The Art of the Con: The Most Notorious Fakes, Frauds, and Forgeries in the Art World

by Anthony M. Amore

  Epilogue

  In the fall of 2014, in St. Petersburg, Russia, an art expert was held under house arrest, accused of complicity in a fraud involving a painting that she had misattributed in 2009 to Russian avant-garde artist Boris Grigoryev. The painting sold for $250,000 and, two years later, was determined to be a fake. The expert denied any wrongdoing, and her arrest set the Russian museum community into a frenzy, angry and fearful that a colleague could be imprisoned for being tricked by a clever forger.1

  As that controversy raged in Russia, police in Vienna announced that they were seeking victims of a Serbian gang that had sold an unknown number of counterfeit Picassos, accompanied by bogus certificates of authenticity, in Austria. Though the gang had already been identified and arrested, authorities were desperate to find and inform victims that they had been had, some for as much as €300,000.2

  As the Viennese authorities wrestled with the problem of the Picassos, a legal battle raged in Australia over the seizure of paintings taken from the home of Mohamed Aman Siddique when police entered his home with a warrant in an art forgery case involving three allegedly fake Brett Whitely works that had been sold for millions of dollars by art dealer Peter Gant. Police took additional works by other artists from the home for forensic investigation, leading to legal arguments over police powers of search and seizure.3 Gant staunchly maintains his innocence. The case is still pending.

  At the same time these arguments were taking place in Australia, auctioneers in Great Britain announced they would be offering for sale hundreds of sketches and paintings by the late forger Eric Hebborn, one of the few who took on the challenge of duping dealers and buyers with works in the style of Renaissance masters. The works were estimated to fetch prices ranging from £100 to £500 each.4

  Just a couple of weeks prior, in New Zealand, it was announced that forgeries by Elmyr de Hory of Claude Monet paintings had surfaced at an auction in Auckland, offered for sale by a descendant of the forger living in that area.5 And over in Germany, police were busy officially charging two men with crimes related to an international art forgery ring it had uncovered 15 months prior. Investigators believe the ring of con men obtained their forgeries from studios based in Russia and Israel before being brought to Germany.6

  Meanwhile, back in the United States, a documentary film titled Art and Craft was gaining attention for its depiction of the eccentric forger Mark Landis, who donated his fakes to dozens of museums without accepting any payment in return; thus he was never prosecuted. His works, featured in a touring exhibition curated by art fraud expert Colette Loll, are as fascinating as he is interesting—and bizarre.

  One thing is for sure: fraud involving art is thriving. It captures the interest of casual observers interested in crime or art; it blinds buyers hoping for that one great find; and it captures the imagination of the unscrupulous con man who continues to see the possibilities that bad art holds for bringing in good money.

  Acknowledgments

  The last words my father ever spoke to me before he died were those of encouragement for my work on this book. I hope that he would have been proud of it.

  First and foremost, this book could not have been completed without the dedicated work of countless state and federal prosecutors, federal agents, postal inspectors, and police officers who investigated and prosecuted the crimes of the con men whose schemes, as well as the travails of the victims, are described within. The crimes that seem to lead to “open-and-shut” cases in fact required untold hours of investigation, interviews, surveillance, and—of course—paperwork in order to crack these complex crimes. More than anything else, this is a book about their work. I’m deeply indebted to all of them for their efforts.

  I wish to thank my daughters, Gabby and Alessandra, who listened to me drone on and on about the writing process, various art crimes, and my work at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. It must be a chore for them since both Gabby and Alessandra are far better writers and deeper thinkers than I.

  I’m grateful to my literary agent, Sharlene Martin at Martin Literary Management, for her support, guidance, and faith. I’m also thankful for the support I received from my editor, Karen Wolny, and the entire team at Palgrave Macmillan.

  At the Federal Bureau of Investigation, continued thanks go to Special Agent Geoffrey Kelly, Special Agent Greg Comcowich, public affairs specialist Katherine Gulotta, Special Agent Linda English (Ret.), Betsy Glick of the FBI’s HQ Office of Public Affairs, and Laura Eimiller, FBI press relations for the Los Angeles Field Office.

  At the Office of the U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts, my gratitude goes to U.S. attorney Carmen Ortiz, public affairs officer Christina Sterling, and assistant U.S. attorney Ryan DiSantis.

  Two local police officers in particular are making a major impact on art crime of all sorts in the American cities where it is the biggest problem, and I’m appreciative to them for their efforts. They are detectives Don Hrycyk of the Los Angeles Police Department and Mark Fishstein of the New York Police Department.

  Thank you to former federal prosecutor and current mayor of New Bedford Jonathan Mitchell for his time, assistance, and his work.

  From the United States Department of Homeland Security, thanks are in order for Special Agent Thomas Benz.

  I owe a particular debt of gratitude to Dr. Nicholas Eastaugh and Dr. Jilleen Nadolny of Art Access & Research in London for their willingness to help me as well as for their expertise, perspectives, and remarkable work.

  At the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, thank you to David Mathews, Shana McKenna, Amanda Venezia, and especially Gianfranco Pocobene, whose expertise was particularly valuable from concept to completion of this book. The breadth of Gianfranco’s knowledge is staggering.

  Dr. Enrique Mallen, professor, director and editor of the On-line Picasso Project at Sam Houston State University; Christopher A. Marinello at Art Recovery International (www.artrecovery.com); and Ryan Moore at eBay kindly provided me with invaluable assistance. The resources of artnet (www.artnet.com) were very valuable to me in my research.

  Thanks are also due to Dr. Lois Cuddy for teaching me to be a writer.

  Howie and Kathy Carr’s encouragement was the catalyst for moving forward with this book. I’m indebted to them both for this and for all the opportunities to which they have exposed me.

  Shau Yi Lee sent me countless useful stories on forgery from afar. Art fraud expert Collette Loll provided me with great ideas and direction. Read more about her work at www.artfraudinsights.com. Meghan Weeks lent me her perspectives on creating art. See her great paintings at megcweeks.com. Ashley Ragg assisted me with some last-second updates on the Knoedler case.

  My proofreaders were indispensible, especially the brilliant Natalie Wolcott Williams, who lent me her expertise in the art world as well as the unabridged dictionary that is her brain.

  I’m also thankful to Brian T. Kelly, Rob Fisher, Jamie Lawton, Elsa Puglielli, Peter Crowley, Michael Blanding, and Stephen Almagno for their support.

  As I completed this book and I followed the events of the day, I cannot help but thank the men and women of the United States military, who put their lives on the line overseas so people like me can sit safely back home and work on books and such.

  Most notably, I must thank my sister, Lori A. Giorgi, whose love, support, advice, and example mean everything to me. And finally, thanks are in order to the great matador Derek Fisher for all of his support and encouragement.

  Notes

  Please note that some of the links referenced in this work may no longer be active.

  Introduction

  1.The story of Captain John Swords’s scam using Gilbert Stuart’s painting of George Washington was unearthed in E. P. Richardson, “China Trade Portraits of Washington after Stuart,” Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, January 1970, 95–100.
This retelling relies on the original court documents provided in Richardson’s article.

  2.“The History of Fraud-Art,” Guardian, n.d., retrieved September 28, 2014, http://www.theguardian.com/btbroadbandsecurity/story/0,1736129,00.html.

  3.Jonathan Lopez, The Man Who Made Vermeers (Orlando: Harcourt, 2008), 183.

  4.This modern-day U.S. dollar amount comes from a World War II guilders-to-reichsmarks conversion rate of 1:1.5, and a World War II dollars-to-reichsmarks conversion rate of 1:2.5, multiplied by an inflation ratio from 1944 to present-day U.S. dollars of 1:13.39. However, it does not take into account the exponential increase in valuations of the paintings of Johannes Vermeer, who is today the most coveted seventeenth-century Dutch painter.

  5.Lopez, The Man Who Made Vermeers.

  6.Andrew Levy, “The Most Devious Person I’ve Dealt With: Judge Hits Out at Con Man Who Tricked Widow Out of £700,000,” Daily Mail, March 13, 2012, retrieved October 2, 2014, http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2114441/John-Drewe-trial-Judge-hits-con man-tricked-widow-700k.html.

  7.Megan M. Fontella, “Foreword,” Collections: A Journal for Museum and Archives Professionals 10, no. 3 (Summer 2014): 247.

  8.“The Gentle Art of Forgery,” 60 Minutes (CBS), n.d., retrieved October 3, 2014, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1nOweWPjFU.

  9.Ibid.

  10.Lopez, The Man Who Made Vermeers, 232.

  11.www.tonytetro.com, retrieved October 4, 2014.

  12.Anita F. Moskowitz, “Masterpiece or Master Fraud?” Florentine, December 9, 2013, retrieved October 4, 2014, http://www.theflorentine.net/articles/article-view.asp?issuetocId=8713.

  13.Barry Cole and Geraldine Norman, “Obituary: Eric Hebborn,” Independent, January 13, 1996, retrieved October 4, 2014, http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary-eric-hebborn-1323749.html.

  14.LinkedIn profile, “Michael O’Kelly, Owner at Michael O’Kelly Books,” retrieved October 4, 2014, https://www.linkedin.com/pub/michael-o-kelly/32/bb1/926.

  15.Publicity page for Caveat Emptor: The Secret Life of an American Art Forger (Google eBook), retrieved October 4, 2014, http://books.google.com/books/about/Caveat_Emptor.html?id=8V8RmFasm5oC.

  16.Justin Jones, “Expert Art Forger Is Exposed in Documentary,” Daily Beast, April 18, 2014, retrieved October 4, 2014, http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/04/18/expert-art-forger-is-exposed-in-documentary.html.

  17.Clifford Irving, Fake! The Story of Elmyr de Hory, the Greatest Art Forger of Our Time (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1969).

  18.Kurt Bayer, “Fake Forgeries Pulled from Auction,” New Zealand Herald, October 7, 2014, retrieved October 9, 2014, http://m.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11338028.

  19.Interview with Meghan Weeks, October 3, 2014.

  20.Peter Landesman, “A 20th-Century Master Scam,” New York Times, July 18, 1999, retrieved February 2, 2015, http://www.nytimes.com/1999/07/18/magazine/a-20th-century-master-scam.html.

  21.“Over 50 Percent of Art Is Fake,” Artnet News, October 13, 2014, retrieved October 14, 2014, http://news.artnet.com/in-brief/over-50-percent-of-art-is-fake-130821.

  22.“Authentication Research Service,” International Foundation for Art Research, retrieved October 4, 2014, http://www.ifar.org/authentication.php.

  23.Peter Plagens and Yahlin Chang, “Van Gogh or No Gogh? Scholars Have New Doubts about Some Multimillion-dollar Paintings: But They Hope Nobody’s Listening,” Newsweek, July 21, 1997, 72.

  24.Nicholas Eastaugh and Jilleen Nadolny, “The Analytical Results of a Group of Beltracchi Forgeries,” in Dev Fall Beltracchi und die Folgen, ed. Henry Keazor and Tina Ocal (Berlin: DeGruyter, 2014), 66.

  25.Ibid., 60.

  26.Ibid., 60-61.

  27.Kenneth Polk and Duncan Chappell, “Fakes and Deception: Examining Fraud in the Art Market,” in Art and Crime: Exploring the Dark Side of the Art World, ed. Noah Charney (New York: Praeger, 2009), 81.

  Chapter 1: The Forger

  1.“Interview with Wolfgang Beltracchi: Confessions of a Genius Art Forger,” Spiegel Online International, March 9, 2012, retrieved June 28, 2014, http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/spiegel-interview-with-wolfgang-beltracchi-confessions-of-a-genius-art-forger-a-819934.html.

  2.James Gardner, “The Evil of Banality: On the Nazi Perversion of Art,” Weekly Standard 19, no. 32 (May 5, 2014).

  3.Michael Sontheimer, “The Flechtheim Paintings: Inside Germany’s Most Complicated Art Restitution Battle,” Spiegel Online International, July 5, 2012, retrieved August 20, 2013, http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/flechtheim-heirs-wage-restitution-battle-with-german-museums-a-841477.html.

  4.Ibid.

  5.Stefan Koldehoff, “Mit Deutschen Grüßen,” Die Welt, June 30, 2010, retrieved August 21, 2013, http://www.welt.de/welt_print/kultur/article8233173/Mit-deutschen-Gruessen.html.

  6.Joshua Hammer, “The Greatest Fake-Art Scam in History?” Vanity Fair, October 10, 2012, retrieved October 5, 2014, http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2012/10/wolfgang-beltracchi-helene-art-scam.

  7.Alexander Forbes, “Werner Spies Breaks His Silence Regarding Max Ernst Forgeries,” Berlin Art Brief (blog), Art Info, February 15, 2012, retrieved June 22, 2014, http://blogs.artinfo.com/berlinartbrief/2012/02/15/werner-spies-breaks-his-silence-regarding-max-ernst-forgeries/.

  8.Sven Robel and Michael Sontheimer, “The $7 Million Fake: Forgery Scandal Embarrasses International Art World,” Spiegel Online International, June 13, 2011, retrieved June 22, 2014, http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/the-7-million-fake-forgery-scandal-embarrasses-international-art-world-a-768195.html; Hammer, “The Greatest Fake-Art Scam in History?”

  9.Hammer, “The Greatest Fake-Art Scam in History?”

  10.Ibid.

  11.Christie’s auction catalog, Sale 5477, German and Austrian Art ’95; retrieved June 24, 2014, http://www.christies.com/LotFinder/lot_details.aspx?intObjectID=278705.

  12.Stephanie D’Alessandro, ed., German Expressionist Prints: The Marcia and Granvil Specks Collection (New York: Hudson Hills, 2004), 82.

  13.Lempertz Highlights Auction 896, November 29, 2006, retrieved June 26, 2014, http://www.lempertz.eu/85+M5e3a8585a64.html.

  14.Christie’s auction catalog, Sale 5477.

  15.Nicholas Eastaugh, e-mail interview, July 7, 2014.

  16.“Looking Deeper into the Material of Art,” Art Access & Research Biographies, retrieved June 23, 2014, http://artaccessresearch.com/biographies/.

  17.Paraic O’Brien, “Wolfgang Beltracchi: Portrait of the Artist as a Con Man,” Channel 4 News (UK), April 16, 2014, retrieved June 28, 2014, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zz6YXjSHFOI.

  18.“Investigators Zero in on Massive Art Forgery Scandal,” Spiegel Online International, November 5, 2010, trans. from the German by Jan Liebelt; retrieved June 26, 2014, http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/the-hippy-and-the-expressionists-investiagors-zero-in-on-massive-art-forgery-scandal-a-726982.html.

  19.Hammer, “The Greatest Fake-Art Scam In History?”

  20.Tony Paterson, “Time Runs out for Germany’s Master Forgers,” Independent, October 26, 2011, retrieved February 2, 2015, http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/news/time-runs-out-for-germanys-master-forgers-2375970.html.

  21.After some discussion with the author, Wolfgang Beltracchi opted not to participate in an interview for this book.

  22.“Confessions of a Genius Art Forger.”

  23.Ibid.

  24.Ibid.

  25.Hammer, “The Greatest Fake-Art Scam in History?”

  26.Clare Finn, “The Devil in the Detail,” Apollo 179, no. 616 (January 1, 2014): 50.

  27.“Confessions of a Genius Art Forger.”


  28.Hammer, “The Greatest Fake-Art Scam in History?”

  29.“The Man Behind the False ‘Werner Jagers’ Art Collection Confessed the Forgery,” press release, Artvera, September 30, 2011, retrieved February 2, 2015, http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:FDQRODLK03kJ:www.artveras.com/upload/press_release/1317912737_PR_Forgery_09_30_11.pdf+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us.

  30.“Confessions of a Genius Art Forger.”

  31.Jilleen Nadolny, e-mail interview, July 7, 2014.

  32.Nicholas Eastaugh and Jilleen Nadolny, “The Analytical Results of a Group of Beltracchi Forgeries,” in Dev Fall Beltracchi und die Folgen, ed. Henry Keazor and Tina Ocal (Berlin: DeGruyter, 2014), 67.

  33.“Confessions of a Genius Art Forger.”

  34.Julia Michalska, Charlotte Burns, and Ermanno Rivetti, “True Scale of Alleged German Forgeries Revealed,” The Art Newspaper, Issue 230, December 5, 2011, retrieved February 2, 2015, http://www.theartnewspaper.com/articles/True-scale-of-alleged-German-forgeries-revealed/25235.

  35.O’Brien, “Wolfgang Beltracchi: Portrait of the Artist as a Con Man.”

  36.“Confessions of a Genius Art Forger.”

  37.Dave Itzkoff, “Forged Painting Was Once in the Collection of Steve Martin, German Police Say,” New York Times, May 31, 2011, retrieved June 29, 2014, http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/05/31/forged-painting-was-once-in-collection-of-steve-martin-german-police-say/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0.

  38.Alexander Forbes, “Werner Spies Breaks His Silence Regarding Max Ernst Forgeries,” Berlin Art Brief (blog), Art Info, February 15, 2012, retrieved June 22, 2014, http://blogs.artinfo.com/berlinartbrief/2012/02/15/werner-spies-breaks-his-silence-regarding-max-ernst-forgeries/.