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)

Fantastic Forgers and an Evil Sociopath

What a story.I knew about the events described in the book but truly didn't understand what the motivation for the forger was before. I found the forger a very sympathetic character.

Interesting account of a 20th art caper

All in all this is an extremely interesting story. It's sometimes hard to believe it's a story happening in the 1980s and 1990s and not in the 1800s. To perpetrate a con this elaborate in modern times seems impossible.

My only criticism with the story structure is a total lack of suspense. While the overall outcome may be known/obvious, even the minor subplots are made all too apparent long before the author dives deeply into their details. That being said, it's only a minor criticism and the story is worth hearing (even for an art neophyte, like myself).

It reads like fiction – GREAT!

I LOVED IT! If only more non-fiction books were written in this style; it reads like a story. Brilliant. It’s not dry and textbooky like most non-fiction books I have read (and that’s a lot, just check my library).

Most of the time non-fiction tends to be pretty dull, emotionless and little more than a long boring litany of: Fact. Fact. Date. Date. Fact. Date. Fact. You read it because you are interested in the information, but the presentation dulls your curiosity.

That’s not the case for this book, thanks to the story-style-set-up, it held my attention the entire way though... I never once got bored, or felt lost, or was mired down in a well of names and dates. I was captivated from the beginning to the end.

Kudos!

The more money the easier to fool

Provenance is about the Drew/Myatt art forgery scam. If this Audible book reveals anything it's that money doesn't equal smarts. And, if you want to believe something is real, it is real. Plus when palming off fakes on the upper crusties it pays to know one's way around the art of BS. That and lax gallery and museum security and verification. I'm closing I found the performance to be monotone and mechanical. While clear, to me it sounded like computer generated speech. It had an AI feel to it.

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.

Good listening

Would you consider the audio edition of Provenance to be better than the print version?

Not really, Marty speaks too fast

Who was your favorite character and why?

John Myatt, he is very naive

What about Marty Peterson’s performance did you like?

I did not like her performance, maybe she needs to slow down a bit

If you could give Provenance a new subtitle, what would it be?

How an art forger deceived the high end art galleries

meh, I've heard it before

It seems like there are a whole slew of books out there about art forgers. This one was fine. I wouldn't recommend it, others are better.

I felt like the story was similar to ones I've heard before and then suddenly the book ended. I guess in retrospect the story was complete, but it felt abrupt and incomplete.

Great story with fascinating characters

Any additional comments?

I enjoyed the insight into the mind of a sociopathic liar and the interesting history and inner workings of the art world. The extent to which humans can deceive others and themselves is fascinating and scary.