Der Fuhrer couldn’t draw the human figure

Fakes in focus
BY JOSH MCAULIFFE
STAFF WRITER
03/16/2007

It’s no easy feat linking George Washington, William Shakespeare and Adolph Hitler to one another.

Yet there they are, three of the many high-profile victims of identity theft featured prominently in “Harmless to Homicidal: A Collection of Hoaxes and Literary Forgeries,” the latest exhibit at the University of Scranton’s Weinberg Memorial Library.

The exhibit, which will remain on display in the library’s fifth floor Heritage Room through Apr. 22, includes over 140 pieces of forged documents and artworks collected over the last 15 years by Waverly resident Stephen R. Pastore.

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For those interested in the artistic side of Adolph Hitler, there’s a display dedicated to several forged Hitler portraits, tipped off as fakes by the fact that the Der Fuhrer couldn’t draw the human figure. Alongside them are some authentic Hitler landscape paintings, which, surprisingly, aren’t all that bad.

“He certainly had a talent,” Mr. Pastore said.

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http://www.thetimes-tribune.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=18088188&BRD=2185&PAG=735&dept_id=450444&rfi=6

Although I've never really received any professional training (and I don't think watching Bob Ross qualifies), I've got that same affliction. As I'm also adopted, when I first read this, I had a Boys From Brazil moment, but it passed when I started thinking about all the things I don't have in common with Hitler.