Provenance How a Con Man and a Forger Rewrote the History of Modern Art

by Salisbury, Laney; Sujo, Aly

• ISBN13: 9781594202209
• ISBN10: 1594202206
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2009-07-09
• Publisher: Penguin Press HC, The

Summary

Starred Review. A decade-long art scam that sullied the integrity of museum archives and experts alike is elegantly recounted by husband-and-wife journalists Salisbury and Sujo. In 1986, when struggling painter and single father John Myatt advertised copies of famous paintings, he never imagined he'd become a key player in one of Britain's biggest art frauds. Myatt soon met John Drewe, who claimed to be a physicist and avid art collector. Soon Drewe, a silver-tongued con man, was passing off Myatt's work as genuine, including paintings in the style of artists like Giacometti and Ben Nicholson. When buyers expressed concern about the works' provenance, Drewe began the painstaking process of falsifying records of ownership. Posing as a benefactor, Drewe even planted false documents in the archives of London's Tate Gallery, but suspicious historians and archivists eventually assisted Scotland Yard in bringing him to justice. Salisbury and Sujo (who died in 2008) evoke with flair the plush art world and its penetration by the seductive Drewe as well as the other players in this fascinating art drama. (July 13) Copyright Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Author Biography

Laney Salisbury and Aly Sujo are a husband-and- wife team of investigative reporters. Salisbury is a graduate of the Columbia School of Journalism and has worked for Reuters and the Associated Press. She is the coauthor of the critically acclaimed The Cruelest Miles: The Heroic Story of Dogs and Men in a Race Against an Epidemic, which was translated into eleven languages. Sujo grew up in the art world and has been a journalist for the past twenty years, covering arts and entertainment for Reuters, the Associated Press, and The New York Daily News.

Table of Contents

Dramatis Personae	p. xi
Prologue	p. 1
"I Want A Nice Matisse"	p. 7
Canvas Greed	p. 15
Art For Sale	p. 25
Crossing The Line	p. 33
Mibus Wants His Money Back	p. 38
Self-Made Man	p. 45
Wreckers of Civilization	p. 55
At The Easel	p. 64
The Fine Art of Provenance	p. 72
Full Speed Ahead	p. 82
After Giacometti	p. 91
A Sinister Message	p. 100
The Bookworm	p. 107
The Paper Trail	p. 115
Falling Off A Log	p. 122
The Bow Tie	p. 130
Into The Whirlwind	p. 136
Standing Nude	p. 146
The Pond Man	p. 150
Myatt's Blue Period	p. 160
The Chameleon	p. 170
A Loaded Briefcase	p. 178
The Auschwitz Concert	p. 185
Extreme Prudence	p. 194
We're Not Alone	p. 199
A Slow Burn...	p. 203
The Art Squad	p. 211
The Macaroni Caper	p. 218
Nicked	p. 226
Aladdin's Cave	p. 232
The Fox	p. 248
Drewe Descending	p. 262
South	p. 273
The Trial	p. 281
Epilogue	p. 291
Authors' Note	p. 307
Acknowledgments	p. 309
Bibliography	p. 313
Index	p. 317
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.