Filmmaker Barry Avrich (David Foster: Off the Record, Prosecuting Evil) explores how one of the most respected art galleries in New York City became the center of the largest art fraud in American history and was ultimately forced to close after 165 years. Knoedler & Company, under its president, Ann Freedman, made millions selling previously unseen works by Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, Robert Motherwell, and others that had supposedly come from a secret collection.
But when her prestigious clients discovered they had purchased fakes, the scandal rocked the art world. Avrich secured unprecedented access to Freedman, her clients and other key players for the documentary.
Available now on Netflix. Highly recommended.
See also ‘Made You Look: A True Story of Fake Art’ Review: The Most Spectacular Art Forgery Ever? (‘Barry Avrich’s documentary captures how art forgery isn’t just a scandal but the uncanniest of magic tricks’) and “The Closer You Look, The Less You See.”