[Wikimedia-l] Forgery and Wikiality

[Matthew Roth]

mea culpa, given that the article is behind a paywall, I shouldn't share it.


On Fri, Sep 6, 2013 at 3:31 PM, Matthew Roth <mroth at wikimedia.org> wrote:

> I have the pdf of the article if anyone wants it. Email me offlist and
> I'll send it to you.
>
> Matthew
>
>
> On Fri, Sep 6, 2013 at 3:17 PM, Newyorkbrad <newyorkbrad at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> (cross-posted from
>>
>> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Newyorkbrad/Newyorkbradblog#Forgery_and_Wikiality
>> )
>>
>> FORGERY AND WIKIALITY
>>
>> We've all read about people manipulating their, or their friends' (or
>> worse
>> their enemies') biographies on Wikipedia. We also all heard about people
>> molding Wikipedia to fit the world as they wish it were, rather than the
>> world as it is—what Stephen
>> Colbert<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Colbert>,
>> in exaggerated form, calls "Wikipediality."
>>
>> Alex Wilkinson <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alex_Wilkinson> reported an
>> interesting example of this phenomenon in his article "The Giveaway" in
>> last week's *New Yorker <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Yorker>*. (A
>> link to the *New Yorker* article is
>> here<
>> http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2013/08/26/130826fa_fact_wilkinson>—
>> full text for
>> *New Yorker* subscribers, the first two paragraphs for others. I recommend
>> it.)
>>
>> The article is about a 58-year-old man named Mark Landis. Mr. Landis lives
>> in Laurel, Mississippi <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurel,_Mississippi
>> >.
>> For a time during his childhood, he attended St. Mary's Town and Country
>> School <
>> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Mary%27s_Town_and_Country_School>in
>> London <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London>.
>>
>> According to the article, dozens of times over past 25 years, Mr. Landis
>> has walked into a museum and donated what he described as a valuable but
>> previously unknown artwork. He describes the pieces as the work of a
>> reknowned artist, though not one of the very best known artists (Paul
>> Signac<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Signac>,
>> Stanislas Lépine <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanislas_L%C3%A9pine>,
>> Hans
>> von Aachen <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_von_Aachen>, Alfred Jacob
>> Miller <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Jacob_Miller> are examples).
>> And every time, it turns out that Mr. Landis created the artwork himself,
>> and used classic art forgers' techniques to make the piece appear older
>> than it was.
>>
>> This sort of art forgery raises well-known questions ("is this work of art
>> the less meaningful or beautiful because it was created by Shlabotnik
>> rather than Renoir?"). But certainly the museum world sees quite a
>> difference between the work of a great or near-great artist and even the
>> most faithful re-creation or simulation of one, and does not appreciate
>> his
>> contributions. Since Landis never requested or accepted any payment for
>> his
>> donations, and apparently never even took a tax deduction for them, he
>> hasn't been charged with any crimes. Wilkinson discusses Landis's
>> motivations, but he workings of his mind remain unclear. What is clear is
>> that Landis wants very much to be thought of as an art dealer, and as a
>> philanthropist.
>>
>> The relevance to Wikipedia? We have an article about this individual, Mark
>> A. Landis <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_A._Landis>, which details
>> his
>> history of art forgeries—but Wilkinson's *New Yorker* article doesn't
>> mention that article. What it does mention is this:
>> *One of the things [Landis] likes to do is check the Wikipedia article for
>> Laurel, where he was described as a notable resident, and the one for St.
>> Mary's, where he was an art dealer and a philanthropist. Late in 2010, he
>> saw that the listing under Laurel had been altered, "to something
>> derogatory," he said....*
>>
>> And Wilkinson's article concludes:
>> *After lunch ... Landis was in good spirits. I'd seen him happier only
>> once, a few days before, when we checked the Wikipedia page for St.
>> Mary's.
>> He hadn't looked for some time. He almost winced as he scrolled down the
>> page. Then his face broke into a grin. "Hey, I'm still there," he said.
>> "Art dealer and philanthrophist."**He turned the computer toward me so
>> that
>> I could read the entry, then he leaned over to be sure his printer was on
>> so he could make a copy. "Otherwise, somebody might say something bad
>> about
>> me and change it," he said. "And then I won't be an art dealer and a
>> philanthropist any more."*
>>
>> Food for thought....
>>
>> Newyorkbrad
>> _______________________________________________
>> Wikimedia-l mailing list
>> Wikimedia-l at lists.wikimedia.org
>> Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l,
>> <mailto:wikimedia-l-request at lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe>
>
>
>
>
> --
>
> Matthew Roth
> Global Communications Manager
> Wikimedia Foundation
> +1.415.839.6885 ext 6635
> www.wikimediafoundation.org
> *http://blog.wikimedia.org/*
>



-- 

Matthew Roth
Global Communications Manager
Wikimedia Foundation
+1.415.839.6885 ext 6635
www.wikimediafoundation.org
*https://blog.wikimedia.org*