Is It Worth the Watch?

I loved the fascinating documentary, Made You Look: A True Story about Fake Art that tells the story of a prestigious art gallery in New York that, over the course of fifteen years, sold a lot of previously unknown works by astoundingly famous artists like Rothko, Pollock, Motherwell, Warhol and many others who were equally well known. Over seventy paintings brought in $80 million to the gallery.

The problem is, they were all fakes. 

The Knoedler Gallery was the oldest gallery in Manhattan, it had been around, and highly respected, since before the Civil War, but the scandal put it out of business.

The true-crime film plays out like an absorbing fictional heist thriller, only you get to hear from the real people involved, both the gullible and the opportunistic, who were selling, buying, getting taken, taking, authenticating and investigating.

Who is guilty and who is lying is kind of left up to you.

Is It Worth The Watch? Whether you’re interested in the art world or not, it’s a mysterious and compelling rollercoaster ride. I loved it.

2020

90 minutes

Interviewees – Ann Freedman, M.H. Miller, Dominico De Soles, Eleanore De Soles

Director – Barry Avrich

Screenplay – Barry Avrich