Provenance

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

By: Laney Salisbury, Aly Sujo

Narrated by: Marty Peterson

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)

Great book, terrible narration!

Oh how I wish this incredible story was narrated by someone who made it sound like a story, and not a self-help book!
It took me SO long to get through it because the narrator made it sound SO boring, but the writing was very good.

An Epic True Story

What a fascinating story. Kept my interest throughout. Always fascinates me how one lone person can cause so much damage. Great narration. Highly recommend.

Fabulous story, terrible narration almost ruined

I had to give up on the audio book because of the narration. And I almost invariably love the narrator. This time I feel it was not the narrator per se, but the engineer who taped her. ( Although, I must say, she could have done a better job at the pronunciation of names - e.g. Klee does NOT rhyme with key).
Did they really need to save 5 minutes or so to cram this book into a certain length?

The book sounds as if it is 8 hours of a run-on sentence. No natural pauses between words, sentences, paragraphs or chapters. Really annoying. Note that there are many names involved here which makes it even normally hard to follow an audio book, even more so when the narrator drones on interminably.

So I got the real book, and cannot put it down. Absolutely mesmerizing true story, well documented and written. Wish it had had pictures - that would have made it spectacular. Should be made into a movie.

Real life art forgery better than fiction

Reading about art is almost as enjoyable for me as looking at art. The word "provenance" means a record of ownership of a work of art or an antique. This paperwork is used as a guide to authenticity. This book is a meticulously researched and fascinating recording of one of the greatest cons in the history of art forgery. It took place in the 1980&90's. A huge number of paintings were forged, purchased, auctioned and circulated throughout the world. It is a mystery of sorts, but more of a documentary of events and evidence.

Fascinating book, story well reported

I just wish Audible books came with pictures! This is really a fascinating story and a look at the inner workings of the art world.