I am Calamity, and I have devised the perfect crime: forging Alphonse Mucha lithographs and selling them at full auction price. This is a crime for all seasons, especially when the print’s subject matter is Spring, Summer, Winter, and Fall. Alphonse Mucha’s The Seasons series is comprised of four individual lithograph prints, often sold together.
The Seasons was commissioned and printed by the F. Champenois printing company in 1896, designed by Alphonse Mucha, with additional sets printed in 1897 and 1900. This series was originally printed in France, but was distributed throughout Europe, especially in Czechia, where Mucha was from. The lithographs were printed on vellum, Japan paper, or satin, depending on the edition, and the only other material used for prints is the ink used to print the lithograph. There are several editions of this work available for sale online, but the only consistent owner of Mucha’s The Seasons series is the Mucha Foundation in Prague, Czechia. While some notable cases of art forgery have gained notoriety, the sheer amount of forged works within the art world allows for lower-value forged works to pass through the market somewhat unquestioned.
A statistic of forgeries:
Some experts estimate that up to half of the art market might be plagued with forgeries or misattributions -Sotheby’s Institute of Art, 2023
I chose Mucha’s The Seasons series to use as the subject of my forgery because of its relative popularity and value. Three print editions of this series were made during Mucha’s lifetime, and prints were fairly common and reasonably priced at the time. Complete editions of Mucha’s The Seasons series have sold at Christie’s auction house, with one auction in 2000 selling the series for $25,850. Adjusted for inflation, this price nearly doubled, with the worth in 2025 being equivalent to $48,352. Additionally, due to the amount of prints originally produced and sold during Mucha’s lifetime, it would not be surprising for intact prints to reappear in the market. The Seasons series is fairly rare at auctions, with other prints by Mucha appearing more often in the market. Therefore, The Seasons series brings high selling prices, especially when the entire series is sold together. Additionally, it would not be terribly surprising to find a collection of The Seasons series with multiple prints of an edition together. When forging this series, additional copies could be printed and sold, rather than just creating a single copy of the work.
How to begin your forging career
Of course, the first step in this process is deciding you want to be a criminal. Once you move past the questionable ethics of this job, remember the profitability, and remove yourself from the fear of being caught, you can begin learning how to hone your craft. Lithograph printing is a somewhat complicated process, especially with no prior experience. However, there are numerous resources available online, with both articles and videos explaining the full, in-depth process of making and printing lithographs. There are some materials needed on the front end to complete the lithograph process. Some of these materials can be purchased new, but other materials will need to be purchased from an antique or vintage store to ensure they pass methods of authentication. A lithograph stone is the main component of the lithograph process, and a period-accurate stone can be purchased either online or from an antique or vintage store for around $100. Another item that has to be purchased from Mucha’s time period is the vellum, paper, or silk that will be printed on. These materials can be purchased for around $25-$50, depending on the chosen material and size. Additional materials include sponges, gum arabic, nitric acid, mineral spirits, lithotine, turpentine, and a roller, which in total cost around $100. The hardest material to source is period-accurate ink, which is now significantly more restricted than it was in Mucha’s time. In the 1890s, lithography inks contained metals, like cobalt and chromium, to print vibrant colors. With additional concerns about cancer and other dangers when working with these inks, the industry has changed to primarily using soy-based inks. Some antique and vintage shops still sell these metallic inks, however it is not easy or common to find. A solution to this problem is mixing my own ink, which can be done with thinner metal inks used to color thicker print ink. Many print houses in the 1800s and early 1900s mixed their own inks, so this solution could even prove more accurate to the time, and therefore more likely to defeat the primary methods of authentication.
The nitty gritty
or how to put your nose to the grindstone and create lithograph prints
Lithography stones were traditionally composed of a special limestone mined from a quarry in Germany, but additional sources of limestone can be used as well. The stone must first be sanded to grain and level the stone, which helps create a fine grit surface to draw on. Hopefully now you can appreciate the heading of this section. When drawing, lithography crayons are used, which have a high oil content. After drawing, the first etch is done, which begins the chemical process before printing. The rest of the lithography process includes repeating the etching steps, followed by the actual printing process. A lithography stone only needs even pressure to apply ink. While professional printhouses and studios use lithography presses to print from stone, a similar process can be achieved at home. While this is a somewhat involved process, all forgeries need additional expertise and specialization to pass off as the real thing. For more information on this process, feel free to watch the video below.
What could possibly go wrong?
One major way this forgery could be spoiled is through inaccurate aging of the backing materials and ink. Through purchasing antique vellum, satin, or paper, this problem can partially be solved. However, lithographs of Mucha’s work kept in the most perfect conditions will still show age, and prints with believable provenance will most definitely show age. The best way to do this is to treat the fresh prints poorly. The easiest way to quickly age the ink and backing material is to leave them out in the sun. This will dull ink, yellow backing paper, and potentially thin or curl the edges of the prints, which are common, expected signs of age when authenticating works. Additionally, adding water damage or small tears into the prints can help show age and add to the works’ authenticity. I would also leave the newly created prints in storage or less-than-ideal conditions for a year, or several, not only to further age the prints, but also to give myself additional time to get rid of evidence and craft an accurate, however fake, provenance.
To get rid of the evidence of any forgery, I would sand the lithography stone to remove the printed image, then begin experimenting with basic lithography printing for personal enrichment. This would explain why I owned the materials needed to pursue lithography printing, if the authorities ever questioned my purchase history. Additionally, I would stunt my artistic abilities and make basic cards for my family with the lithography materials, to show that I could, nor would, ever forge master works from Alphonse Mucha. To explain the provenance of the work, I can look to my real life family history. If you must know, my real name is not Calamity. For the purpose of my protection, all you need to know is that my last name is Czech. My ancestors immigrated to the United States directly from the Czech Republic. While I do not personally know when they immigrated or where in Czechia they came from, I have enough of a family tie to justify Czech heirlooms from some distant aunt in the motherland. Perhaps my great grandmother was a fan of Alphonse Mucha, one of his patrons. With enough vague details and memorization on my end, I could easily fool anyone questioning the provenance of this series. Additionally, many series and lithographs created by Mucha are sold online. While some go to auction, I am not aiming for that large of a market. My goal is online, middle-range sales to quickly let go of these “cherished family heirlooms.” I did some brief research into online estimations of artworks, enough to gain information but not enough for me to actually be forging provenance and artworks, and there is very little information required to receive an estimate. Through several sites, the estimation process leads directly into a sales process, with the photos supplied for estimation being used in the associated online shop. Additionally, when purchasing is done online, there is not an easy way to guarantee quality and authenticity, as the only information provided is from the seller and seen through photos. There are also more than enough reference images of Mucha’s signature, as well as common certificates of authenticity for his works, online that can be recreated and cross-referenced to create a forged version. Mucha signed his lithographs with either pencil or pen and ink, both of which are easy to source period-accurate materials for.
Since I am not attempting to forge a multi-million dollar, singular artwork, and am instead attempting to forge several print editions of one piece, selling online is the way to go. I have even seen listings for original Mucha lithographs on several online auction sites, with some listings even on Etsy and Ebay. Even though the latter sites are known for their often inaccurate authenticity and questionable provenance, they are the most trafficked websites for selling directly to the public. With multiple editions of The Seasons series printed, I expect to make at least $500,000. Additional monochrome, outline prints can also be produced for this series, which are easier, smaller, and faster to hand off, while still selling at high rates within the art market. However, these monochrome prints are more rare than the full-color The Seasons series, so I could not print more than would make sense for the market at the time.
Another path emerges…
If all of my planning and research does not work in my favor, I do have one other option: create high-quality recreations of Mucha lithographs. While forging real lithographs is worth significantly more money, there is also significantly more risk involved. If my original plan does not work out and I am arrested for my crimes, I will simply take the path other forgers have taken in the past: create highly realistic recreations of famous artwork and sell it for bail or savings. Alphonse Mucha is a very popular artist, and the Art Nouveau style is always in fashion for home decor. I could easily sell my forged works as recreations, not forgeries of real artwork, as a secondary option if trouble comes my way. And if I do end up in prison, I can spend my one to ten years in prison writing a book that will skyrocket to the bestseller list. I could maybe even have my own documentary or movie, at least based on how previous forgers have been treated once serving their time. Dear readers, if you have made it this far I only ask one thing: if you decide to try and find or report me, please support my career as an author when the time comes. If you choose to leave me be with my plans, just remember to think twice when you find “authentic” lithographs in the future. It might just be Calamity in action.
Works Cited
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—. “CASSAN FILS – Alphonse Mucha LITHO (Part 2).” YouTube, 29 Aug. 2014, www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_Da2UbUdsA. Accessed 5 Apr. 2025.
Richman-Abdou, Kelly. “How One Artist’s Art Nouveau Posters Elevated Printmaking as an Art Form.” My Modern Met, 20 Oct. 2019, mymodernmet.com/alphonse-mucha-art-nouveau-posters/.
““SPRING”, a MONOCHROMATIC LITHOGRAPH , ALPHONSE MUCHA | Christie’s.” Christies.com, Christie’s, 2020, www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-1943552. Accessed 3 Apr. 2025.
“Stochastic Screening – Hemlock.” Hemlock, 23 Aug. 2022, www.hemlock.com/blog/2022/08/23/stochastic-screening/. Accessed 21 Apr. 2025.
““THE FOUR SEASONS”, a FINE SET of LITHOGRAPHS in COLOR , ALPHONSE MUCHA, circa 1896 | Christie’s.” Christies.com, Christie’s, 2020, www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-1943555?ldp_breadcrumb=back. Accessed 3 Apr. 2025.
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“What Is Stochastic Screening vs. Conventional Printing? | Brumley Printing.” Brumley Printing, 12 July 2023, www.brumleyprinting.com/what-is-stochastic-screening/. Accessed 21 Apr. 2025.