LAKE TAHOE, Nev. – Art forgery expert, Curtis Dowling, has authenticated priceless works across the globe. On Sunday, Oct. 27, his team may have found their most intriguing find yet on the Nevada side of Lake Tahoe. 

“London, Paris have these big art collections. People owning massive collections of really famous paintings,” Dowling said. “Then you come somewhere like this and all of a sudden you meet somebody in a normal house that could have 40 Jackson Pollock (paintings) worth a billion quid (about $1,297,000,000). That’s the exciting thing about it. We don’t come anywhere unless we’re pretty certain that we’re not looking at the washroom door, and that it’s going to be good.” 

Dowling was elated at the possibility. He spent more than three decades in the fine art world, with 15 years exposing fakes. Beyond his work as an art detective, Dowling has built a career as a lecturer, author, and television personality, investigating art fraud cases worldwide.

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“If we go to Paris, if we go to New York, to the brownstones … some of the stuff we do in Beverly Hills, we expect to see fine art,” Dowling said. “Coming here, we expect to see maybe one. You say, ‘oh my God, this man has one amazing painting’. There’s 40.” 

“That’s mad,” Dowling said. “That’s the fun of it.” 

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If every Jackson Pollock’s worth $100 million, and there’s 40, that’s $4 billion, Dowling said. 

After the viewing, the paintings were moved from the home to secure sites in a multi-state area by the owners group.

While at the home, Dowling and investigator and digger Andy Smith started searching for the truth. 

Dowling pulled out a flashlight and put on his jeweler’s glasses with magnifying glass lenses to examine the front and back of the paintings. 

He began running a magnet over the paintings. 

“Some of these paints … have enough metal in them to give this a pull,” Dowling explained about the process. “Some of these newer metallic paints if you put a magnet on will slightly lift.” 

Dowling said it’s a crude way to spot check. 

Then he began smelling it. 

“We had two Picassos in Algeria seven or eight years ago,” Dowling said about a different art investigation. “We got a pin, and we stuck the pin in the paint, and it was still wet. Oil takes 20 years to dry and oil stinks for 20 years if you know what you’re sniffing.” 

It’s simple stuff really, Dowling said. It’s a little more difficult when it has been restored. 

Dowling also checked out the canvas.

“We spend our entire life looking at thread count, materials, aging …” Dowling said. “Initially, what I’m doing is looking at quite a lot of pieces, and just getting a feel for the canvas, materials … we need to look at the simple things to start with before we start getting granular.”

Meanwhile, Smith focuses on the people and the story, not the actual piece of art. 

“I’m the digger who goes, well, where did that story come from?” Smith explained. “Because something’s not right about that. And you know, you get that itch in the back of your head … that’s my job.” 

Dowling’s team charges the same fee to every client, 140 pounds (about $181) an hour plus travel costs. 

When a piece of art is sold, Dowling and Smith don’t want anything. Because if they took a dollar from that sale, it would be a conflict of interest. 

“We’re just going to finish this journey,” Dowling said in between examining more than 20 paintings brought to the property for his inspection. “We wouldn’t be here unless we thought there was good reason to be here.” 

The owners group has been working on authenticating this art for about 22 years. 

“We will finish it within the next 12 months, this journey will be over,” Dowling said. “… whether it’s good or bad, we’ll see. But I guarantee you, by the time we all stand in this room next year, this is done completely.” 

Because of Dowling and Smith’s reputations, when they call it as real or fake, the whole art world will know. 

Next step 

The work started once Dowling and Smith viewed the pieces. Now they need to be able to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that they’re genuine. 

“Then we start speaking to our network of people that we know and love for over 30 years,” Dowling said. They help with background information. 

It also involves police work. 

“Viewing it is the theatre,” Dowling said. “This is the stage play.” 

The rest is writing and playing. 

“Because at the end of it, you can’t afford to say, ‘I don’t know, why did you turn up there?’ ” Dowling explained. “You need to say yes or no. It is or it isn’t.” 

There needs to be facts to back up the findings. 

“We choose pieces or collections that we think could be fun,” Dowling said. “We do quite a lot of Jackson Pollock, weirdly.” 

Selection process 

This authentication project was recommended by Michael Klein, someone they’ve worked with and admire. 

Klein, Microsoft Art Collection’s first curator from 1999 to 2005, connected the owners group to Dowling. Klein saw the paintings at the Los Angeles Art Fair. 

“We’ll always do (recommendations like Klein) first for obvious reasons,” Dowling said. 

This authentication has been going on for a long time. 

“That always annoys me,” Dowling said. “You want to put an end to it … it shouldn’t go on that long. It’s not fair.” 

Dowling and Smith have seen numerous Jackson Pollock paintings. Because of the value of the paintings, Dowling said you only need one. 

“You just need to authenticate one,” Dowling said. “Because we’re all old enough to not even be able to spend the money you make from them. You authenticate one, you’ve vindicated your whole journey.” 

Dowling explained if you authenticate one painting, other pieces could be authenticated easier. 

“Trying to do all of them is nonsense,” Dowling said. 

Art lovers 

Dowling and Smith love art and their jobs. 

“Nothing gives us more pleasure than saying, you need to up your insurance on your house,” Smith said. “Because that thing you’ve got on the wall there is worth a fortune. It’s the loveliest feeling in the world.”