[Wikimedia-l] Forgery and Wikiality

[Anna Koval]

Thanks for sharing this. Food for thought, indeed.

You can read the entire article in your public library's periodicals
database. :)

Here's a link to the full-text from SFPL (barcode and pin required):

http://go.galegroup.com.ezproxy.sfpl.org/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA340806608&v=2.1&u=sfpl_main&it=r&p=AONE&sw=w&digest=45a80726b3d1d7542ea48bb3d72e8486&rssr=rss#.Uip3v8_PKv8.email

-- 
*Anna Koval*
Community Advocate
Wikimedia Foundation
415-839-6885 x 6729
akoval at wikimedia.org


On Fri, Sep 6, 2013 at 4:31 PM, Matthew Roth <mroth at wikimedia.org> wrote:

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