Eric HALLSTRÖM
1893–1946, Sweden

Oil on panel, titled "Nordingrå", signed "Eric Hallstrom", 40x32 cm. Ostensibly depicting a genuine painting by the artist Eric Hallström. The painting is part of a major fraud seizures of counterfeit art in Sweden known as ”The Society of Art Friends”: Three men, aged 30, 37, and 40 years old, were caught in Stockholm, Sweden after a reconnaissance tip from police in Ängelholm, Sweden. Shortly afterwards, another two men were caught. In total, 48 house searches were made through out the nation from which 83 forged paintings were confiscated. Forged art had already been sold for millions of Swedish crowns. Victims of the gang were well known businessmen with considerable incomes. League had good help from educated art experts who have written certificate of authenticity to many of the fake paintings, often at very small remuneration. On a door to a flat in Stockholm the men had displayed a sign with the text “The Society of Art Friends”.

chalk on paper, signed "Eric Hallstrom." A spot in the lower left corner indicates that something happened to the artwork. Eric Hallström belonged to the early 1900s generation. He teckade everyday motifs and motif similar to his. The painting is made by any amateur who looked like Hallström who signed with stiff and without movement and spontaneity. It gives the impression of a crash course in painting. See especially the pod to the right. Even the signature is too rigid to be Hallström's. The District Court's assessment: The painting gives the wrong impression of completed and signed by Hallström. It is a forgery.