Art: Groceryman’s Pictures

Retiring to the point of anonymity is Morris Joseloff, vice president and director of New England’s chain First National Stores, Inc. Only his intimate friends know that he has a private pension list of poor to whom he sends weekly checks, that last year he financed a sandwich and coffee stand for Hartford, Conn. unemployed, that Sir John Lavery’s portrait of his wife was exhibited in last year’s Royal Academy show.

Year ago Morris Joseloff wandered into London’s International Art Galleries on St. James Street, was shown two Reynoldses, a Gainsborough, a Hopper, a Sebastiano del Piombo, a “Master of Frankfurt.” Because he badly needed money, said Gallery Director S. M. Salomon, he would sell the lot to Mr. Joseloff for £8,000 ($46,625). Mr. Joseloff agreed to buy provided Mr. Salomon could produce certificates of authenticity, planned to hang his new acquisitions with his already authenticated Corot, Velasquez, Romney, Constable. When Mr. Salomon promised to mail the certificates, Mr. Joseloff paid, sailed, with pictures, to the U. S.

When proof of his new pictures’ authenticity did not arrive, Mr. Joseloff consulted art experts, confirmed his worst suspicions. Last week, after experts testified that Mr. Joseloff’s pictures were fake, a Manhattan Supreme Court handed down a judgment of $26,625 against the International Art Galleries. Mr. Joseloff kept his pictures, which one testifying expert thought were worth as much as $10,000.