Is this kind of website legit?
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).
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'.
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 do more specialist things and so can charge more.
There was a company reproducing artwork like this using an advanced printer that used paints. Not sure whatever happened to them.