Provenance

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

By: Laney Salisbury, Aly Sujo

Narrated by: Marty Peterson

Length: 8 hrs and 59 mins

Publisher's summary

Here is a tautly paced investigation of one the 20th century's most audacious art frauds, which generated hundreds of forgeries - many of them still hanging in prominent museums and private collections today. Provenance is the extraordinary narrative of one of the most far-reaching and elaborate deceptions in art history. Investigative reporters Laney Salisbury and Aly Sujo brilliantly recount the tale of a great con man and unforgettable villain, John Drewe, and his sometimes unwitting accomplices. Chief among those was the struggling artist John Myatt, a vulnerable single father who was manipulated by Drewe into becoming a prolific art forger. Once Myatt had painted the pieces, the real fraud began. Drewe managed to infiltrate the archives of the upper echelons of the British art world in order to fake the provenance of Myatt's forged pieces, hoping to irrevocably legitimize the fakes while effectively rewriting art history.

The story stretches from London to Paris to New York, from tony Manhattan art galleries to the esteemed Giacometti and Dubuffet associations, to the archives at the Tate Gallery. This enormous swindle resulted in the introduction of at least 200 forged paintings, some of them breathtakingly good and most of them selling for hundreds of thousands of dollars. Many of these fakes are still out in the world, considered genuine and hung prominently in private houses, large galleries, and prestigious museums. And the sacred archives, undermined by John Drewe, remain tainted to this day.

Provenance reads like a well-plotted thriller, filled with unforgettable characters and told at a breakneck pace. But this is most certainly not fiction; Provenance is the meticulously researched and captivating account of one of the greatest cons in the history of art forgery.

©2009 Laney Salisbury (P)2009 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

"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." ( Publishers Weekly)

reads like a thriller

Terrific story behind a massive series of art swindles in the 1990's by a couple of somewhat talented gentlemen. The authors provide such great detail, you can feel as if you are looking over the shoulder of the swindler. Solid narration makes the audio book even more enjoyable.

Big Story; Unusual decisions

This is the story of one of the major acts of art fraud in the modern world. The facts themselves are probably worth the price of admission, but the rather epic mystery is well-explained and developed throughout the book. The only major downside is that the narration is a bit grating.

What's I find especially interesting is the arrangement of the book itself. The author didn't really tell one story, but frames the whole event in a series of interlocking narratives, which is confusing at times but really helpful at others: the story is just that big that it justifies it. The book is equally interesting in terms of who (and how) it crafts its heroes and villains.

Fascinating story; dreadful narration

There's so much potential in this story and this book comes close - but doesn't quite - realize all it could be.

First of all, I have to say that this story - of one of the largest (or the largest? I'm not sure) cons in the history of modern art - is so full of interesting characters and truth-is-stranger-than-fiction scenarios that I guess I'm a little disappointed that Salisbury and Sujo too often didn't let the story speak for itself. There's a lot of telling, not showing, and that style of writing always makes me mistrust the author. Telling me that Drewe is a sociopath is fine I guess, as far as it goes, but I'd much rather know why you think that, through your first-hand impressions of the man and the many other characters in the story whom the authors surely met in person at some point in order to write the book.

What's missing is anything about why this book's telling of Drewe's story is particularly special. How did the authors come to learn about Drewe's story? Are the direct quotations from Drewe, Myatt, and others from the authors' interviews with the subjects? Did they speak to Drewe himself in prison? They don't say.

On an equally important note, I hated the narration. You know when you go to check your voicemail and the robot woman voice tells you, "You have 2 new voice messages"? I swear, I think the same voice is narrating this book. I gave up on the book after 2 minutes the first time I tried to listen to it, but eventually gave it another go because I was so interested in the story. The narrator's voice never grew on me.

Read way way way too fast

Were they in a hurry or something? This is a great story read way, way to fast. Slow down girl. I need a chance to savor the story. I felt like I was listening to the legal info at the end of an erectile dysfunction commercial.

Reads Like a Great Mystery!

Artist with two young kids, down on his luck, meets swashbuckling conman who charms the artist into copying less-known works by the masters, for his own personal collection, he says. But not long after, during a visit, the younger artist notices his paintings have disappeared from their prominant place on the conman's walls. It's awhile before this artist fully understands hat his new 'friend' is doing with his paintings, for which he's been given increasingly large(r) sums of cash. And when his wealthy, well-dressed, smooth-talking friend asks him to attend an auction at one of London's most ite art museums, he realizes and is stunned to learn that his friend has donated, as well as sold, many of this young man's forgeries, which have passed the watchful eyes of the art world's elite. An incredible, fast-paced story that explains how the stuffy art world was initially taken for millions, during which its 'provenances' were fabricated to such an extent that many still believe there are fakes out there being mistaken for real. Fortunately, these authors write much better than me. If you like art and a fine story, you won't want to miss this one!

Great story, annoying overly American reader.

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

Possibly. The story seems quite interesting but the voice over makes it hard to listen.

What did you like best about this story?

The story is interesting.

What didn’t you like about Marty Peterson’s performance?

The narration sounds like an overly Americanised advertisement and it's really hard to listen to.

Was Provenance worth the listening time?

Probably not.

Good story. Bad presentation.

I found the narration of this audiobook to be grating and robotic, and the inflection and intonation be artificial sounding. Because of this I returned the audiobook after listening to only one chapter. (Thank you, Audible.) The story, however, is good! I bought the hardcover version and read it the "old fashioned" way.

True crime Art Fraud story

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I would recommend this to anyone who likes true crime stories and might want to see the other side of the story from either Hustle or Leverage from TV.

What was the most compelling aspect of this narrative?

The build up of the whole process that Drewe went through to get the art sold was amazing. If the book was fiction I don't know if anyone would have believed it.

What about Marty Peterson’s performance did you like?

I liked that Marty Peterson didn't get in the way of the book. This is one of those books that was read so well that you didn't notice a performance.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I don't know that this is a laugh or cry type of book. You do have emotions about the people but it is more history/reporting.

Any additional comments?

I've been a fan of the Art Mystery subgenre for a while and this has been my first go with a true crime. I'm actually looking at some of the suggestions that audible provided because of this.

Fascinating true story

Really enjoyed this tale of true crime in the art world. Would have been a five star book for me, except for the narrator’s constant mispronunciation of British place names and other British terms, and the author’s use of outdated slang for British police. I’m a Brit living in the U.S. no one in Britain talks about ‘z’ cars anymore. And ‘cops’ and ‘Nick’ and are not appropriate for a literate non fiction book of this type. As for the pronunciation- Southwalk is not South-walk but something like Su-the-ak- where the u is like in sum and thumb not suit. Made me cringe and grind my teeth every time the narrator mentioned it.

A winner

Very interesting book with good narration