I’d like to purchase a handmade replica as a birthday gift for my boyfriend. A “handmade, museum-quality reproduction” painting sounds a little bit too good to be true, so I’m worried this might be a scam.
My sister had a portrait of her dog done at a similar site. I looked into it and noticed it was not a registered business in any country. Had no fixed address or employees listed. She did however receive a decent print but the thing was for sure 100% ai upscaled dropship stuff. Take a risk with your credit card if you really want to, but the real handmade stuff is going to be so obvious that you wouldn’t have thought to ask.
I got a reproduction of a painting I really liked over the years and seen many times hanging in a museum. It looks like the original, extremely high quality, hand painted, and it cost 800 €. It even got a certificate of the artist who recreated it with the techniques and materials she used. There is a market for this, but you should first check the website obviously that it’s not a fake store.
But if it’s not, it’s legit and legal.
“what a ripoff, I got the original instead of a replica I paid for! 0/5 stars”
“Legal” is also a bit fuzzy. Some countries frown upon copying an artist’s work, but that’s going to be a question for the manufacturer. Owning a reproduction is not illegal as long as you don’t try to commit fraud with it (i.e. hanging it in a gallery or selling it).
A “handmade, museum-quality reproduction” painting sounds a little bit too good to be true
Wait which part? It’s a thing, there is or was a city in China where making hand reproductions is their main industry, but it sounds like you specifically went looking so that’s not a surprise.
If you’re sus because of the price: Cheap third-world labour. Actually, you could probably find even cheaper, since $335 is still a bit. If you’re wondering if it will actually be “museum quality”, well, that’s an advertising term and not a meaningful thing in the first place. It’s all down to how experienced the particular artist is, and there’s of course a risk that they won’t ship you the thing described at all.
there is or was a city in China where making hand reproductions is their main industry, but it sounds like you specifically went looking so that’s not a surprise.
You’re talking about Dafen:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWd9nnaDL3M
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dafen_Village
Looks like it still exists, but I heard info that they closed a lot down in the recent years. Although it’s second-hand info, so take it with a grain of salt
Here’s a good, short podcast episode about it. https://pca.st/episode/5fe9cbac-1123-4a35-806c-7310195b3937
Nice, you found it!
There’s probably another one somewhere poorer yet that’s stealing their thunder. China has developed to the point where workers can charge more.
There was a company reproducing artwork like this using an advanced printer that used paints. Not sure whatever happened to them.
no reproduction would be held by a museum, and museums would hold even “low” quality artifacts that represented a significant aspect of creativity or innovation, so that’s weird wording.
But, it’s going to be oil paint on a canvas instead of a digital print. The work being reproduced is probably not covered by copyright.
i was in a museum today and they reproduce a lot of art. Sometimes its so fragile that they can’t display it so they reproduce it by a master who can create exact copies
I really depends on the type of museum and what artifact they are showing
Maybe ‘museum quality’ means ‘good enough for the gift shop’.
