Stolen Art (2009)

Filmmaker Simon Backès investigates an infamous 1978 New York art exhibition called Stolen Art, where an unknown Czech artist named Pavel Novak presented a collection of amazing reproductions of master works by Rembrandt, Sérusier, Malevich, Van Gogh, and Courbet. Soon after its opening, the FBI closed down the show. A rich collector had complained that the copy of Gustave Courbet's "The Calm Sea" on display was in fact his stolen original. Who was Pavel Novak? An artist? A thief? A bit of both? Backès' curiosity is catching, as he visits the paintings listed in the Stolen Art collection's catalog, inside museums and high-security archives all over the world. He pores over these paintings, searching for the artist behind the creation. Is true art illegal? Do paintings lose their beauty once they are privately hoarded and can no longer be appreciated collectively? The questions raised are as intriguing as the answers.