Provenance: How a Con Man and a Forger Rewrote the History of Modern Art by Laney Salisbury

Jan 08, 2012 Jd Coco rated it 2 of 5 stars Recommends it for: archivists, curators, art historians

Recommended to Jd by: a professor of archival science

Shelves: nonfiction, boston-public-library-books

An Archival Case Study

A successful con artist does not break the system. He exploits an inherent weakness in the system which many may not know is at risk. This is exactly what con man John Drewe did to the British art world for nearly a decade in the 1980s and 1990s. In this case, Drewe exploits the heavy reliance on provenance, the documented “life” of a work of art from studio to current owner. Provenances take the forms of sales receipts, correspondence, photographs of works, shipping labels...more An Archival Case Study

A successful con artist does not break the system. He exploits an inherent weakness in the system which many may not know is at risk. This is exactly what con man John Drewe did to the British art world for nearly a decade in the 1980s and 1990s. In this case, Drewe exploits the heavy reliance on provenance, the documented “life” of a work of art from studio to current owner. Provenances take the forms of sales receipts, correspondence, photographs of works, shipping labels, auction catalogs--anything that can provide evidence that a work is what it claims to be. To do this, Drewe visited and planted false documents in gallery archives throughout London, such as the Tate Gallery, the Victoria and Albert Museum, and the Institute of Contemporary Art.

The text reads more like a thriller than a case study. There is a con and a mark. It is evident early on that Sujo and Salisbury’s main source of information was forger John Myatt himself, a hard-working artist who was "set-up." While the opportunity to have a first-hand source is probably titillating, I think these two didn’t take the trouble to offer an unbiased view of the story. I noticed that not once are the works called “forgeries” while they are in Myatt‘s possession. Salisbury and Sujo refer to Myatt’s works by the artists whose styles Myatt forges. He delivers “Bisseres” on time, but never the fakes. In fact, the title is the only place in which Myatt is called a “forger” within the text. So even when Myatt delivers his reproductions in the full knowledge that Drewe is selling them off to dealers and auction houses as the artists’ genuine works, he is still the victim of this tale. When Myatt becomes disgusted with the blatant refusal of art dealers, gallery owners, and auction houses to perform due diligence by examining suspect works rather than hurrying them through sales, he is practically doing the industry some sort of service by diluting the art world with fakes. So if John Myatt is the victim, the mark, the unsung hero of this tale, why does his web site (www.johnmyatt.com) say “the biggest art fraud of the 20th century” in bold, golden letters across the top of the page? While the work was certainly entertaining, the depiction of Myatt as the courageous, industrious, single-father unwittingly drawn into the seedy world of shady art dealings seems highly stylized.

Much time and text was spent defending Myatt when it should have been spent examining the weaknesses in this system. Weaknesses such as how stolen and forged art sales run the same routes that drugs and illegal arms run; the desperation for funds that allows dealers and auction houses to rush works of questionable authenticity to the auction block; reliance on provenance from archivists who, although may have some knowledge of the art world from the content of their collections, are not subject specialists. A better look at the case from the archival perspective is Rodney G. S. Carter's article "Tainted Archives: Art, Archives and Authenticity" from the journal Archivaria (vol. 63).

Provenance is a core principle of archival science. Despite differing opinions and approaches to the archivist’s role in protecting documents for cultural, evidential, and sustaining value, each archivist has a duty to protect the documents entrusted to his or her institution. This seems to be at odds with another archival value: access. For what is the purpose of protecting and preserving documents if no one can utilize the information held within? This is only one of the many seemingly contradictory duties that the archivist undertakes with each acquisition. In this case, protection meant preventing Drewe (and his cohorts) from removing documents AND inserting false documents. Unlike a library whose holdings include individual works, archives hold collections -- series of items that are related by creation. By planting false documents, the integrity of the entire collection has been compromised. The extent of the corruption of these archival holdings may never fully be known.(less)

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May 24, 2011 Trish rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: nonfiction, crime-caper, art, audio

This is a mind-bending walk through The Art of the Con as practiced by con-master John Drewe, simultaneously and serially known as John Cockett, a different Mr. Cockett, Mr. Sussman, Mr. Green, Mr. Atwood, Mr. Martin, Mr. Bayard, and Mr. Coverdale.

John Drewe and the skilled painter John Myatt together perpetrated one of the longest-running and most extensive art frauds of the late 20th century, extending from London to America and the continent, and from there around the world. Breathtaking high...more

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Jul 28, 2010 Brian DiMattia rated it 5 of 5 stars

A terrific history of a crime, Salisbury and Sujo cover all the bases cleanly and entertainingly. They follow the fraud of John Drewe, the artist he worked with, some of the art world figures who weren't taken in and several more who were, and eventually the painstakingly crafted police investigation.

Drewe took paintings made by an English artist named John Myatt in the style of various 20th century artists (like Giacometti and Ben Nicholson), and passed them off as fakes. But his masterstroke w...more A terrific history of a crime, Salisbury and Sujo cover all the bases cleanly and entertainingly. They follow the fraud of John Drewe, the artist he worked with, some of the art world figures who weren't taken in and several more who were, and eventually the painstakingly crafted police investigation.

Drewe took paintings made by an English artist named John Myatt in the style of various 20th century artists (like Giacometti and Ben Nicholson), and passed them off as fakes. But his masterstroke was to create fake documents making the frauds seem legitimate and inserting them into the archives of museums.

But what makes this book particularly good is the way the authors examine the environment that made all this possible. The lack of support for the policing of art crimes, the way art world luminaries would bend over backwards at the prospect of donations, and the archivists who consider record keeping not just a job, but a calling. Honestly, I started reading this as a fan of art, looking to understand the "Modern" art period better. But as the proud son of two librarians, my new hero is Jennifer Booth, the archives curator who realized early on what was being done to her archives and fought long and hard to get her museum to see the danger of a donor they were courting.

The authors do spend a great deal of time excusing the behavior of Myatt, who actually painted the fakes. They go into great detail about how Drewe seduced him and how he was merely doing this, as a divorced father, to provide for his children. But the man did spend several years helping Scotland Yard build a case against Drewe, and Drewe's many crimes beyond simple forging (potentially having set a fire that killed someone, faking documents to steal money and their children from his first wife, etc.) mean that he is clearly, unmistakably the villain of this piece.

This is a compelling, fascinating book that will leave you better informed about 20th century art and art crime, but also about the psychology of the con-man and the con itself. It's a terrific, easy read and I highly recommended it.(less)

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Apr 08, 2013 Kate rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

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Feb 14, 2013 Charles Mathes rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

An art dealer acquaintance of mine likes to say (in all seriousness) that the most successful members of his profession are basically international Machiavellian criminals. The hero of this book (or villain, or whatever you want to call him) fits perfectly well into this world; in fact he has a distinct advantage over real art dealers who presumably have some sense of conscience or morality, or at least fear of getting caught. Not so with John Drewe, the brilliant sociopath who, circumventing th...more

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Nov 15, 2012 Alexa rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: book-club, non-fiction

After watching most of White Collar on Netflix, I wanted a literary fix of high-flying forgery and smart cons. This books is... sort of that book. The events described are certainly stranger than fiction, but I felt that the style was a bit too academic to really thrill. For example, before the first chapter the authors list all the characters, including short but comprehensive descriptions. Obviously the book could only be written if the con man got found out, but knowing every step along the w...more

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Oct 02, 2012 Valley Cottage Library rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: katie-pick, nonfiction

This was an interesting book. Having worked in museums and auction houses as both an art handler and as an archival researcher, I have always taken for granted the issue of provenance. I know how much work goes into the verification of the works of art, the need for the paper trail proving the change of hands from the artist all the way to the current owner. Even so, I knew that forgeries - and GOOD forgeries are out there in the art world.

What I didn't know was the lengths to which Myatt and Dr...more

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Aug 14, 2012 Jeanne rated it 5 of 5 stars

This was a great book - I loved it and hated to put it down. I can see where some of the other reviews come from, but this book wasn't meant to be a scholarly examination of the case. It succeeded in bringing this art world novice to that world in an understandable and intriguing manner.

I do think it celebrates John Myatt a bit much. In the beginning he is a quite likable man, and you feel sorry for him and understand how and why he fell for Drewe's plan, but I think once you discover the truth...more This was a great book - I loved it and hated to put it down. I can see where some of the other reviews come from, but this book wasn't meant to be a scholarly examination of the case. It succeeded in bringing this art world novice to that world in an understandable and intriguing manner.

I do think it celebrates John Myatt a bit much. In the beginning he is a quite likable man, and you feel sorry for him and understand how and why he fell for Drewe's plan, but I think once you discover the truth, one still has a choice. In the end, the money was a clear deciding factor. He is clearly talented, but I'm unsure of celebrating him as an innocent party to the scheme. I was especially disappointed in the end when there is a very questionable rationalization by Myatt regarding some of his fraud pieces hanging in museums and galleries. I found his website and it actually made me dislike him even more - unlike the presentation of his character in the book, it reeks of false humility.

Drewe on the other hand, is interesting at first and then absolutely despicable. He continues to be a conman after serving just a few years for this crime (just google him ). Inthe book, you are drawn in by how such a person - a true sociopath - can continue to dupe people and have developed this scheme and succeeded with it for so long. It was quite interesting to see the few people who had the correct suspicions of him be helpless because no one would listen to them in the beginning. I think people mostly want to see the good in people and this is how sociopaths and pathological liars get duped. It isn't until they discover multiple instances of deceit that they start to figure it out, and even then one isn't quite sure. In any case, the brazen destruction Drewe conducted on art history is unfathomable and disgusting. Just made me remember another instance where Myatt wasn't such an innocent in this - regarding a letter written by Picasso. Destruction!

Bottom line: Great, intriguing, fast read. Loved it.(less)

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Feb 16, 2012 Roxy rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012, non-fiction

I was so absorbed in this book that I almost forgot to eat dinner! This book was the recounting of the Drewe/Myatt art forgeries in the 90s. It was an insight into how a charmer used a little knowledge and a lot of manipulation to fulfill the dream of every musuem curator and art collector: offering them a "newly discovered" piece from a "master". Drewe sold the dream and made millions.

I am fascinated by art history and art forgery. Sometimes our decisions about "good" or "bad" art is guided sol...more

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Oct 22, 2011 Lightreads rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: disability, nonfiction, crime

Oh yeah, the White Collar writers totally read this and went “yeah, let’s do that! Only sexier and without the mental illness.”

It’s a compelling story of con artistry and, glancingly, of the art world where “real” doesn’t mean nearly as much as everyone says it does. But mostly I was too distracted by the style. This is what happens when a particular breed of reporters write nonfiction, every single time, I swear. They are so focused on hiding the ball, on digesting all of their research into ap...more

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Sep 20, 2011 Timothy Hallinan rated it 4 of 5 stars

Sociopaths are often interesting, and John Drewe, the subject of this book, is more interesting than most.

Drewe realized that what makes a forged painting "work" is not only the skill with which it's faked, but also the provenance -- the paper trail that tracks the picture over time to its creator or, at least, to an authoritative attribution. He made enormous donations to museums' archives, which many donors overlook and then got permission to do research there. Of course, they searched him whe...more

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Mar 17, 2011 Beth rated it 2 of 5 stars

PROVENANCE: HOW A CON MAN AND A FORGER REWROTE THE HISTORY OF MODERN ART by Laney Salisbury and Aly Sujo Versus A GATHERING OF SAINTS by Robert Lindsey

As I recently read PROVENANCE: HOW A CON MAN AND A FORGER REWROTE THE HISTORY OF MODERN ART by Laney Salisbury and Aly Sujo, nominated for an Edgar Award, I thought it could have been a thriller if it had been written by Robert Lindsey, author of A GATHERING OF SAINTS. Both books tell important and interesting true stories, PROVENANCE about forgin...more PROVENANCE: HOW A CON MAN AND A FORGER REWROTE THE HISTORY OF MODERN ART by Laney Salisbury and Aly Sujo Versus A GATHERING OF SAINTS by Robert Lindsey

As I recently read PROVENANCE: HOW A CON MAN AND A FORGER REWROTE THE HISTORY OF MODERN ART by Laney Salisbury and Aly Sujo, nominated for an Edgar Award, I thought it could have been a thriller if it had been written by Robert Lindsey, author of A GATHERING OF SAINTS. Both books tell important and interesting true stories, PROVENANCE about forging the works of famous artists, A GATHERING OF SAINTS about forging old documents. Yet PROVENANCE, while interesting, was a yawner for the first half of the book, making me wonder, why should I care? But A GATHERING OF SAINTS was told as a thriller so was impossible to put down from beginning to end.

PROVENANCE tells of the decades-long art scam of John Drew, the con artist, and John Myatt, the artist-forger in England during the 1990s. I should have cared; art crime is not only just about as profitable as drug smuggling; they are both often intertwined with terrorism.

But the story went all over the place; it didn’t stay on topic. PROVENANCE would be about what its subtitle promises, then go off on a tangent about something else. While it was obvious that the authors did a lot of research, it was also obvious they felt they had to relate every bit of it to the reader. Ho hum.

On the other hand Robert Lindsey wrote A GATHERING OF SAINTS so well it is engrossing. I wish I could remember details of this book, but I read it 20 years ago. I do remember that it had to do with a Mormon who found and sold very old documents and eventually forged some of them. When one of his forgeries threatened the basic beliefs of his Church, it led to murder.

Obviously, one book is a page turner, but the other isn't. I prefer page turners, so I tried to contact Lindsey to ask him to rewrite the story of the biggest art fraud. But I couldn't find him onlline.

Does anyone know what became of him? Lindsey also wrote THE FALCON AND THE SNOWMAN not too many years ago. He didn't die since then, did he?

(less)

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Jun 14, 2010 Joanne rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: mystery, non-fiction

What an interesting book! I've read a lot of fictional mysteries featuring art theft, but this is *nonfiction* and a very detailed account of how John Drewe, a brilliant egotistical pathological liar, rocked the art world by successfully forging thousands of art works and, as the title suggests, their provenance. Through his force of personality, supreme confidence, and the occasional donation, he was able to win over the Tate Gallery and gain access to their archives, whereupon he *inserted* fo...more

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Mar 01, 2010 Doug Beatty rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: true-crime

This book was just fascinating. There is an artist in London named John Myatt who is a single father and having trouble making ends meet. In walks the charming John Drewe, a neuro physicist who has a great love for art, and wants John Myatt to paint for him in the style of modern masters. Little did he know at the time, that John Drewe was a con man of a grand scale and a compulsive and practiced liar. John Drewe begins a scheme that will have him in the archives of the Tate Gallery and the Vict...more

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Dec 18, 2009 Roberta rated it 4 of 5 stars

Provenance, a page-turner of a yarn, dissects a real art con game from start to finish focusing on a suave fast-talking trickster, John Drewe, and the people he used or scammed in a multi-million dollar old master forgery business in London in the 1990s. Laney Salisbury and the late Aly Suto, a husband and wife team of writers, interviewed most of the players involved and give a blow-by-blow account of the seductive pathological liar, Drewe, and the tangled web of deceits he wove to get money fo...more

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Dec 14, 2012 J.C. rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction

2 1/2 stars - unfortunately (and I feel bad about giving it so few stars cause I really wanted to like it, but that's just the way it goes sometimes).

I don't have much to say about this book. It was good but not great. I guess I was not as enthralled by the subject matter as I was by the subject matter in Laney Salisbury's first book "The Cruelest Miles". Where the Cruelest Miles was an adventure story full of tension and excitement, this one was more of a character piece with no excitement at...more

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Sep 22, 2009 Sarah Burns rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: favorites, non-fiction, mystery

I loved this book. I just simply adored it. I loved how the characters were developed, where in the beginning you admired Drewe for his talent for manipulating people, thinking, "Dang. I wish I could do that. Make my life easier." Then, as the book goes on, you see how his genius criminality takes a slow spiral into insanity, unbalanced perception of truth, and violence. You lose sympathy with him just in time to enjoy the experience of police building evidence against him and watching him butch...more

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Apr 14, 2013 Hope rated it 5 of 5 stars

I finished this in November of last year and it was one of the best non-fiction books I've ever read. It's a methodically researched look at a major British art scandal in the 1980s and 1990s-the John Drewe scandal. Posing as a wealthy art collector and scientist, con artist and pathological liar Drewe pulled off a multimillion dollar art scheme that is just shocking--and enthralling--to read about. He'd dragged a relatively innocent single dad into creating fake paintings by famous artists for...more

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Sep 29, 2012 Althea Ann rated it 3 of 5 stars

I don't read very much non-fiction in book format; though I do read a bunch of magazines. I read something about this book (an excerpt?) in one of said magazines, and it intrigued me enough to get the book.
Having worked in a museum archive, I was fascinated by this true story of how this art-forgery-fraud duo used falsification of archives in order to pass off their fakes as the genuine article - complete with historical documentation, to be found in multiple, respected repositories. The truly a...more

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Jul 17, 2011 Ranga Kamaladasa rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: nonfiction

Loved the book. The fact the story is real, makes it even more lovable. I've dealt with pathological liars in my school days, and have always been curiously fascinated by their extraversion, charisma and how the people around them conveniently overlook their lying habits. Thus the main character of this book "Professor Drewe" hit close to home.

Compared to the first few chapters, the final few flew by. I'm not saying that the first few chapters are bad, I'm saying that the last few chapters (esp...more

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Sep 06, 2012 Kate rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Kate by: Alex

Shelves: non-fiction, 2012, art-books, true-crime, book-club

I heartily and thoroughly enjoyed this book. It is not a scholarly examination of the subject, but it covers the importance of why this particular forgery con was more damaging than others. And now I know the reasons why, when I go to the National Archives in the US, they make sure you're not bringing anything in as well as not leaving with anything.

You do get a false impression from movies like "Catch me if you Can" and shows like "White Collar" that con-men aren't such bad guys, but this book...more

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Nov 06, 2010 iubookgirl rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: reviewed

Provenance is the true story of an elaborate scam that plagued the unsuspecting art world for nearly a decade. The mastermind of the scam, John Drewe, was the quintessential con man leaving a trail of marks from London to Paris to New York. Drewe not only managed the creation of hundreds of fakes but also infiltrated the records of some of the most prestigious art institutions to create documented proof of their "legitimacy." It is unknown how many of his fraudulent paintings and documents still...more

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Aug 24, 2009 Linda rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is the true story of how a brazen pair of London con men (one sociopath and one talented but poor artist) successfully conned some of the major art collectors and museums of the world into buying fake works of art. The story reads like a thriller, and you will marvel at the level of detailed deception they created in order to establish provenance for each fake. The damage they did is so deep that it may never be fully repaired. Although convicted, the artist is now free and selling his art...more

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Jun 04, 2010 Kate rated it 4 of 5 stars

A riveting look at a $2 million dollar, multi-year art forging scheme and the con man behind it. It's an especially scary story for librarians/archivists, because the scheme's mastermind legitimized his forgeries by inserting into museum archives documents that provided a provenance for his fakes.

The book tries, but I think fails, to develop the characters of each of the players in this drama. We're treated to brief biographies of cops, collectors, experts, and the perpetrators themselves. But...more

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Dec 30, 2011 Sara rated it 4 of 5 stars

I really enjoyed this one - it read like Da Vinci code, a total art thriller- I didn't want to put it down, but it was even better in that it is the true story of one man's ability to rewrite art history. I ended up completely feeling for John Myatt, even though he was the artist churning out hundreds of fake Picassos etc because he was duped by the famous con man John Drewe (<---- who rightfully so comes across as odious in this book). You'll learn a lot from this book as the authors take yo...more

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Sep 24, 2011 Kate rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is a fascinating and remarkable account of an astonishingly clever con man. I was captivated by how John Drewe was able to infiltrate the archives of the worlds most prestigious museums. He was then able to falsify documents, compromising their records. He also was able to manipulate and fool the most knowledgeable dealers, curators, restorers and experts in the art world ... all except one, who refused to authenticate paintings that she knew were forged. The police amassed thousands of pie...more

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Sep 23, 2009 Snail in Danger (Sid) Nicolaides rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: People who enjoyed Lulu Meets God and Doubts Him or The Medici Conspiracy

Shelves: art, crime

This is maybe more like a 3 or 3.5 ... but it was such a cool story, mostly for the way it gave all kinds of interesting background about the art world. If you liked Lulu Meets God and Doubts Him, or The Medici Conspiracy, or False Impressions, then this book is for you.

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Mar 09, 2010 Jonathan Lopez rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: art-history

A terrific book, really gives a nice view of the ins and outs of art fraud, showing both the technical and logistical hurdles involved in introducing fakes into the market.

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Sep 21, 2012 Katie rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction

This was an interesting book. Having worked in museums and auction houses as both an art handler and as an archival researcher, I have always taken for granted the issue of provenance. I know how much work goes into the verification of the works of art, the need for the paper trail proving the change of hands from the artist all the way to the current owner. Even so, I knew that forgeries - and GOOD forgeries are out there in the art world.

What I didn't know was the lengths to which Myatt and D...more

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Jan 08, 2013 Teresa added it

Recommended to Teresa by: Meg Edmondson Stouffer

Shelves: nonfiction

i don't read a lot of nonfiction, but my friend Meg has recommended nonfiction books I have really enjoyed. Last Christmas, she sent me Laney Salisbury's "Provenance: How a Con Man and a Forger Rewrote the History of Modern Art." It took me a while to get to it, but once I started reading I could not put it down.

Salisbury manages to make this real-life story read like a who-done-it. The characters seem like people you might have met, and she does a great job of making the complex world of art sa...more

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