I came across this original painting by comic artist Rudy Palais at an auction site and noticed it was titled, "Illustration - Bela Lugosi as Dracula". Nothing against Mr. Palais' artistic capabilities, but after scrutinizing it for a few moments--and in consideration of his unique style--I concluded that, other than a blunted widow's peak, none of the subject's other features are remotely similar to those of Bela Lugosi. Since he passed away in 2004, I suspect Palais likely wasn't afforded the opportunity to comment one way or another about identifying his painting as such.
It was sold on April 9, 2023 by Broward Auction Gallery LLC of Dania Beach, Florida for $200 plus $75 shipping and insurance. The painting itself is an oil on canvas and measures 19" W x 27" L. There is no provenance and it is undated. One thing it has going for it is that it's signed.
The auction history for this piece indicates it first came up for auction on January 23, 2021. At that time the description of the painting was listed as: "Illustration - Portrait of Man".
It was listed six more times without selling, from April 4, 2021 to July 3, 2022. Then, abruptly it was re-titled and newly identified as a portrait of Bela Lugosi as Dracula. It went unsold the first time under it's new title on October 9, 2022 and again on January, 2, 2022 until it was finally picked up for 200 bucks, six months later, at considerably less than the estimated value of $400-$500.
Now, I don't know about you, but this has the taint of chicanery about it if you ask me. If it was misrepresented in the earlier listings, there is no statement that the title was changed because of any new discovery. Consequently, if there is nothing to support the change, I suspect it was done in a deceitful attempt to add value to it. My hope is that the buyer purchased it solely because it was a work by Palais and not because it was claimed to be a portrait of Lugosi by him.
The art world has been historically rife with scams, and the foregoing only proves that they can find their way anywhere from multi-million dollar masterworks to a simple comic artist's painting. Caveat emptor!
There is no way that's a portrait of Lugosi. Looks more like a magazine illustration, or possibly an early cover rough for one of the Classics Illustrated he worked on for Gilbertons (I'm not sure whether Palais did covers as well as interiors; it's not a series I've collected). That said, he was active in the field for more than 30 years, so anything's possible.
ReplyDeleteLike yourself, I located the series of listings at the Broward Auction Gallery, and the sudden link to Lugosi has more than a whiff of opportunism about it.
DeleteI've subsequently tracked down an earlier sale, listed by MutualArt on 14 February 2020 as 'Portrait or* a man’s devilish face'. No info on the price (I'd need an upgraded membership to access those details), but it is noted the artwork went for "-50% below mid-estimate".
Delete*typo?
It was a well-traveled artwork and not one of his best, which might be one of the reasons it went for much less than the estimated price. To try and sell it as a Lugosi painting is not only ridiculous, it's darn near criminal.
ReplyDeleteI agree, that's not Lugosi. Looks more like Lionel Barrymore to me than anyone else I can think of.
ReplyDelete