful argument against the jury’s verdict,” Mr Wraight said.
Justice Croucher said: “Every person thinks they have a good argument against conviction.”
“We say this is better than a good argument,” Mr Wraight replied.
Mr Wraight also told the court media reports of the long-running proceedings had destroyed the reputation of Gant, who had made a significant contribution to cultural life in Australia, and now would never work again.
“His reputation has been ruined,” Mr Wraight said.
“This amounts to extra punishment.”
He argued that the notoriety of the case should not have an effect on the sentence that is passed.
“It’s no different to someone selling something and saying, ‘It’s a Rolex’, when it’s not.”
Whiteley’s former wife, Wendy, gave evidence during a four-week trial before a jury and said she knew something was wrong as soon as she saw the paintings.
In 2008 Ms Whiteley was invited to morning tea at the multimillion-dollar Mosman home of Mr Pridham.
She saw her former husband’s artwork as soon as she walked in the door and told the Victorian Supreme Court in April she thought it wasn’t right, but she did not say anything to the chairman.
“It’s a big deal to tell someone ‘you’ve got a huge fake on the wall’,” she said.
The painting was inconsistent with Ms Whiteley’s former husband’s work, and in 2009 she inspected the Orange Lavender Bay replica and could tell again it was fake.
“The lack of spontaneity, the lack of wit, the lack of spirit — the lack of everything,” Ms Whiteley told the court.
“It looked as though, as though it had been traced and knitted together badly.”
Painting conservator Vanessa Kowalski testified that infrared photos of the Lavender Bay paintings showed drawings and sketches underneath the paint.
Ms Whiteley said her former husband did not underdraw.
Gant and Siddique have been on bail since they were charged in 2014 and the pre-sentence hearing continues.