LAPD Art Cop and his example of a fake Certificate of Authenticity

by Catherine Schofield Sezgin, ARCA Blog Editor-in-Chief

Don Hrycyk is the only full-time police officer assigned to investigate art crime and makes up the Los Angeles Police Department's Art Theft Detail.  Here is an example of a fake Picasso work and its equally disreputable Certificate of Authenticity from Detective Hrycyk's collection.

Certificate of Authenticity

Picasso

Picasso, Pablo (1881-1970). Born on October 25, 1881, in Malaga, Spain.  Pablo Picasso was probably the most famous artist of the twentieth century.  During his artistic career, which lasted more than 75 years, he created thousands of works, not only paintings but also sculptures, prints, and ceramics.  He almost single-handedly created modern art.  He changed art more profoundly than any other artist of this century.  First famous for his pioneering role in Cubism, Picasso continued to develop his art with a pace and vitality comparable to the accelerated technological and cultural changes of the twentieth century.  Each change embodied a radical new idea, and it might be said that Picasso lived several artistic lifetimes. Pablo Picasso died on April 8, 1973 in Mougins, France at the age of 91.

“Pour Roby” (Portrait of a Young Man). Plate signed on the lithographic plate by Picasso and shown in reverse on the printed image.

Entitled: “Pour Roby”

Description: Restrike Etching