As an artist who creates original lithographs by drawing on a limestone block with a grease pencil who chemically treats the image so I can print my edition, I know what it takes to create artwork.

In 1985, my introduction to lithography accelerated my connoisseurship particularly when I started to personally experience the public`s misconceptions that lithographs, much less mine, were reproductions. At the time, it compelled me to not only explain to the public how I created a lithograph but to back it up with definitions, regulations and laws to support that concept that they were originals. As I was soon to discover too many artists and dealers in the marketplace also had those same misconceptions, resulting in their, with or without intent, misrepresentation of reproductions as lithographs.

Then in 1999, I discovered the misrepresentation of reproductions, much less fakes, as artwork was not exclusive to just artists, art dealers and galleries but also by a good majority of museums, cultural institutions, auction houses and academia. My initial naive attempts to bring that misrepresentation of reproductions as sculpture to the attention of these museums, cultural institutions, auction houses and academic professionals were almost always rebuffed, with very few exceptions, with some of the most nonsensical responses I have ever heard. For example, a director of major foundation refuted me when I said dead men don`t sculpt by stating: "they are posthumously cast but that doesn`t make them reproductions."

Still, not quite believing what I was hearing, I thought there must be something they were not telling me and/or there was something I was somehow not understanding or was missing, even though I really didn`t think so at the time. Nevertheless, to answer those questions, I began researching extensively.

What my research uncovered was a good majority of the museums, cultural institutions, auction houses and academic, for more decades probably than can be counted, have, with or without intent, abused terminology to the point that up is down and down is up. What I mean is artwork is obviously created by an artist, but now a good majority of those institutions and individuals act on the belief that the living presence of the artist is not required to create artwork. A prime example is the so-called Henri Matisse "Small Nude in a Chair" with a given "1924` date in this Matisse, painter as sculptor exhibition. The only problem with it, is it was posthumously reproduced in 1958, some four years after Matisse`s death in 1954. Yet, despite being dead, the museum directors, for the different venues for this Matisse, painter as sculptor  exhibition, write in the exhibition catalogue that Henri Matisse was: "An equally accomplished artist in three dimensions."

In this case, he must have been a poltergeist.

Therefore,  I feel morally obligated as a scholar to briefly document as possible for the benefit of the public, legitimate artists and the true legacy of dead artists the facts behind the misrepresentation of reproductions and fakes as original works of visual art and the serious questions of laws, ethics and regulations that these contentious issues of authenticty raise that are all but ignored by many museums, cultural institutions, auction houses and academia."

On page 1178 in the Random House College Dictionary, scholar is defined as: "a learned or eurdite person, esp. one who has profound knowledge of a particular subject."

In other words, when I research and write about contentious issues of authenticity in the art world, I use independent documented definitions I didn`t define, statutory laws I didn`t legislate and published historical references I didn`t publish to make my conclusions.

Those facts are my credentials.



CV

October 2008

Gary Arseneau
Fernandina Beach, Florida

EDUCATION:
TNCC & VCC  - Fine Art - 1972-77
Discover Graphic Print Shop, Alexandria, Virginia - Lithography - 1985
Ed Bordett`s Serigraph Studio, Roanoke, Virginia - Serigraphy - 1988

SYMPOSIUMS:
Rodin Symposium, Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto - November 2001

BOOKS:
The Monument to Victor Hugo Deception (July 2000)
The marketing and profit of "inauthentic" and "counterfeit" Degas Bronzes  (April 2001)
Gates of Hell, Are these really Rodins? (July 2002)

PUBLISHED ARTICLES (select):
"Some Other Observations on the Subject"
PRINTthoughts Vol. 1: No. 1 1996
(What is and is not an "original" print?  by publisher & writer Mel Hunter)

"You`ve Got a Good Point"
PRINTthoughts Vol. 1: No. 2  1996
(What is and is not a "lithograph"  by publisher & writer Mel Hunter)

"An Industry Out of Control"
PRINTthoughts Vol. 1:No. 4 1997
(Just how truthfully limited is your limited edition print? Don`t bet on it!)  by publisher & writer Mel Hunter)

"Dead Men Don`t Sculpt"
published Folio Weekly July 6, 1999

MONOGRAPHS
Link to: garyarseneau.blogspot.com

ARTICLES, TELEVISED STORIES & RADIO  INTERVIEWS (select):
April 13, 1999 "Cummer curator is fired Exhibit`s originality questioned in letter" By Florida Times-Union "Three days after he wrote a letter expressing doubts about the authenticity  of the sculptures in a highly touted exhibit scheduled to come to The Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens this summer, Robert Torchia was abruptly fired as curator. - The letter was written to Gary Arseneau, a Fernandina Beach artist and  gallery owner who has criticized the way museums are presenting  `Rodin`s Monument to Victor Hugo."

July 4, 1999 "Fernandina Beach artist seeks to discredit exhibit" By Florida Times-Union Charlie Patton "Arseneau has argued that the posthumously cast sculpture should be called a `reproduction,` something that the Cantor Foundation and the four museums that are housing the exhibit have declined to do. Rachel Blackburn, executive director of the Cantor Foundation, argues that the dates on the various sculptures in the exhibition make it clear that many were cast after Rodin`s death in 1917. They are thus posthumously cast, but that doesn`t make them reproductions, she said. Instead, she argued, they are authorized originals, executed with the permission of the Musee Rodin, to which Rodin granted all rights, and done in conformity with the provisions of French law."

July 23, 1999 "Fernandina Beach owner doubts bin fires, arson linked" By Florida Times-Union`s Jim Schoettler "Gary Arseneau said he isn`t a conspiracy theorist, but he still wants to  know who set the fire that destroyed his decade-old Fernandina Beach art  gallery Monday.  -  `Rachael Blackburn, executive director of the California-based Iris and B.  Gerald Cantor Foundation, which is the organizer of the traveling Rodin  exhibit, said she is puzzled by Arseneau. `I have no idea what he wants,`  Blackburn said. `It`s a mystery to me.`"
 
July 30, 1999  "Casting Doubt on a `New` Rodin" By Wall Street Journal`s Robert Cwiklik "Claire Vincent, a curator at the Metropolitan who will oversee the exhibit there, says the  work does have `plenty wrong with it.` She says Rodin`s `final` marble monument was `very  much more successful,` but that the posthumous bronze will still be of interest to visitors. Ms. Vincent adds that the Met is considering displaying a picture of the marble version, along with text explaining `what Rodin`s final thoughts were on the subject.` But Mr. Arseneau says there`s one thing he`d like to know. `I would love to ask these  people: When in the near future will Rodin stop coming out with new work?`"

July 16, 2000  "A Question of Ethics, Scandal at the North Carolina Museum of Art, Are More Than Half of the Works in the Museum`s Rodin Show Fakes`  By Winston Salem Journal`s Tom Patterson "William R. Gignilliat  (cq), an Atlanta lawyer who specializes in intellectual property rights. Gignilliat is also an art  collector who happens to be a knowledgeable admirer of Rodin`s work. He had never  heard of Arseneau, but he is inclined to agree that Arseneau is at least generally correct in  his contention that the posthumous bronzes should be identified as reproductions..."

October 7, 2000 "Artist disputes authenticity of sculptures" By Florida Times-Union Charlie Patton "After reading Casting Doubt, an 18-page essay in which Arseneau lays  out his argument for why the two bronzes should be considered fake,  sculptor Caroline Madden, a professor at Jacksonville University,  admitted that while she was initially unsympathetic to Arseneau`s claims,  `he has some good points.`"

March 8, 2001 "Scholars dispute bronzes` authenticity" By Sarasota Herald Tribune`s Joan Altabe "Arseneau`s contentions about the Degas  bronze is supported by a College Art  Association article in 1995 by Roger J.  Crum called `Degas Bronzes?` Crum said  the bronzes aren`t direct reproductions of  the original, but rather are two generations  after the wax original. Plaster molds of the  originals were used for the bronzes, which  would make them reproductions of  reproductions."

April 6, 2001 "Rodin exhibits cast long after his death" From London Times` Richard Owen in Rome "The practice of posthumous castings has been questioned by  some art experts, including Gary Arseneau, an art gallery  owner in Florida who started a campaign this year to prove  that Rodin sculptures being exhibited in the United States were  fakes. `Dead people don?t make art,` he said." 

June 13, 2001 "Legitimacy of Degas` bronze sculptures questioned" By Minneapolis Star Tribune Mary Abbe "Such secondary castings, called  surmoulages, are generally dismissed by art  experts because too much detail is lost in the double casting. Even museum  guidelines condemn  as "inauthentic" or "counterfeit,"  according to documents cited by Arseneau.  While posthumous castings are an increasingly contentious issue now, in the  1920s such castings `were routine and perfectly acceptable` among French  artists who typically worked in bronze, said Valerie J. Fletcher, sculpture  curator at the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington, D.C., and contributor to  the exhibition catalogue. `All this is interesting to experts, but I think it  distracts from what`s really important -- and that is whether it`s good art or  not,` Fletcher said."

August 31, 2001 "Rodin exhibit reopens lively authenticity debate. Can bronzes cast after death of artist be called  original?" By Las Vegas Sun`s Kimberley McGee "According to the Las Vegas Art Museum, more than  10,000 visitors have paid $5 each to view `Obsession: The Gates of Hell, Selections from the  Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Collection,` a collection of glittering bronze statues on display through Sept. 16. Rodin But one person who never examined the statues is the artist himself -- Auguste .Rodin   -    `Dead people don`t make art,` said Gary Arseneau,  a Florida artist and gallery owner who has made it his mission to expose what he regards as a dubious  practice.  `Rodin has put out more work after his  death than when he was alive.`  -  "You have to get away from focusing on the fact that  they are posthumous," Tancock said." (John Tancock is the senior vice president of Sotheby`s who specializes in impressionist and modern paintings and sculpture.)

November 7, 2001  "News Rodins at ROM are fakes, art sleuth tells symposium" By Globe and Mail`s  JAMES ADAMS "Only one work in a controversial exhibition of  Rodin plasters and bronzes can `probably` be  considered `a legitimate Rodin,` a self-taught  art sleuth from Florida told a symposium  yesterday at Toronto`s Royal Ontario Museum."

January 12, 2002 "Dead masters can`t sculpt" By Australian Financial Review`s Terry Ingram  "Rather like the little boy who discovered the emperor wears no clothes, the Florida art dealer Gary Arseneau is crusading against the acceptance of posthumous work on the simple ground that  dead people do not make art. When the art is made from moulds taken from moulds, as Arseneau  claims has been done with some of Rodin`s works, it is even more distant from the artist."
 
June 16, 2002 "Bronzes in new show raise question of what`s `real` art By Seattle Times` Sheila Farr "Two bronze sculptures in the exhibit `Corot to Picasso` ? Edgar Degas` `Dancer Moving  Forward` and Antoine-Louis Barye`s `Theseus Slaying the Centaur` ? are in fact posthumous reproductions with counterfeit signatures stamped on them,  according to Florida printmaker and gallery owner Gary Arseneau. Corot Picasso`   -   `I think he has an oversimplified view,` says SAM`s curator of European art, Chiyo Ishikawa, who had not received any information from Arseneau about his research and learned of his allegations only indirectly. `I think technically he is correct that they were posthumous casts.`"

July 31, 2002 "Beach musuem accused of false advertising" By Kansas State Collegian`s Sarah Rice "Gary Arseneau, lithographer  and art dealer in Fernandina  Beach, Fla., has made  accusations against the  Beach Museum claiming the  collection, `Rodin`s  Obsession: The Gates of Hell, Selections from the  Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Collection,` is displaying 23 fake sculptures advertised as originals. `Twenty-three of the 30 sculptures were done  between 1931 and 1996, after Rodin`s death,`  Arseneau said.  -  However, Beach Museum Director Lorne Render  said the sculptures exhibited are Rodin originals. `They were authorized by Rodin`s estate.  Therefore, they are original,` Render said. `These  are all legitimate, original sculptures. A sculpture  is authorized when it is cast. They are authorized by the sculpter or his estate. Therefore, they are  originals.`   -   Judith Sobol, executive director of the Cantor Foundation, said all the sculptures are authorized. `All of the work in the collection is original,`  Sobol  said. `Everything that is in the collection was authorized by the artist.`" (Judith Sobol is the executive director of the Cantor Foundation)

September 12, 2002 "Degas,..Or Not Degas"  BY WROC`s Dave McKinley "A self appointed watch dog of  the art world from Florida is taking aim at a major exhibit  due to open next month at  Rochester`s Art Gallery. Gary Arseneau, an artist who  produces original lithographs in his Sunshine State studio, refers to the works contained in the exhibit `Edgar Degas: Figure In Motion` as `fake,` `counterfeit,` and `inauthentic.`   -  Memorial Art Gallery Director Grant Holcomb says not only is Arseneau out of line in his characterization, but he`s also in  error with his asessment of how the work was created.  -  To further underscore his personal belief that the works are  `original` even if Degas never touched them, Holcomb notes, `They`re his concept,.. his idea.`"

November 17, 2002 "Reproducing Rockwell Pieces in current museum exhibit are authentic - just not original,  says curator" By Huntsville Times` Howard Miller  "`Norman Rockwell never created a lithograph in his life,` Arseneau said.  `All `Norman Rockwell lithographs` are, in fact and at best, chromist made  and/or photo-mechanical reproductions of Norman Rockwell`s pre-existing  works of art.` A chromist is a person who copies by hand an artist`s  original work, he said.  -  Peter Baldaia, chief curator of the Huntsville Museum of Art, said of  Arseneau`s accusations, `He`s got a valid point. There have been a lot of  questions around fine art prints."

January 19, 2003 "Rodin exhibit draws ire from man who opposes `reproductions` as art" By Centre Daily`s Rich Kerstetter "`Dead men don`t make sculptures,` Arseneau says. `If they do, I quit.` One gets  the  feeling  that  the  folks at  the  Iris  and  B. Gerald  Cantor  Foundation  wish  Arseneau would do exactly that. `I  have  no response  to  him,`  Judith  Sobol,  executive  director  of  the  Cantor  Foundation, said during  a telephone conversation from her  Los Angeles office.  `Mr. Arseneau is someone we don`t respond to.` The pieces that make up the  exhibit are originals, Sobol insists."
 
March 2003 "The Real Thing, why posthumous cast are no longer the kiss of death" By Art & Auction Magazine`s Judd Tully "Gary Arseneau, a Florida-based artist and author, argues that the casts are derived not from the sculptor`s original plasters at the Musee Rodin in Paris but from plaster copies the museum makes in order to protect the originals."
 
June 30, 2003 "Origin of Rockwell Lithographs Causing Controversy" By Buffalo News` Thomas J. Dolan "As it turns out, Rockwell never created any lithographs, says a spokeswoman for the Norman  Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, Mass. What`s on display in Amherst is actually a collection of reproductions "approved" and signed by  Rockwell, but created by other, lesser-known artists -- not the master himself."

September 2, 2003 "Magnificent reflections: Artist claims pieces are `fake` Florida man contends 53 Rodin works are not originals" By The Advertiser "Arseneau said that 53 of those pieces were produced between 1955 and 1995. French sculptor Auguste Rodin died in 1917. `Dead men don?t make sculptures,` Arseneau said. Rodin exhibit curators beg to differ. `We do not respond to him. His opinions are without merit. There`s no legitimacy to his  claims,` said Judith Sobol, the Cantor Foundation`s executive director."

September 26, 2003 "Flap follows Rodin exhibit" By The Saginaw News` Janet I. Martineau  "Arseneau maintains that 23 of the pieces in the Saginaw show were cast after Rodin died -- starting in 1931 and  ending in 1995. That, he contends -- along with other issues such as the status of the molds from which they are cast --  makes them fakes.  -  Panhorst said some debate centers around dead artists  having no quality control if the casting process creates a  flaw.  `So the argument could be made that it may not reflect the artist`s work, yes, but that still does not make it a fake,` he  said."  (Michael Panhorst is the former director of the  Marshall M. Fredericks Sculpture Museum at Saginaw Valley State University)

January 17, 2004 "Arguing over `real` misses message" By The Saginaw News` Janet I. Martineau  "In the late 1960s, Rockwell was approached by a publishing firm to reproduce  many of the lost images and some of his most famous and loved ones," reports  Bruce B. Winslow, the director of the Dow Museum. `The 50 signed lithographs in  this exhibition resulted from this action.` Arseneau`s complaint is that Rockwell was not a lithographer and that a lithograph is an original or authentic only if the artist wholly executes the plates  from which the print is made -- as Arseneau does.  -  Arseneau has reduced that to the cold, sterile world of science -- how it was  created, not why.  We urge you to reject his nonsense and go see the Rockwell show, which runs  through Sunday, March 14. We should have urged you harder to go see Rodin."

March 28, 2004 "Lively debate on posthumous art" By Buffalo News` Tom Buchham "Arseneau insists the traveling Rodins do not measure up to French, United States or New York  State copyright laws, or the museum profession`s own ethical standards.  Some knowledgeable art "industry" observers believe he has a point."

August 26, 2004 "The smut`s not the problem New Guggenheim Hermitage show draws fire from an unexpected quarter" By Las Vegas Mercury`s F. Andrew Taylor "In a 12-page press  release headlined `FAKE AS A THREE DOLLAR BILL,` Arseneau details why he  considers all Degas bronzes to be fakes. His two most salient points are that dead  men don`t make art and Degas never intended these works to be produced.  -  The issue has become contentious enough to the organization that Guggenheim  spokesman Anthony Calnek called in from his vacation to address the topic. "It`s a  very interesting point and I think it can be discussed intellectually," said Calnek.  "However, not making it clear on the label was an oversight."

November 14, 2004 "Lesson in bronze" By Raleigh News Observer`s Craig Jarvis "`He`s an amateur who has wandered into this subject and done a certain amount of reading, but basically, he  has nothing new to say whatsoever,` said Richard Kendall, a Degas expert who is the 19th-century curator at  the Clark Art Institute in Massachusetts.  -  Jay Fisher, deputy director of curatorial affairs at the Baltimore museum, said the museum will update records  to reflect the history of the Lachaise sculpture in the show -- `Standing Woman (Elevation)` -- thanks to  Arseneau`s research."
 
November 19, 2004  "Garcia art offerings challenged, Many pieces just reproductions, Florida printmaker say`s" By Charleston West Virginia Gazette`s Douglas Imbrogno  "Sozanski said that while Arseneau is `a smart guy with some valid points, he is a stickler for verbiage` and interested mostly in publicity and promoting his art fraud  allegations.   -   In the Garcia show, Arseneau also objects to works that bear silk-screened copies of his signature affixed after he died in 1995. `If the public finds out people have paid hundreds or thousands of dollars for nothing more than a poster with a signature attached, I believe the manure will hit the fan,` he said. The company says that in his life Garcia would sign pieces only as they were sold and  he left many unsigned pieces when he died, so the silk-screen signatures were  added afterward.`"

January 2, 2005 "Rodin`s legacy The artist who helped usher in the age of  ambiguity in sculpture continues to raise  questions almost 90 years after his death" By Opelika-Auburn News` Jason Nix "Sobol says Arseneau`s allegations that Elsen was bought out by Cantor completely miss the  point. `We don`t comment about his contentions because they don`t bear any weight whatsoever in the  art world,` she said. `Nobody who knows anything about the field doubts the originality of these  pieces. I don`t understand what entitles him to a point of view that`s covered by the press. It`s  talking about the picture frame and not the picture.` Mark Graham, an AU art professor and interim department head, disagrees. `Mr. Arseneau might be abrasive in his approach, but a lot of the issues he raises are real issues,`  he said. `The Rodin estate has been turned into a Rodin industry. It`s not common in sculpture to  keep reproducing an artist`s work after his death the way we see with this artist." Like Arseneau, Graham takes issue with the use of the term `original` to describe works  produced after the Rodin`s death. `The term `original` is a stretch,` he said. `A Rodin original is any version that was authorized by  him or which had his input. With this, you`re not seeing work that reflects August Rodin`s input.  This exhibit is a Disneyland vacation of Rodin`s art.`"

February 18, 2005 "Degas` Sculptures -- Real Or Fake  Florida Artist Claims Display At Milwaukee Art Museum Not Authentic" By WISN`s Kent Wainscott  "`He was dead. Dead men don`t create art. Dead men don`t approve art. Dead men don`t sign art,`  Arseneau said. "Dead men don`t create art, is he right?" Wainscott asked  Winters. `Gee, there`s probably a case or two to prove that wrong,`  Winters responded." (Laurie Winters is a Milwaukee Art Museum  curator)

February 25, 2005 "Is it a real Rodin or a reproduction? Art gallery owner, curators, experts disagree over posthumous casts" By The Halifax Herald`s Elissa Barnard "Florida printmaker and art gallery owner  Gary Arseneau says dead men don`t make art and the Cantor foundation shouldn`t  promote Rodin`s posthumously cast sculptures as original works of art.   -   The  sculptures in Halifax are original works of art, says Judith Sobol, the Cantor Foundation`s executive director, in town for tonight`s gala opening."

April 1, 2005 "Dr. Seuss or a Clever Ruse?"  By (Austin, Texas) Fox 7 On Your Side`s Chris Coffey "There`s nothing wrong with reproducing his (Seuss`s) work and calling them  reproductions, posters," Arseneau said. "Unfortunately, lithographs, serigraphs  and sculptures can`t be created by dead people." Dreyer disagrees with the concerns raised by Arseneau. "We`ve looked into those claims," Dreyer said. "I can`t say it`s funny, but it`s  certainly nothing we would want to dignify with a response." 

June 24, 2005 "Rodin`s cast of hundreds" By Globe and Mail`s Danielle Egan "`Dead men don`t sculpt, so there`s no difference between these Rodin fakes and the stuff  they sell in gift shops.` This is the verdict of Gary Arseneau...   `An original has to be made by the artist or under his direct supervision,` says Hans de  Roos, a Belgian, Germany-based photographer, Rodin scholar and founder of RodinWeb. `The Musee Rodin shouldn`t call them originals and sign them off with the name of a dead man who authorized the state to do `reproductions.` "
  
July 17, 2005 "Critic casts doubt on exhibit" By Kentucky Herald-Leader`s Amy Wilson  "Two of Rodin`s greatest compositions, The Gates of Hell  and  The Monument to Balzac were cast in bronze only posthumously. Those, like the post-lifetime bronzes in the  UK show, have had the signature `A. Rodin` affixed. When Rodin died, Arseneau argues, the right to sign his name died with him. The Cantor Foundation maintains that affixing the signature by stamp was "common and accepted practice even during Rodin`s lifetime."

March 23, 2006 "Expert claims Vero museum pieces are fake" By TCPalms` Dan Garcia   "Arseneau says the museum is misleading patrons by ascribing the sculptures to Degas and Giacometti without disclosing they are `reproductions of reproductions` that might not have been imagined by the artists in their current form. He said the Degas works, in particular, are not authentic because the artist never cast in bronze, never worked  exclusively with wax from which the pieces were cast and expressed hesistancy about using bronze by declaring `the  medium is for eternity.`"   

November 2, 2006 `Degas Dispute, Artist questions sculpture`s authenticity`  By The Columbus Dispatch`s Bill Mayr  "Arseneau says the bronzes fail to meet national museum standards for exhibitions. He said they contain counterfeit Degas  signatures. He also said the originals were altered or repaired to prepare them for casting and that too many intermediate  reproductions were made during the casting project to consider the bronzes authentic."

November 9-16, 2006 The Little Dancer that`s  causing big controversy By The Other Paper Weekly`s Jordan Gentile "To CMA`s credit, `Little Dancer` is accompanied by a text panel informing the public that the  bronze piece was cast by Degas`s family after the artist`s death. But the museum added that  explanation only after Bill Mayr, who broke the Arseneau story in the Dispatch, told Vasseur  that the  museum had  mislabeled the  sculpture. Mayr  says the  museum first  claimed `Little  Dancer` had been cast in bronze prior to the artist`s 1917 death. `I think there were some typos that had to be fixed, but I`m not aware of any other changes that  were made to the text panels,` said Nancy Colvin, CMA`s spokeswoman"

July 12, 2007 `Jacksonville artist criticizes Degas exhibit coming to Boca Museum`  By Boca Raton News` Dale M. King "By fake, Gary Arseneau of Jacksonville says in an email to the museum, copied to the Boca Raton News, he means that the sculptures were created after the death of Degas in 1917. He called the display `a knowing misrepresentation of the truth or concealment of a material fact.` But Michael H. Gora, president of the Museum`s Board of Trustees, said `Arseneau`s opinions regarding the Degas bronzes are meaningless, and not shared by the major museums of the world, including The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, The Getty Museum in Los Angeles and The Chicago Institute of Art, in Chicago, which currently display all or portions of the Degas bronzes.` He said the museum is `proud` to present the works.  Asked if he knows why Arseneau criticized the exhibit, Gora said, `To get his name in the paper.`"

August 12, 2007 "How an International Bank Sank Millions in Brazil for Some Rodin Fakes"  By www.brazzil.com`s John Dear   "Gary Arseneau, an expert of Rodin`s art, says: `I have briefly checked out the Rodin Bahia website. The four so-called `Rodins` in question were  posthumously reproduced in bronze between 1995 and 2001, some seventy-eight to eighty-one years after Auguste Rodin`s death in 1917. Normally, one would find reproductions of this stature in a museum gift shop. By definition, rule of  law and laws of nature, dead men don`t sculpt.`"
 
May 03, 2008 "Florida scholar casting  doubt on authenticity of  Rodin work" By The Forum`s John Lamb "Arseneau`s argument? Many of the pieces were cast after August Rodin died in 1917. How can they be his when he wasn`t even alive when they were made?"

March 7, 2008 "Man claims some of the Auguste Rodin sculptures coming to the Hillstrom Art Museum are fake" by The Gustavian Weekly`s Sam Grace "Since Rodin`s death, a French museum called the Musee Rodin has held the right to reproduce Rodin`s work. According to Arseneau, however, many of the reproductions in the Cantor exhibit are second-generation reproductions, or reproductions of already reproduced works of art. Arseneau claims that, by violating these rights to reproduce Rodin`s work, the sculptures are fake.  - ...said Arseneau `The dead don?t sculpt. Therefore, anything reproduced is, at best, a reproduction not a sculpture whether the artist is alive or dead.` Myers, however, would disagree. `Certainly none of the works coming to Gustavus are `fakes,` said Myers. `I would assume that Gary Arseneau actually understands this fully, but prefers, for whatever motive, to try to stir up trouble.`"

September 16, 2008 "Lithograph maker says John Lennon exhibit is a farce" By Southampton Press` Brendan O`Reilly "The bottom line is ... they want the public to see and buy work that John Lennon himself has never seen,` Mr. Arseneau said, and that is being passed off as having been created by him.  -  `Ms. Ono Lennon is up-front about the fact that she decided to add color to many of Mr. Lennon`s works to make prints, and clients are always informed before buying any serigraphs that Mr. Lennon did not color the works himself,`  Mr.  Siegel  said."