PUBLIC APPEAL

We agree 100% with Piia Ausman on a number of points made in her public letter. Not all of them, however. She says: "The gallery sees that the case of this work by Malle Leis went beyond the bounds of polite and professional conduct and led to a situation that unfairly attacks the credibility of galleries, art experts, the owner of this painting and the art market at large."

No one would consider it professional to auction off a random flower painting as a 1960s Malle Leis painting in the spur of the moment and then maintain that it could still be a Malle Leis work and that a technical expert should decide its authenticity.

And this even after the actual author of the painting has appeared with their name and face and another painting by them.

In the case of the flower painting where the signature "LEIS" was later added by the forger, the four letters were barely even legible. That’s not to mention the unrecognisable handwriting and painting style of the piece.

The credibility of the whole art world also suffers if the expert opinion of the auctioned work is not even in written record, but a word-of-mouth assessment after seeing a photo online. By an expert who, despite his long career and wide range of experience, has already recognised many fakes as originals.

Before this unfortunate incident with the fake Malle Leis watercolour, we had no idea how widespread fakes are in the Estonian art market.

After extensive media coverage of this situation, we have been contacted by several gallery owners who have shared their experiences. Forgeries of poor or decent quality are offered to galleries all the time. There are also rumours of counterfeits being sold off at auction, with buyers convinced they have paid a high price for a

valuable art classic that will only grow in value over time. There are rumours of works bought at auction for cheap, often by unknown foreign artists, which to some extent resemble the works of Estonian art classics and which are given forged signatures.

We believe that drawing public attention to a prominent fake at a prestigious gallery auction will ultimately increase trust in galleries and the Estonian art world as a whole. We are very pleased about the scandal that followed. If it hadn't happened, things would be really bad in our art world. The fact that the small format naïve painting of tulip flowers is clearly not the early or late work of Malle Leis was fortunately understood by internet commentators, journalists, gallery owners, art collectors, art scholars and artists alike, many of whom contacted us directly and expressed their support.

There is certainly a need for public information on where and for how much anyone can check the authenticity of a work of art. We ourselves are ready to offer our expertise to both private individuals and galleries regarding the work of our mother Malle Leis, whose various artistic periods we are intimately familiar with.

A swift response is certainly needed in the event of suspected counterfeiting. As our father Villu Jõgeva used to say: when you buy art, you buy not a piece of ruined canvas, but a piece of art history.

As art counterfeiting is a serious problem that threatens the entire art market, the matter has been formally dealt with from the outset and a police report has been filed. As counterfeiting seems to be surprisingly widespread, we hope the Estonian Police will be able to shed light on the dark underbelly of the Estonian art market.

In addition, we would like to express our sincere thanks to Monika Liiv, a master craftswoman and amateur artist, who, as the real author of the tulip painting that quickly became a scandal, dared to put her name and face in public.

As a thank-you, she will receive from us a 100% authentic Malle Leis serigraph. With a tulip.

Sandra Jõgeva,

Henrik Jõgeva

31.03.2021