Park West Gallery's lone Dali expert Bernard Ewell dead wrong--AGAIN!

By Fine Art Registry®

Bernard Ewell and his reference material

 ***Update: Yellow highlighted text below added 1/30/2012***

Bernard Ewell is an appraiser by trade who has worked for Park West Gallery for more than a decade as Park West's "authenticator" of the gallery's Dali print inventory. Ewell is responsible for authenticating thousands of "signed" Dali prints which were purchased by Park West Gallery from many different sources. Many of the prints have since been declared by all recognized Dali experts, including the Gala-Salvador Dali Foundation in Spain, to be defaced forgeries.

On his web site, Bernard Ewell heralds: 

I am the Dali Detective...who stands as the basis of truth and model of ethics. After all, I am the only fully independent, disinterested and uncompromised Dali expert.

Yes, and if you don't believe Ewell's claim that he is the end all be all expert in Dali, all you have to do is ask him, though we don't know of a single qualified Dali expert in the industry that agrees with his proclamation. Not a single auction house that we know of relies on Ewell's opinions or so-called expertise. And truly, if one claims he is such a model of truth and ethics, why does one have to scream it? It should go without saying, shouldn't it? Deeds, not words, is what George Washington's motto was. Show us your deeds, Mr. Ewell. Words are cheap.

Moreover, no one really knows what Ewell means in his self-designation that he is a Dali Detective. What we do know, however, is that the evidence and recent court records as well as his own sworn testimony betray his claimed acuity and expertise in determining whether or not a Dali work is authentic, much less the authenticity of any signatures that are purported to be by Dali's hand. One glaring example of Ewell's reckless incompetency and error in judgment is Sharon Day and Julian Howard's Divine Comedy set of 100 woodblock prints, represented by Park West Gallery to be authentically signed by Dali and for which Day and Howard paid Park West Gallery approximately $500,000. These prints were all authenticated by Ewell (at the request of Park West Gallery) and declared to be genuine in every respect and in excellent condition. While the prints were indeed genuine woodcuts (but not at all rare--there are approximately 1,000,000 Divine Comedy prints in circulation), the signatures on the prints were not.

Fine Art Registry has proved overwhelmingly that the Divine Comedy set that Day and Howard purchased from Park West Gallery is certainly not in excellent condition and is anything but authentically signed by the hand of Dali. Yet Ewell, who blathers on and on and on about his superior knowledge of Dali, has never once commented on this gigantic elephant in the room--he has never accepted responsibility and refuses to be held accountable for his very serious and inexcusable error (whether intentional or not we will never know). The Gala-Salvador Dali Foundation in Spain along with Nicolas Descharnes and Frank Hunter have declared that the Day and Howard Divine Comedy set of prints are forged and so too has forensic questioned document expert, William Flynn, who referred to the signatures as crude forgeries. So what does Ewell have to say about all of this: absolutely nothing. And this is only one case--there are many, many others.

Ewell is his own worst enemy. In a self-aggrandizing effort to cover up his incompetency, errors and omissions and to deflect responsibility and accountability for authenticating, as genuine, what turned out to be forged Dali works of art, he waxes on in his blog posts about his rubbing elbows with the Albarettos. In doing so, Ewell ignorantly doubles down on the amazing revelation of his inadequacies when it comes to even a rudimentary knowledge of Dali and the history surrounding Dali's circle of friends and collectors. Unlike those that have actually met and worked with Dali, Ewell never met Dali and Ewell never worked with Dali. Ewell is an art appraiser. Period. He has absolutely no business authenticating Dali works of art for anyone other than himself perhaps. Appraising Dali works, yes. Authenticating Dali works, absolutely not!

Recently on his web site, Ewell posted a photograph (below) in support of his blog post and his wild proposition that Gala and Salvador Dali had a close relationship with the Albarettos and that he [Ewell] "out of all the various people who today claim to be Dali experts," was the "only one who has personally visited the [Albaretto] collection in Turin," and "that not even anyone from The Salvador Dali Museum has...gone to see the original darwings [sic] and watercolors." Then Ewell goes on to audaciously state: "That’s one reason I set myself apart from those who claim to know what they’re talking about. I’m the only one who has done due diligence in this matter."  

Ewell claims that the man and woman on the far right are Guiseppe and Mara Albaretto

So, does Ewell really "know what he's talking about?" Uh, we don't think so. Fine Art Registry noticed something very odd with the photograph Ewell posted and so we checked with reliable sources who knew Salvador Dali and who also knew his good friend, and jewelry designer, Carlos Alemany. We have confirmed with our sources that it is Carlos Alemany who appears in the photograph above, NOT Guiseppe Albaretto. An obituary in the August 1993 edition of the The New York Times describes the relationship between Dali and Alemany as follows:

In the 1950's, he [Alemany] met Dali. Mr. Alemany had a workshop in the St. Regis Hotel as a partner in the firm of Alemany & Ertman. He began to translate Dali's visions from canvas to jewelry, chiefly for exhibition, designing and supervising their execution. The result was the Salvador Dali Jewel Collection of gem-studded fantasies. Mr. Alemany traveled with the jewels and lectured about them in this country and abroad. Among the collection's noted pieces was his rendition of "Persistence of Memory" (1931), with Dali's soft clocks.

To confirm that Ewell is dead wrong, below is a photograph of Carlos Alemany with his good friend, Dali. See, also, the side by side close up of Alemany. Same mustache, same nose, same eyebrow arch. Definitely, Alemany, definitely not Albaretto.   

***On January 30, 2012, we received the following update and confirmation from an ironclad, incontrovertible source concerning the photograph Ewell posted on his blog: 

I found that exact photograph [erroneously identified by Ewell as depicting the Albarettos] in a book titled "Salvador Dali: An Illustrated Life," by Tate Publishing, The Fundació Gala-Salvador Dalí on page 232. It mentions only Alemany on the right. The other couple [on either side of Dali] is not identified in the photograph.

Now, wouldn't you think the self-proclaimed Dali Detective would have known this little fact? Even Fine Art Registry knew at first blush that the photograph did not depict the Albarettos. Honestly, how can Park West Gallery with a straight face continue to rely on and support Ewell's bogus authentication opinions on the Dali inventory Park West Gallery has sold for well over a decade? If Ewell can't correctly identify the Albarettos (with whom he claims such an intimate relationship) in something as simple as a published photograph in a well known publication, how in the world can anyone trust Ewell's judgment as to the legitimacy of signatures on thousands of Dali prints Ewell authenticated for the gallery? Park West Gallery continues to artificially prop up Ewell because they have no other choice. Park West Gallery put all their Dali authentication eggs in Ewell's basket and now they are stuck with his opinions--the eggs are rotten--like it or not.

Carlos Alemany (right) with Dali in a French-Spanish Bookstore (no longer in business) near Rockefeller Center, NY

 

Further, in comparing photographs with those we have on file of the Albarettos, it appears that the woman in the photograph is not Mara Albaretto, either.

It also important to note that the photograph that Ewell posted on his web site is more than likely a photograph of a photograph which we can only guess was taken by Ewell at the time he claims he "visited" the Dali house which is a museum and was a museum at the time of Ewell's visit (though he conveniently omits the source of the photograph as well as the date of his so-called visit). Ewell's statements lead the unwary to believe that he had some sort of special invitation to Dali's home by the Dalis themselves, even though anyone can tour the museum. He goes on: "we spotted a photograph of the Dalis with the Albarettos among the snapshots that Gala had taped to the cupboard doors in her bathroom." Apparently Ewell forgot what Guiseppe and Mara Albaretto looked like which is bizarre as he states he has "seen over 200 photographs of the [Albaretto] family members."

Those who knew Gala and Salvador Dali well will tell you that the last thing that that anyone would expect to find inside the Dali home/museum would be a photograph of the Dalis with the Albarettos (especially and particularly in a room so private and intimate as Gala's bathroom cupboards which is where Ewell said he "spotted" the photograph). Those who were intimate with the Dalis will tell you that there was no love lost between the Albarettos and Gala, especially.

And for further comparison note the following photograph taken by Robert Descharnes which pictures Guiseppe and Mara Albaretto:

Photo by Robert Descharnes-Guiseppe and Mara Albaretto w/Dali at the Hotel Meurice

Park West Gallery used the above photograph for years, claiming it was a photograph from 1974, in support of  the authenticity of the Dali prints they were selling and in order to conform with an alleged letter of authenticity that Park West Gallery claimed was signed by Dali the same year (1974). Fine Art Registry confirmed that the photograph was taken by Robert Descharnes in 1964, not 1974. Park West Gallery not only misidentified the photograph in order to support their bogus claim, they also used it for a commercial purpose (in order to sell their Dali inventory) without seeking copyright permission from the Descharnes. Further, just like Ewell, Park West Gallery claimed that the young woman in the center was the Albarettos daughter, Cristiana Albaretto. Robert Descharnes has confirmed that it was not the Albarettos daughter at all, but rather a secretary or an assistant who remains unidentified. After we exposed these rather interesting and problematic facts, Park West Gallery ceased using the photograph. Read Setting the Record Straighter, for the full story.   

Bernard Ewell sporting his optivisors

Yup! Some Dali Detective, huh? No wonder Ewell is responsible for so many of the Park West Gallery Dali forgeries. Perhaps we should all chip in and get him a new pair of Optivisors!