Have a question about Eric Sloane or his art? Email your questions to us for consideration for inclusion on this page.
How can I tell if my Eric Sloane painting or an original?
The answer isn’t as straight forward as it probably should be. Prints were made of Eric’s works starting in the mid-1950s through to his death in 1985. In the early 2020s, we began to see a number of prints that are printed directly on canvas, often offered for sale via sites like eBay. There are a lot of ways to tell a print from an original, and you can always consult an expert on Eric’s works. The short answer is that if the work has no provenance – meaning no paper trail of ownership, no sales receipt that states that the work is an original, and no appraisal, it is probably a print. If you bought it at a thrift store or yard sale, or it was left in a house, garage, or storage unit you just bought, chances are that it is a print.
Did Eric Sloane only paint on masonite?
No. Eric painted on Masonite more or less exclusively after about 1960. He used canvas or Masonite in the mid-1950s, and prior to about 1950 used canvas and commercially prepared canvas board. His 1930s-1940s -era pencil/colored pencil/gouache/chalk/pastel drawings were most often done on artist paper. He was known to occasionally use a (real) wood panel as artists did pre-19th century.
Was Eric Sloane ever forged?
Yes, many times. And his work is still being forged today. There was at least one professional artist in Connecticut in the 1960s who was forging Eric’s works, we suspect that there was (and still is) one active in the western U.S. You might wonder why anyone would forge Eric’s works. It may be because there exists no catalog of his work, and few people who are expert enough to tell an excellent forgery from an original. This creates the space for forgers – reasonable return on investment without a great deal of risk of being exposed. While there are a number of museums, art historians, and professional artists who would know a forgery of a Picasso, Monet, or Rembrandt (just to name three), Wil Mauch is the only person we know who can spot the difference between a real Eric Sloane and a forgery.
Is there a museum where we can view his work?
The Eric Sloane Museum of Kent, Connecticut. The museum houses Eric’s early American tool collection, which was the impetus for, and the nucleus of, the museum when it opened in 1969. The museum has expanded to include a varied collection of his art, which provides visitors with a better understanding of his artistic changes during his lifetime. More information can be found here.