Portrait of E. H and Suzanne Trezevant Little

"CJ Fox." Charles J. Fox—purportedly the son of a prominent Austrian artist—was actually Leo Fox, an art dealer with elite social connections. An IRS investigation in 1978 revealed that Fox had adopted a pseudonym for tax evasion purposes. For decades the true artist behind the high-profile commissions was Russian immigrant Irving Resnikoff, who would work from photographs Fox provided of the portrait subjects. These misattributed portraits appear in several state capitols and in the collections of the Pentagon, U.S. Capitol, and Treasury and Justice Departments. At 10 different portrait unveilings on Capitol Hill, a man named Charles J. Fox was praised as the artist who captured the sitter’s likeness. The only problem was that Charles J. Fox was not the true identity of the artist.

While Fox attended the unveilings, Resnikoff created portraits signed as CJ Fox. Resnikoff, an unknown, emigré artist who had fled Russia during the 1917 revolution, spent most of his career in obscurity. Unable to make a living from his abstract paintings, he worked for Fox, completing commissions of portraits of prominent Americans.

Resnikoff’s training was in the avant-garde styles of Europe. The artist never met his subjects. He worked instead from a single photograph. He signed each one with a small, red “CJ Fox.” It took 30 years for the truth to come out about the man behind hundreds of paintings with a red “CJ Fox” signature, residing in collections across the country. Resnikoff’s behind-the-scenes role was revealed in 1978, when the IRS presented Fox with a bill for $40,000 in back taxes. In an affidavit, Resnikoff concurred and said that he had been employed as the artist behind the Fox name for 40 years. Leo Fox paid Resnikoff between $250 and $300 to complete each commission he secured for 20 times as much. Resnikoff made the trek every day to his studio and for decades statesmen were immortalized by “CJ Fox.”

-Neil O’Brien, Exhibit Specialist