Authenticity and Beyond

The March 25th Lemont Artists Guild meeting, will begin at 7 PM at the Homer Township Public Library, 14320 W 151st St, Homer Glen, IL. Joseph Barabe will discuss the compelling and intriguing topic of identifying art fraud and forgery with the use of the microscope “It looks convincing, but is it authentic?” This question is asked when art works, ancient documents, and other historical objects are offered for sale or put on display. Science can offer many ways to identify fraudulent works: specialized imaging, microscopical observation and analysis, and other high-tech methods will be described, along with numerous interesting case studies. There will be plenty of time for follow-up questions and discussion.

Joe Barabe is a research microscopist at Barabe & Associates LLC in Oak Park, IL. He retired six years ago from McCrone Associates Inc. in Westmont, a microscopy and microanalytical consulting firm, where he served for 23 years as Director of Scientific Imaging and Senior Research Microscopist. His more well-known projects include the photomacrography of the Zapruder film of the JFK assassination, the analysis of the ink on the Gospel of Judas for National Geographic, the Clementine Hunter forgery case for the FBI, the Archaic Mark forgery for the University of Chicago, and the mysterious Voynich Manuscript analysis for Yale’s Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library.

Joseph Barabe gained his experience in this topic as a Senior Research Microscopist and Director of Scientific Imaging for 24 years at McCrone Associates, Inc. (Westmont, IL). While working there, he mentored under the tutelage of Dr. Walter C. McCrone where he learned the special skills necessary to examine and analyze the materials constituting historical and contemporary works of art, historical objects, and documents. His analytical duties included the analysis of art objects such as paintings and prints, ancient documents and historical and archeological artifacts using a variety of analytical tools including polarized light microscopy, SEM with x-ray spectrometry, infrared and Raman spectroscopy, and other analytical methods as appropriate. He has performed forensic document examinations including forged and altered documents; paper, ink and toner comparisons, writing sequence determinations, and printing process identification. His scientific imaging specialties include photomacrography, photomicrography and invisible radiation photography. His famous projects include: analysis of the ink on the Gospel of Judas, the Archaic Mark forgery, the Voynich Manuscript analysis and the Zapruder film imaging project. Prior to joining McCrone, Joe was senior scientific photographer at the University of Chicago. He currently continues his work in this interesting field of art fraud as a Director and Senior Research Microscopist at Barabe & Associates LLC. Visit his profile at https://www.linkedin.com/in/joseph-barabe-17130415

The public is welcome; a donation for the local food pantry is appreciated. Free parking. Refreshments will be served.

For more information call Liz Connelly (815)341-1145 or www.lemontartistsguild.org