Why I'm obsessed with these cheap paintings of Paris
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- Опубліковано 28 сер 2022
- Did this French painter ever exist?
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Henry Rogers' French impressionist paintings of Paris street scenes seem to only exist in online auctions and yard sales. The mystery of his identity deepens when you take a closer look at his art, and notice that his signature changes from painting to painting - sometimes it’s spelled “Henry” and sometimes the French “Henri.”
For years, the only place anyone could learn more about Rogers was on a blog called living-in-the-past.com - a site where one man documented his curiosities and passion projects, dating back to the ’90s.
The author of this site, Philip Lord, became obsessed with gathering information about Rogers but found nothing in his early online searches. So he started researching himself by analyzing dozens of Rogers’ paintings, many of them seeming to show the same street in Paris from varying perspectives. He wanted to figure out if “Henry Rogers” was a lone street painter in Paris, or in fact a workshop of painters trained to create similar-looking paintings and sign them under a pseudonym.
Lord gave up the search in 2011. In 2022, we picked up the puzzle and tried a few new avenues of inquiry. An actual Paris street painter told us that Rogers’ “impression” of Paris was imaginary. We visited a lab in Cleveland, Ohio, that uses artificial intelligence and detailed scans of paintings to distinguish the fingerprints of individual artists. They suggested that Henry Rogers is in fact multiple artists creating similar paintings.
Further reading:
Philip Lord’s original investigation into Henry Rogers paintings: living-in-the-past.com/Henry....
Case Western Reserve University’s MORE Center: morecenter.case.edu/
Different strokes: Using artificial intelligence to tell art apart: thedaily.case.edu/different-s...
Jerome Feuguer’s art: www.jeromefeugueur.com/
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![ПОЛНАЯ ИСТОРИЯ ЭКЗОРЦИЗМА [Топ Сикрет]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/qBySr6Bt0B8/mqdefault.jpg)
The real *Henry Rogers* were the friends we made along the way.
In a way Henry Rogers was inside us all along .?
@@logan9650 inside ur mom
The real Henry Rogers were the Henri Rogers we Henry Rogersed along the Henri Rogers
@@logan9650 I've heard that there is two Henrys inside of every person.
@@logan9650 We are all Henry Rogers.
Vox has just artificially inflated the value of a Henri Rogers (French accent please). I’d love one😉.
Lol, on ebay listed now anywhere from $70 to $600 hahaha!
Pretty much! 😅
@@Crafter_H thx for checking
What we don't know is this has been their plan from day 1. They've been hoarding Henri Rogers paintings, preparing for today
@@trstmeimadctr 🤣
Has anyone ever seen Philip Lord and Henry Rogers in the same room at the same time? 🤔
That was my first thought, that Philip Lord *is* Henry Rogers.
Yes, one person has. That person's name is... Henri Rogers.
My ex girlfriend used to do this while she was in art college. It's basically work exploitation if you ask me, they were paid dirt cheap like 2-3$ per painting and one person used to make 20-50 a day. Then later they were sold in Paris or other tourist place for few hundreds euros. I don't remember them singing anything tho, so that must have been done in last stage before selling. This was back in 2015.
I wonder if they had one person signing everything so that the signature would be consistent.
Sorry, do you mean she did these paintings or a kind of thing that is suggested, that a group of people mass produced similar paintings that were then attributed to the same person?
@@kelsey6695 Initial comment meant the latter, their partner was tasked with cheaply mass producing art that other people sell to tourists for a much larger price claiming that the pieces are from an authentic parisian artist or something like that
There was a great documentary about an artist living in China painting Van Gogh's. His contact said his work was being exposed in The Netherlands, and he thought he was a 'real' artist. The documentary took him to Amsterdam to see his work being sold in a tourist stall next to the museum. He was pretty disillusioned and started making (beautiful) original paintings after that, inspired by Van Gogh.
It's called China's Van Goghs and is watchable on youtube
Mexico was the major producer of readymade frames sold in the U.S. during the 60s and 70s, before China moved into that niche. Artwork from that period is easily dated by the Made in Mexico stamp on the frame.
The Mexican frame points to Henry Rogers more likely being an American or the paintings having been distributed in the U.S.
It's definitely "starving artist" quality motel art.
That's what I was thinking
Lol, thanks for insulting my favourite painting that I spent hours looking at as a kid.
There’s something very romantic about it being one person, but they definitely seem mass-produced. Even a single artist who sells to tourists directly would want to paint a different street. They’re probably all based on one photo of one street.
My aunt used to do this sort of “stock photo” paintings when she was young and needed money. She would lay 10 canvas on the ground, paint the same roof in one go for 10 times than the same window etc. She used to sign different names on them.
I’d be very interested in a video about an art factory.
There are video showing amazing artists from China recreate famous paintings and selling them in streets of Paris
99% Invisible did an excellent podcast episode about it. Episode 478 - Art Imitates Art.
I’d also recommend the 99% Invisible episode.
Yes!
I was also going to rec the 99pi episode.
I am from México and this paintings are in almost every middle class house, at least in Mexico City. I will ask my grandpa where did he get them, I think he has more than one at this house.
Ha. That's interesting, an interesting piece to this.
❤️
Any update?
Update?
I have a painting my mother bought at some thrift store that we suspect has a similar backstory. It's a painting by "Henri Dupré" with a gorgeous over the top frame. My mom said she figured it was made in China since it was pretty cheap but she liked the frame and the painting so much that it became our fireplace's focal point for most of my life. Googled Henri Dupré and he seems to have a few paintings for sale online but it's unclear if he was a real painter or not. Still, it's a lovely painting and now it's above my fireplace :)
Both my parents and my in- laws have these exact paintings. I always imagined these to be an I love Lucy situation, in the episode where she visits Paris and ends up with 3 of the same “original”painting.
We are all Henri Rogers.
😂💜
This is what I was just thinking. 🖌️
The Spartacus of painting
Sometimes Henry Rogers too. Depends on the day lmao
I am Groot.
I love that a complex scientific machine that analyzed multiple paintings came to the same conclusion that a French street painter came to by just looking at the paintings over a video call. It really shows that if you want to know something about art all you have to do is ask and listen to an artist.
The cool thing is that the machine used a completely different kind of evidence (brush work) to the street painter (scene selection), but still came to the same conclusion. This makes for better evidence that either conclusion on its own.
I have some paintings that I bought at a store once upon a time in a mall in New Hampshire. As I recall, several of the works were basically the same thing, with different dimensions. I asked where they got the paintings from; the answer was an art *school*. These could be *student* paintings, and Henry/i Rogers could be either the school name, or a code name (maybe the school is H. R. or something), or simply plucked out of thin air to pretend it's a single artist.
I wouldn't put too much stock in the canvases being made in Mexico. Doesn't mean they were painted there.
It was the frames being made there- but that makes sense since Mexico did export a TON of redi-made or redi-use style frames for cheap before China took over the cheap market in the 80,90s, and on
Geowizard was trying to identify a painting of his too.
I knew I recognised the buildings
@@slevinchannel7589 What's that you say, bot?
(Edit: the Slevin channel's comment is obviously deleted now but it was a direct reply to me with some sort of criticism of Vox for not being anti-racist enough, I think.. Something I may well agree with but suspicious given how unrelated it was)
@@cipherhex Judgemental, are we?
@@loturzelrestaurant What even is going on here? The original comment was about Geowizard... I'm definitely taking taking the bait because I'm curious
@@cipherhex that channel is probably a racist pretending to be a toxic, overzealous social justice crusader so as to make unsuspecting people view any fight for social justice as toxic. Or it's just a troll farming engagement online
My wife and I purchased a very small canvas painting like this on the streets of Paris for like €5. I know that it’s not “good art” and is likely mass produced or not painted, but it’s a very sentimental souvenir and doesn’t look terrible
I used to do professional framing. The shop I worked at carried these frames as ready-mades. They are super cheap and look great with "souvenir" art you bring in to get framed after you return from vacation. I could tell from the trees that there were 3 different artists, so I'm glad the computer confirmed it I guess? The slashy grid-like pallet knife markings are reminiscent of the technique used on those spray paint + plastic baggie street art pieces that I've seen done in SoCal & Mexico.
I actually know Phil, he would love this, he is an archaeologist.
This was such a cool video! I'm happy to see Vox getting back up on its feet with the intriguing quality of videos from years past. This video made me interested in things I never would think to be interested in, which is always what Vox has done best.
The Sahara circles took us on a ride, probably the best Vox production I've seen this year
When I saw this title card, my heart skipped a beat. My parents have had an impressionist painting of a Parisienne scene by an unknown artist hanging over their couch since the late 80s. It isn't in the classic Rogers style (the figures are even more abstract, the scene has much more knife work, etc) - but the signature appears to read "Roget". I'm sure it is the same sort of decorator art - and this video was a fascinating peek into that corner of history.
Now I want an original Henri Rogers, but how will I know if it's authentic? 😂
Products on Ebay before this video was uploaded?
I thought the painting looked extremely similar to the one I have in my house, the one in my house is by Caroline Burnett, so I’m happy it got mentioned in the video.
Rogers wouldn't have an "s" at the end of their name if they were actually French. This detail and the inconsistent spelling of Henri/Henry leads me to believe that the painters are not French at all
I just checked eBay and there isn't one painting by them for sale in Europe. I'm in Europe by the way. I then did a search worldwide and there are around 5 for sale in the USA. I think that, along with the frames, makes it clear they were made in Mexico for the American market.
I thought the exact same thing, Rogers is not a french name at all and neither is Henry (which they might have corrected with Henri afterwards)
@@LF-hj8kk Must you have a French name to be French? If I have a French name but never once visited France then am I French?
@@nunya___ Because there is way less diversity in names in Europe than in the US. Most people emmigrated from europe to the US and not the other way round. I talk from experience, I am 22 yo and have never ever seen a Rogers in France.
@@LF-hj8kk That's because he moved to Mexico in the 80's. :) The name goes back to the 14th century in England. That's part of Europe and nun to far from France I'm told.
It seems to me that there could be a big pseudoreplication issue with the MORE center's technique, at least as far as I understand with the information you've given. The AI is guessing which painting a sample originated from, not which painter a sample belongs to. Any number of variables might influence heightmap differences between individual paintings apart from just the technique of the painter(s); temperature/humidity on the day the piece was painted, the quality of the paint, at what point in the artists development/career the piece was painted, etc. These are variables that are likely to remain consistent within a single painting and differ between others regardless of artist, so an AI matching samples from one painting against samples from another (whether or not the artist is the same) is meaningless as far as differentiating the artist from the work goes. The AI would need to match samples from multiple paintings originating from any single one of these supposed Henri's against those of another Henri to be statistically and methodologically sound, much less convincing.
Have been looking for this comment
I remember seeing this painting inside the barber shop I used to go to when I was young to cut my hair, it was in a neighborhood outside Cairo, Egypt.
Yeah, I'd say "Henry Rogers" is a workshop of Mexican artists. The way the streets are painted, there's just something Spanish colonial about the width and length of the streets. I grew up in Central America and went to small Spanish colonial towns all the time. And the dimensions of the streets in these paintings (though not the heights of the buildings) give me that vibe. That being said, even the height of the buildings could correspond to the giant colonial center of Mexico City around the Zocalo. It's a very "Frenchified" colonial center, but the dimensions of the streets were preserved from the Spanish colonial era. All a Mexican artist need do is get a nice, angular view of a street in Mexico City's colonial center, sketch out the landmarks in simple shapes, and then paint over these an imagined Parisian street-scape. And--voila!--instant, romantic Paris for sale to bamboozled tourists.
I appreciate the "we still don't know" ending, rather than the possibility of this ending up on the cutting room floor
if i had to make that many versions of the same work i'd simply die of boredom. there's no way it's not" factory" produced.
which.. is awesome! factory art is fascinating to me. and still requires skill.
My parents had paintings similar to this style. They were bought in the 80s. They were bought cheap. I can’t remember who painted them. All I know is that it’s probably mass produced. The made in Mexico stamp, may not have been where the painting was made but where the frame was made. I think they were mass produced in Italy by Art students who all learned the same knife painting style from an Art college. They were likely sold to and and framed by importers who used frames made from Mexico. China wasn’t the manufacturing giant we know today back in the 70s and 80s so I don’t think it was made in a factory in China.
It’s 100% made in China. These paintings are called “Hong Kongs”… I should know, 😂 …
I wish you'd gone to an expert, the AI thing seemed link bunk science, hight maps are a very easy to measure thing and impasto can be very distinctive, but it being the ONLY thing you're looking at just seems very iffy.
I think they’re on to something about “invisible fingerprints”. Multiple works by a single person are going to share similarities at a base level.
@@ZoraTheberge i would like to see them seem try to test if Pablo Picasso's earlier work is identifiable to his later work.
I have a Henry Rogers painting, I just love it, hangs in my bedroom, its just beautiful
Can a scan of what’s under the paint layers be done of the similar paintings, or even scrape away some of the paint? I suspect that there may be the exact same, machine duplicated sketch or outline under each painting, basically turning it in to a coloring book.
I collect these paintings for the mystery and grab them whenever I see them in thrift shops. I stumbled across Phillips site years ago and it further fed the intrigue. I never believed they were French, just mass produced paintings sold at mid range suburban furniture stores to people who, like me, dream of visiting Paris one day. It’s just so…human and I think that is part of the art of them.
I thought this was going to be a video on a specific art style, and got a whole Internet mystery. Great vid.
Did you send the Internet guy the updated information? I’m curious if he added the scans to the site. Haha
I have a Caroline Burnett! I bought it at a garage sale for $14 when I was 11! It's been hanging above my bed for 12 years now
Here is a fact check : Bob Ross didn't "invent" that technique, he used it
I've seen so many videos since the day I discovered on UA-cam, but this is one of the most interesting ones I've come across.
As soon as I saw the first painting I thought "That looks like something someone's grandma got at an Ashley Home Furnishings store in 1983."
These kinds of rainy French street scene paintings were enormously popular in the seventies. My mother had a pair of them hanging in her formal living room in fancy gilded frames. I spent a lot of time looking at them, because I was interested in art. My mother has never been to Paris, nor has she ever purchased anything from an art gallery. The art she hangs on her walls has always either been purchased in a furniture/decor store or sourced by a local interior decorator. The ones I remember had a signature starting with E, not Henry Rogers (I am bad at remembering names, sorry). I believe these types of paintings were meant to imitate the style of Edouard Cortes, an actual French painter. Mom is now 85, and that pair of paintings was long ago donated to a thrift store since they had next to no value. She moved on to her next decorative cheap paintings, which are in a more Tuscan style (purchased in the 90s). I am from the Midwest in the US.
Omg!! I've followed the Burnett paintings for a couple years now, but never came across Henry Rogers. Same style, same Parisian streets, and no origin. It's just a wild goose chase.
...I favor the notion that these are "factory paintings" -paintings that are mass produced as decor for hotels...
...when I was a kid, we had a couple of paintings that were very similar to the examples shown in the video...
I have 4 Burnett paintings I inherited from my late grandmother. Thanks Vox for uncovering this rabbit hole I'll be going down now. 😮
You inherited 4 Hong Kongs… if they please you, that’s all that matters. They have no resale value AT ALL
The entire layout of that website tho
Right 😂💜
Golden Age Internet layout
‘Lay-out’
@@brmbkl ooo sorry
I have one of the paintings with, of course, a unique signature that matches no other Henry Rodgers. It's funny that Vox finally uploads this. I've had this painting for years and know nothing about it, and have always wondered.
Hey, I have a lot of relatives in Mexico who do woodworking at both an artisan and mass produced scale! I will ask them about these frames
MADE IN MEXICO FRAME 8 X 10
MADE IN MEXICO AE-01 8 X 10
edit: UNCLE SAYS “wait I think we still have one similar frame with the address or at least the home city on it, it’s a common thing” YOOOO
please come thru
Thats awesome
@@violetlatner6366 uncle did not post picture, but said in text “FRANLOZ SIMES. S.A. MEXICO”
no idea and no clues on Google. AT ALL.
@@wchristian2000 there is another, “HECHO EN MEXICO, NUEVO LEON. [UNREADABLE], S.A.”
@@violetlatner6366 I have the address but UA-cam won’t let me post it :( apparently I looked it up and it is a kids preschool now
The receipt my uncle tried to describe said something along the lines of “MANDEN SIN FALTA A *address i can’t put because UA-cam* - 50 PIEZAS - AE OCHO POR DIEZ - $52 C.U. - J MEZ 22 DIA DE 1970”
ha. this is so cool. I bought a stack of paintings on the cheap (like 20 a piece) simply for the frames from a company that was responsible for clearing out an art collection and I got three Henry Rogers painting in the lot and was wondering about them. Not enough to not pull 2 out of their frames but the fact that it was 3 near identical paintings was curious. glad i found this video
This is a wonderful deep-dive. Thank you.
I think I have a Henry Rogers. It belonged to my grandparents. Very chic in its day. But they would have bought it in the 60s.
I have two of these on my wall and I'm so happy yall covered this
"Caroline Burnett" sounds suspicious because there's a famous American comedian and actress named "Carol Burnett."
Great stuff! I have a small "Burnett" in a frame made in Mexico, and a much larger unsigned painting on in an unlabeled frame. Both are on canvas, not board. The frames are multi-part, very respectable, and seem to my eye from the late 50s to mid 70s. The Burnett is better rendered, fairly vivid with a very large signature. It has red rooves in the foreground fading to a light blue dome in the back left. The larger painting is a somber rendering of a stone foot bridge over a canal. These paintings were thrift store finds for a few bucks. They are not great art but they are great fun. I suspect these were originally sold in "art liquidation sales" that would pop up in empty store fronts for a few days and then move on to the next town. Given the era, I would not be surprised if these were painted in the USA, and were painted to fit the inexpensive but decent frames. Paintings on canvas are probably older than those on a board.
Well I know for a fact those Carol Burnett paintings are fakes. She's still around, and a famous comedian. Contact her, she'll set you straight!
I received 4 of these types of paintings (household decor style) as a gift from my Uncle in Puerto Rico in the late 1970s. They depict Old San Juan streets with the Colonial Spanish harbor forts in the background of a couple. Painted with a knife/spatula and a larger brush for flora, trees etc. Sure they are tourist tchotchkes but they are actually quite nice in color and composition..... visually interesting while unobtrusive ......Still have a couple.
Random group of Mexican artists are super happy right now
Respect the curiosity!
I found a cup from the 1890s which says it's A Gift From my town in Wales, but the cups were actually made in Germany and imported here to be sold (maybe even back to a German tourist). I'm facinated with this kind of souvenir mass-manufactoring for tourism.
imagine being this passionate about anything
Hey so I found your video and I think I know who your looking for I saw some of these guys in Mexico City they are seemingly shipping out paintings some police saw them and thought they were criminals as it turns out they were henri rogers painting and I do remember they said they make them. But i forgot which street they operated in its been a 3 years since that trip but I do remember it in some kind of house more of the rural old looking house maybe a family group idk point is they were in Mexico
Interesting!
I'm sure you are right. I just searched eBay Europe and not a single painting for sale but there are 50 of them for sale in the USA. They are clearly made in Mexico for the American market.
One person is asking over $800 for one on eBay. So funny.
A friend back in the 80's was thinking of selling oil paintings in the UK. He was in contact with a Chinese company that would provide paintings - price varied with technique, size and "artistry". You could ask for pretty much much any subject, style, or provide photographic references.
It was evident that lots of (quite skilled) painters in the China were on a piece work scheme.
He was asked what signature he wanted put on the paintings...
A forth theory as I have a few of these, there are a number Mexican street painters. I have a few that are Parisian in style and are signed in a similar way.
Another thing I’ve seen in my various travels is that street painters can often start with a pre coloured/or printed image on canvas which they then paint over to simulate a real painting. I live in Italy and I’ve seen it in Florence but I’ve also seen it in Thailand. It’s a fairly common practice nowadays I think. It’s another way of creating a sort of mass produced image. I’ve seen it both for acrylic paintings and watercolours.
Now patiently waiting for the next installment when you discover the art factory that created these paintings.
My grandmother was a painter in the 80s and 90s in México, some of her paintings have almost identical frames.
😲 My parents owned one of Rogers's painting (15.5"x12"). Sadly they cannot recollect how much they paid for and where.
Never would I have thought that my alma mater would show up in this context!
This reminds me of the greyscale + colorful trees souvenir paintings that get sold all over Paris. The trees are usually pink or autumnal colors while the rest of the painting has little to no other colors or is greyscale. They’ve been sold as souvenirs in Paris since at least 2014 which is when I first visited. I now work as a framer and had two people bring in these paintings to be stretched this summer. I always wanted to know who made them! I’m sure they’re mass produced but I have no idea how or where or by whom
They seem like paintings by Antonio DeVity, who painted many a similar scene in his long career. Some of the places of Paris landmarks were not accurate.
Maybe from afar but in every technical aspect they play in totally different leagues.
Vox takes rabbit holes to a whole new level
I bought 3 of these on a bare canvas when I was trying to be classy after college.... bought from a wholesale popup with hundreds of these things lol
would have been around 2006, Indianapolis
Wow ! I thought I was obsessed with researching Artists and Art Etc.... ! Kudos !
Beyond excellent and fascinating too, ty Vox!
yep, the paintings hanging on my parents wall as a souvenir from the 90s. Finally the answer revealed.
My family have had one of these paintings on our wall since the late 90's I think and the one at 4:57 looks very similar but obviously they are all quite similar.
as a Mexican I can confirm that I have seen this particular art style -Parisian romantic resemblance- at least 25+ times. Next time I see one I will look at the signature, because I'm pretty sure of the many I have seen, not all are signed under "henry rogers". Maybe they are just being sold randomly in "artistic zones" I think I have seen it.
Coleman ur amazing. Thank u for this
Wow I loved waking up to a Vox video. I'm going to make sure to make a contribution to you all today! Keep up the great work!
this is the best use of the internet
Great video, thrilling until the very end. Well done!
Intresting, very interesting.
VOX once said "CRT Hysteria overshadows the important of teaching kids about r-cism."
Ifyou agree, watch 'Some More News'!
this was great!
Huh. This was surprisingly interesting
We should start a petition for CIA to investigate this.....
Only if the painter was from Middle East lol
@@madat5843 well aint that racist
Yea
Only if the painter wasn't jewish
😂😂😂
because of this video i now want to make art. ive never painted in my life the only thing i did is maps sketches of characters ect but not often but now I WANT TO PAINT. good that my mom had this obbsesion over painting a year ago and i still have some tools. THANKS
Good luck
Paint things old ladies like. They have money.
Here in Lisbon there are a lot of art work around the city with “who is Henri?”. That later I discovered to be a collective of artists as well. Henri from XXI century
Ah, é isso que é! Há meses que os vejo e nunca tiva a paciência de pesquisar, obg!
I love these nerd digging vids!
There is a story about the exact same thing, but with a painter named Caroline C. Burnett. (Posted too early, they even mention "her" in here)
Great video. I just found and ordered one from eBay. Thanks for the information.
I've seen these around in New Mexico, early 2000's.
An interesting story!
That is so awesome.... I loved this video...
Henry's ray tracing is fire😂😂
Great episode!
No one talking about the website? What a cool thing.
Very cool
Yeah they're lovely paintings
def made for the us market. looking up his name in different languages but still only US results.
You point to some info missing from this investigation: how many paintings exist? Hundreds? Hundreds of thousands?
And where are they? France? Europe? Worldwide? Or just the U.S.?
And can you trace the provenance? Ask around to see where people bought the paintings?
@@jasonc.776 yess definitely. A simple viewer poll would go a long way
So when I was kid their were « starving artist » shows where you could buy paintings like this. My mom has one in her home. they always looked mass produced to me by people trained to quickly paint art for the masses.
sorry for my illiteracy but what are starving artist shows? Is it a place where low earner painters sell their work?
@@aquibalamLUMOS they were paintings all done in the same style and quickly by groups of artists and the shows would go from city to city and sell this mass produced art at cheap prices
Was ‘starving artist’ used as a selling point /excuse for why they were cheap?
@@brmbkl i think more of an excuse for why they were cheap. Like they wanted people to think they were worth so much more, but these poor artists were selling their art for almost nothing just to get food to eat. So also guilt marketing
As a french person, hearing that Dupont and Durand are exotic is very wild.
he might have meant: exotic to Us -citizen ears?
@@KarMa-ws3ll Oh, I know.
I'm just pointing out that the slight cultural jump from US to france shifted how I percieved that statement.
You can't make anything less exotic to me than Dupont. It's even kinda nostalgic, reminds me of Tintin.
I think the paintings are beautiful
I have a 12X16 with the same basic street scene that leads to the Arc de Triomphe.
But, mine is signed 'Lentini'.
Ohh la la!