In a Baghdad museum, an authentic work by Shakir Hassan al-Said entitled “Death to Colonialism” is one of the few to have survived the chaos unleashed by the US invasion in 2003, which led to the proliferation of forgeries and art trafficking in Iraq. The work, dating from the 1970s and characterized by somber tones, is considered a jewel of modern Iraqi art. However, the artist’s family has cataloged around 3,000 works to protect against forgeries and will publish a catalog soon.
Trafficking in fake works has become a serious problem in Iraq, where attempts have been made to copy works frequently since the invasion. Shakir Hassan al-Said’s family has had to stop several sales of fake paintings and maintain contact with international auction houses and galleries. They even recently discovered a fake work in Baghdad but were unable to get the seller to remove it as he insisted on its authenticity.
Iraqi art, both modern and contemporary, is highly valued in the Arab world, and prices for Iraqi works are among the highest in the region. This has motivated forgers to create increasingly elaborate copies while watching auction results. Authentication of artworks is a challenge throughout the region, but in Iraq it is exacerbated by factors such as the exile of artists and the ensuing wars.
The National Museum of Modern Art in Baghdad continues to search for the stolen works, but the lack of accurate catalogs makes it difficult to identify the missing pieces.
Prior to 2003, work was recorded manually in notebooks, which was an unreliable method. Despite efforts to preserve and recover authentic works, most of the pieces lost during the post-invasion chaos are still missing.