*** EXCLUSIVE: MUST CREDIT MYOPIC ZEAL! ***

I have uncovered another work of art. I purchased this from Professor Churchill’s private collection in 1993 for $750. After reading about the “borrowed art idea” scandal, I decided to do a scan of other pieces of art to ensure that the one he sold me was truly an original work. Here is the one I purchased:

But, as original as this might appear, Myopic Zeal has learned that this too is a very close copy of someone else’s original. There are subtle differences, the background scenery is changed, the image is flipped horizontally, the face is slightly masked, but other than that, it appears that there may be some of the original that made it into this painting by Mr. Churchill.

Check out the original and see what you think. The site I found this on is in French, and I don’t read French, so I have no idea if this is a famous work of art or not. Presumably he picked something obscure to copy.

UPDATE: Check out this post for more details, and an observation we have made that calls into question the validity of this whole “art fraud” story.

UPDATE 2: More great ‘originals’ at Etherhouse.

UPDATE 3 (3/2/2005): Could we see a Howard Dean / Ward Churchill ticket in 2008?

UPDATE 4 (3/7): Hmmm…

BREAKING EXCLUSIVE UPDATE: See this post for yet another work of Churchill’s art exposed!

The Ward Churchill saga continues. Not only is he not an Indian, he’s also has done some “original” artwork that is surprisingly similar to other works found elsewhere.

Michelle Malkin has the expose this morning. Check it out!

Others who are on the story include: Doug Petch, Narcissistic Views, and not many others … yet … If you’re posting about this, trackback here and I’ll add your link later in the day.

The original story is here, and has these side by side pix.

This, from the 1972 book The Mystic Warriors of the Plains.

And from Ward Churchill.

Also, there is another that has been allegedly uncovered which is for sale on eBay. See Michelle’s site for the details.

UPDATE: I found this to be a bit ironic. From the guy that owns the “Winter Attack” original by Ward Churchill:

“Sure, it makes me angry, it makes me very disappointed,” Prentup said. “I wanted some original artwork from what appeared to be a very good local artist. Now I don’t know what I’ve got.”

But then there’s this:

Current bid: US $255.00 (Reserve not met)

Tekput has great feedback reviews and ratings, but something about the two pieces of information together in my mind raise some question I can’t quite put my finger on. Guy finds fraudulent work of art, is disappointed, goes to the newspaper, and then immediately lists it on eBay for hundreds of dollars. I’m just raising the question. Is it possible this “fraudulent art” thing is just a well crafted entrepreneurial hoax?

UPDATE 2: Kiliman has pointed out in the comments that there are 250 of these pieces floating around, so it’s pretty likely that my question above - wondering if Tekput was Prentup - was probably makeing a false assumption.

UPDATE 3 (3/7): Hmmm……