
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, September 9, 1993                   TAG: 9309090230
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-3   EDITION: STATE 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: CHICAGO                                LENGTH: Short

WERE WE HAD? EXHIBIT MAY HAVE BEEN FAKES

A 20th century expressionist art collection that toured 11 colleges - including Southwest Virginia Community College in Richlands - appears to be made up of fakes, and some are so bad that one expert says a major museum "wouldn't have let them in the service entrance."

The Von Saloschin art collection came under suspicion after Alice Adam, a Chicago art dealer, saw a pamphlet trumpeting the tour.

When Adam and three other Chicago-area art experts viewed the exhibit at the College of Lake County in Grayslake, Ill., she was sure that most - if not all - of the 57-work collection was counterfeit.

"They're fakes," Adam said. "They're not even good fakes. They're terrible. They're horrendous."

The apparent forgeries include works by such important 20th century artists as Max Beckmann, Otto Dix, Georg Grosz, Wassily Kandinsky, Ernst Kirchner, Emil Nolde and Georges Rouault.

The largest school the show visited was Auburn University in Auburn, Ala. Tour organizers apparently steered clear of major institutions where such problems could be recognized easily.

- Associated Press

by CNB