Renewed appreciation for African American artists, such as Clementine Hunter, Beauford Delaney and Charles White, has led to a sharp increase in fraud surrounding their works, according to The ART newspaper. Fakers are reportedly taking advantage of a lack of connoisseurship among experts, due to a long under-appreciation of African American artists. “Before that time, the primary infrastructure for African American art lay in the hands of academia,” said Larry “Poncho” Brown, one of Maryland’s most prolific artists. “People don’t know how good these artists are,” said Art Historian David A. Ross, who is the author of “The Black Artist in America: A Cultural History.”
Renewed appreciation for African American artists, such as Clementine Hunter, Beauford Delaney and Charles White, has led to a sharp increase in fraud surrounding their works, according to The ART newspaper. Fakers are reportedly taking advantage of a lack of connoisseurship among experts, due to a long under-appreciation of African American artists. “People don’t know how good these artists are,” said Art Historian David A. Ross, who is the author of “The Black Artist in America: A Cultural History.”