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Patricia Cohen and Curtis Dowling awarded the Annette Giacometti Prize 2013
Paris, 23 May 2013 - For the third edition of the Annette Giacometti Prize for the rights of artworks and artists, awarded at the Palais du Luxembourg in Paris, the jury selected New York Times reporter Patricia Cohen and Art expert Curtis Dowling. The jury highlighted the complementary actions of the two winners, one addressing informed public and the other attracting the attention of a large audience on issues of art counterfeiting.
Patricia COHEN was chosen for her in-depth investigation of the Knoedler case in a series of articles published in The New York Times. New York based art gallery Knoedler was accused by several of its clients of selling paintings with a dubious provenance, attributed to major artists such as Pollock, Rothko, De Kooning or Motherwell. Revealed in 2012 by this New York Times reporter, the case underwent a new twist last week with one person being arrested. The jury stressed the importance of such thorough investigations in a changing press environment.
Curtis DOWLING was chosen for the educational quality of his TV Program Treasure Detectives, whose first season just ended on CNBC. Hosted by the art expert and his team of investigators, the program allows viewers to submit objects and artworks for authentification. Each episode is an opportunity to show the audience the wide spectrum of scientific techniques used by experts to authenticate works of art and distinguish them from fakes and forgeries. On a media more attuned to entertainment, Curtis DOWLING managed to convey how these matters can be addressed in an informed manner and to stress the gravity of such greed-related crimes.
On the picture : Laureates Curtis Dowling and Patricia Cohen with the jury members at the Annette Giacometti Prize 2013 Award Ceremony. Picture : Jacques Habbah