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And, indeed, I will ask on my own account here, an idle question: which is better—cheap happiness or exalted sufferings? Well, which is better?---Fyodor Dostoevsky ---Notes from Underground Fyodor Dostoevsky ---Notes from Underground Even now, so many years later, all this is somehow a very evil memory. I have many evil memories now, but ... hadn’t I better end my “Notes” here? I believe I made a mistake in beginning to write them, anyway I have felt ashamed all the time I’ve been writing this story; so it’s hardly literature so much as a corrective punishment. Why, to tell long stories, showing how I have spoiled my life through morally rotting in my corner, through lack of fitting environment, through divorce from real life, and rankling spite in my underground world, would certainly not be interesting; a novel needs a hero, and all the traits for an anti-hero are expressly gathered together here, and what matters most, it all produces an unpleasant impression, for we are...
Hope
To be human is to be a miracle of evolution conscious of its own miraculousness — a consciousness beautiful and bittersweet, for we have paid for it with a parallel awareness not only of our fundamental improbability but of our staggering fragility, of how physiologically precarious our survival is and how psychologically vulnerable our sanity. To make that awareness bearable, we have evolved a singular faculty that might just be the crowning miracle of our consciousness: hope.--
Erich Fromm
Art and Craft (2014)
Documentary is often only as good as its subject, and Art and Craft has a truly unique and astonishing one. Mark Landis is a balding, soft-spoken middle-aged man who lives in a messy Laurel, Mississippi apartment where he drinks wine, smokes cigarettes, watches old movies on TV, and makes forgeries of artwork that he then donates to Southern museums free of charge, convincing the institutions to take them via wholly phony stories and by using various made-up aliases. The most brazen of Landis’s personas is that of a priest, which goes hand in hand with the religious works he reproduces, and his copies are so good that he spent decades giving them away—and having them hung in galleries—without being detected. His pastime was eventually discovered by University of Cincinnati curator named Matthew Leininger, whose due diligence tipped him off to Landis’s ruse and drove him to notify the victims of his crime. Except, that is, that what Landis does isn’t actually illegal, since—loophole!—he doesn’t receive any money for his philanthropic gifts.
Directors Sam Cullman, Jennifer Grausman, and Mark Becker profile the prolific Landis with a non-judgmental straightforwardness that allows the sheer brazenness of his scams to generate both shock and amusement, especially given Landis’s own on-camera discussions about his work. With slumped shoulders and a meek voice, Landis seems more than a bit “off,” and it’s no surprise to learn that, as a teenager, he spent a year in a mental hospital after a nervous breakdown following his father’s death, or that he was diagnosed with, among other things, schizophrenia. His regular, affectionate talk about “Mother,” whose wedding album he pores over, and whose picture sits in his home, makes him come across as a more mild, harmless Norman Bates. Art and Craft, though, makes no case for either his inherent goodness or insanity, so much as it allows his story to unfold as one about obsession—both with regard to Landis’s own pathological work as a forger and Leininger’s own, equally dogged pursuit of the man, which cost him his career.
Mark Landis (born 1955) is an American artist widely recognized as one of the most prolific art forgers in U.S. history. However, unlike traditional forgers, Landis was never driven by financial gain.
Key Aspects of Mark Landis's Legacy
The Nature of the "Con": Over a span of roughly 30 years, Landis copied hundreds of works—ranging from 15th-century icons and architectural drawings to pieces by renowned artists like Pablo Picasso, Maynard Dixon, and Dr. Seuss. Rather than selling them, he traveled across the United States donating them to dozens of museums, universities, and galleries.
Elaborate Personas: To pull off the donations, Landis frequently adopted aliases, often posing as a wealthy, grieving philanthropist making charitable contributions in memory of his deceased parents.
Low-Tech Methods: Landis achieved his results using surprisingly modest materials. He often purchased cheap paper or canvas from local craft stores, aged them using coffee stains or brown washes, and distressed discount frames to make them look antique.
Legal Gray Area: Because Landis never accepted money for his donations and did not claim fraudulent tax deductions, his activities did not technically cross the legal threshold of financial fraud in most instances. Consequently, law enforcement struggled to prosecute him, though museum registrars eventually connected the dots and began tracking his movements.
Motivations and Personal Background
Diagnosed with schizophrenia at the age of 17 following the death of his father, Landis grappled with isolation and mental health struggles throughout his life. Those who studied his case noted that his actions were fueled by a deep-seated desire for validation, community, and the feeling of being respected and welcomed by museum professionals.
In Culture and Today
Art and Craft (2014): Landis became the subject of the critically acclaimed, Emmy-nominated documentary Art and Craft, directed by Sam Cullman and Jennifer Grausman. The film chronicles his cat-and-mouse dynamic with museum registrars—particularly Matthew Leininger, who worked tirelessly to expose him—while offering a compassionate look at Landis's psychology.
Current Endeavors: Following the widespread media attention generated by the documentary, Landis stopped donating to museums. He lives in Laurel, Mississippi, where he creates and sells original artwork and commissions, often using his platform to promote mental health awareness.
