A Rejoinder: Yves Goscinny on Real and Fake Tingatinga’s

Tanzania Mon 22-11-2010

A Rejoinder: Yves Goscinny on Real and Fake Tingatinga’s
By Yves Goscinny

"I have seen some original E.S. Tingatinga's paintings, and was given the chance to examine them very closely and at length; I have also seen and examined in comparable detail many fake ones, and this is how I could identify a few differences that are documented in my book.

Real or unreal, can you tell? ES Tingatinga signatures

Regarding his artist's signature on the paintings I indicated in page 44 of my book, that signing in capital letters is easier to counterfeit; nevertheless, a few close-ups of genuine and fake signatures (see page 47) could help the exerted eye to see something particular to the genuine signature; because I am not a certified handwriting specialist, I left the reader free to make its own assessment (see page 48) about what I saw as a minute but systematic difference, and I am asking Mr. Osei G. Kofi, to apply it to all the images of E.S. Tingatinga's paintings that he might have at hand and in good resolution, and kindly inform me if it turned out to be statistically significant (The test is very easy to run and only requires a plastic, preferably transparent small ruler).

"What I noticed in the original signatures I have examined is that it starts with the capital "E" letter immediately followed by the first dot, but this dot is not sitting on the base line as anyone would put it, but it is at the same level than the middle bar of the capital "E" or sometimes higher.

The second dot after the capital "S" is also situated in the middle. Please apply a ruler on the base line (or a transparent ruler on the dots) of the signature and verify the position of the dots in the genuine as compared to the fake ones.

I think there is a pattern there that might indicate the voluntary graphical distinction of the artist, his discreetly discernible punctuation/alignment imprint on an otherwise seemingly anonymous capital lettering.

Another feature of the signature, to me, is the capital S in the genuine works' signature always seems to be sliding down below the base line and looks somehow tilted; this curvilinear letter, contrarily to most other letters, is not amenable to be written in a systematic structure with the help of straight vertical and horizontal lines; you start it somewhere and have just to follow through, like a snake, even if it is too long, or not standing straight. In this hand free written letter, with a brush, verticality and placement can be affected.

ES-Tingatinga-Adama-Diawara-Collection

But E.S. Tingatinga having completed his genuine paintings did not need to bother to amend his signing to calligraphy perfection ; in one case of the shown signatures, he even forgot the second "I".

On the contrary, the counterfeiter will always make sure that the name he writes is perfectly spelled and levelled."

The bad side of this explanation is that, maybe, after the publication of this personal analysis of mine, the makers of fake signatures will take note and perform better, accordingly!"

Another point I would like to clarify is that nothing in my statements is of "papal authority", by far; I am a scientist by education and graduated from the "Universite Libre de Bruxelles", that bases his teaching on the "Libre Examen", at the antipodes of authoritarian dogmatism; as of late, I am also an artist, and I tried to combine both in my quest to revive who really was Edward Saidi Tingatinga, quite a fascinating art personality of his own, and this before all living relatives, witnesses and friends would disappear before testifying. I only meant to share with the readers and to impose upon them.

Posted By: Hirum Ndungu

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