FREDA BEDI CONT'D (#4)

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Part 1 of 10

Real Fake: The Art, Life and Crimes of Elmyr De Hory: Illustrated Screenplay and Screencap Gallery
directed by Jeff Oppenheim
written by Robert K. Wittman
2017

He forged Modigliani, Picasso & Matisse, but was never caught? The life of Elmyr de Hory is a bizarre one, and this film dives into one of history's most notorious art forgers, reopening the criminal case, examining his art, his life, and his crimes.

-- Noble lie [Pious Fiction] [Pious Fraud] [Pious Invention], by Wikipedia
-- Outline of forgery, by Wikipedia
-- Literary forgery, by Wikipedia
-- False document, by Wikipedia
-- Pseudepigrapha, by Wikipedia
-- Donation of Constantine, by Wikipedia
-- A treasured manuscript in a college library that was believed to have been written by Galileo is a forgery, university says, by Aya Elamroussi
-- The Artist Who Got Rich Forging Picasso & Matisse: Real Fake: Elmyr de Hory, by Perspective
-- Forgery, by Wikipedia

REAL FAKE: THE ART, LIFE & CRIMES OF ELMYR DE HORY (2017)

Walk into any of the world's museums or art auction houses, and you have good reason to doubt your own eyes. Is that Picasso real? Did Modigliani really paint that masterpiece? The answer may be no. These works could very well be the hand of one of history's most versatile and prolific art forger -- Elmyr de Hory. 40-years after Elmyr's death, Filmmaker Jeff Oppenheim ("Funny Valentine," Universal Pictures, "A Passion for Giving," PBS) embarks on a re-examination of the facts of the case. A cadre of art experts discuss the issue of forgery within the art market at large, while a team of investigators dig into the life, art and crimes of this enigmatic forger. Assuming all previous information known about this forger might be as "wrong" as his art, the team examines the provenance, forensics and connoisseurship of Elmyr de Hory. Together they cut through a myriad of aliases, searching for never-before-revealed archival records, police files and personal remembrances of those that knew him. In the center of it all is a magnificent trail of evidence -- a bedazzling treasure trove of original impressionist and post impressionist masterpieces estimated to number in the thousands and potentially now worth billions. All Fake.



Perspective



presents



A Film by Jeff Oppenheim



[Auctioneer] And for lot 100,
I have an opening bid of $100,000.
One hundred? Any bids? $110,000.

Produced by Jeff Oppenheim



[William Charron, Esq., Partner, Pryor Cashman LLP, New York City] The art market is booming right now.

Executive Producers
Pun Bandhu
Marc Falato

[Auctioneer] $120 on the telephone now. $120,000.



[Richard Ellis, Former Art Crimes Bureau Chief, Scotland Yard, London] Let's face it,
it's a feeding frenzy, isn't it?

Associate Producers
Elliot Antebi
Stephane Decker
Glenn Macura
Linda Porto

[Auctioneer] ...on my right. $160... $200,000.

[William Charron, Esq., Partner, Pryor Cashman LLP, New York City] The auction houses are having
pretty fantastic success.



Camera Operators (US)
Jason Basso
Antonio Fair
Christian Huguenot

[Auctioneer] ...on my right for $230,000.



[Asher Eldman, CEO, Eldman Arts, New York City] The art market is totally unregulated.
It's rife with fraud.

The art market is totally unregulated. It's rife with fraud. -- Asher Eldman, CEO, Eldman Arts, New York City

Camera Operators (EU)
Stephanie Oppenheim
David Smadia



Assistant Directors
Stephanie Oppenheim
David Smadia

[Auctioneer] At $250,000...

[William Charron, Esq., Partner, Pryor Cashman LLP, New York City] You can open the "New York Times,"
or the "Wall Street Journal,"
almost any day, and see some story.

[Auctioneer] $260.

Production Designer
Robert B. Greene, III

[Asher Eldman, CEO, Eldman Arts, New York City] Sort of like the penny
stock market in the 1960s.

[Auctioneer] $260,000.



Graphics & Titles
Jamie Leo

[Asher Eldman, CEO, Eldman Arts, New York City] It's kinda fun that way,
but you have to pay a lot of attention.

[Auctioneer] $260,000.

Editors
Jeff Oppenheim
Robert Reitano

[Richard Ellis, Former Art Crimes Bureau Chief, Scotland Yard, London] The trough is the art market.
The trough is what's selling.

When we talk about that market, we are not just talking about theft, we are talking about frauds, forgeries, and fakes, as well as theft. And from my experience, what I've seen, probably 75% of that market is frauds, forgeries, or fakes. -- Robert Wittman, Former Senior Investigator, Arts Crimes Team, FBI

Sound Design
Soundtrack New York

[Auctioneer] Going once. Going twice. On for third.
On the hammer, $270,000.

[Richard Ellis, Former Art Crimes Bureau Chief, Scotland Yard, London] What you're doing is putting
what's going down well
with the animals at the time.

What you're doing is putting what's going down well with the animals at the time. -- Richard Ellis, Former Art Crimes Bureau Chief, Scotland Yard, London

Music Supervision
Greg Arnold
No Fat Music

[Auctioneer] $280. Back in. $290.

[William Charron, Esq., Partner, Pryor Cashman LLP, New York City] People collect art
for all sorts of reasons.



Soundtrack Composer
Mark Berman

[Auctioneer] Do I hear $300,000?

[William Charron, Esq., Partner, Pryor Cashman LLP, New York City] And to find out that what
you're collecting isn't real.



Director
Jeff Oppenheim

[Auctioneer] Last chance. $300,000. I will sell.



[Asher Eldman, CEO, Eldman Arts, New York City] I've seen probably a fake a week,
but I don't get caught with them.

I've seen probably a fake a week, but I don't get caught with them. --- Asher Eldman, CEO, Eldman Arts, New York City

[William Charron, Esq., Partner, Pryor Cashman LLP, New York City] The concept of "caveat emptor" is alive and well in the U.S.

The concept of "caveat emptor" is alive and well in the U.S. -- William Charron, Esq., Partner, Pryor Cashman LLP, New York City

[Asher Eldman, CEO, Eldman Arts, New York City] It's just like your mother told you. If it's too good to be true, it's probably not true.

It's just like your mother told you. If it's too good to be true, it's probably not true. -- Asher Eldman, CEO, Eldman Arts, New York City

[Auctioneer] Sold.



REAL FAKE: THE ART, LIFE AND CRIMES OF ELMYR DE HORY



[Jeff Oppenheim] Like many a good tale,
it all started because of a girl.
Well, sort of.
I saw her across the crowded room.
Her soft shoulders. Her long neck.
Her auburn hair. Her knowing smile.
My friend made the introductions.
They both baited compliments out of me.
I had to get to know her.
I had to have her.
And it was then that my friend told me --



"She's fake."



And that's how my eight-year long journey
into the art, life, and crimes
of Elmyr de Hory all began.





[Elmyr de Hory, Art Forger] Let's say
we could find
a Modigliani made by Kisling [Moise Kisling]...



a Modigliani by Elmyr,
and one Modigliani by Modigliani [Amedeo Modigliani].



We put these three drawings
in front of a
group.
Let's say one
is a director or curator
of drawings
of the Metropolitan ...



one is a self-proclaimed expert,
and one is a great art dealer.



It could be anyone, ...



from Knoedler [The Knoedler Gallery], to Perls [The Perls Gallery],
or any of the great ones
who consider themselves great, and experts.



And if any of them recognize
which one is which,





I am ready to make a great gift



to the Metropolitan Museum of Art
in New York,...



and they can hang it
next to some other Modiglianis ...



who are possibly also by me.


Elmyr?

Let's say we could find a Modigliani made by Kisling [Moise Kisling], a Modigliani by Elmyr, and one Modigliani by Modigliani [Amedeo Modigliani]. We put these three drawings in front of a group. Let's say one is a director or curator of drawings of the Metropolitan, one is a self-proclaimed expert, and one is a great art dealer. It could be anyone, from Knoedler [The Knoedler Gallery], to Perls [The Perls Gallery], or any of the great ones who consider themselves great, and experts. And if any of them recognize which one is which, I am ready to make a great gift to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and they can hang it next to some other Modiglianis who are possibly also by me. -- Elmyr de Hory, Art Forger

[Alasdair Nichol, Chair, Freeman's Auction] When you look at the famous forgers,
you look at Tom Keating [Tom Keating, Forger] who did
Samuel Palmer and Constable;
Eric Hebborn [Eric Hebborn, Forger] who specialized
in doing old master drawings --

[William Charron, Esq., Partner, Pryor Cashman LLP, New York City] A fellow named Beltracchi [Wolfgang Beltracchi, Forger];
and one named Pirenyi [Ken Perenyi].
At a Qian level [Pei-Shen Qian, Forger] --
very, very talented works.

Made You Look: A True Story About Fake Art - Documentary Trailer - Now on Netflix
Feb 23, 2021



Filmmaker Barry Avrich (David Foster: Off the Record, Prosecuting Evil) explores how one of the most respected art galleries in New York City became the center of the largest art fraud in American history and was ultimately forced to close after 165 years. Knoedler & Company, under its president, Ann Freedman, made millions selling previously unseen works by Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, Robert Motherwell, and others that had supposedly come from a secret collection. But when her prestigious clients discovered they had purchased fakes, the scandal rocked the art world. Avrich secured unprecedented access to Freedman, her clients and other key players for the documentary.

[Alasdair Nichol, Chair, Freeman's Auction] Van Meegeren [Hans van Meegeren, Forger], of course,
who's famous for doing Vermeers.

When you look at the famous forgers, you look at Tom Keating [Tom Keating, Forger] who did Samuel Palmer and Constable; Eric Hebborn [Eric Hebborn, Forger] who specialized in doing old master drawings -- A fellow named Beltracchi [Wolfgang Beltracchi, Forger]; and one named Pirenyi [Ken Perenyi]. At a Qian level [Pei-Shen Qian, Forger] -- very, very talented works. Van Meegeren [Hans van Meegeren, Forger], of course,who's famous for doing Vermeers.

[Asher Eldman, CEO, Eldman Arts, New York City] It's nothing new.
It's been going on
for probably 2,000 years.

It's nothing new. It's been going on for probably 2,000 years. -- Asher Eldman, CEO, Eldman Arts, New York City

[Alasdair Nichol, Chair, Freeman's Auction] All these people were
pretty much frustrated artists
and so they started to copy
other artists' works
and passing them off as being by them.

[William Charron, Esq., Partner, Pryor Cashman LLP, New York City] Of course, for someone like Elmyr,
his fakes were so good,
people would see them
and they wouldn't feel the need
to look much further.



[Don Myers, Director, Hillstrom Museum of Art, St. Peter] He's a person who was able to do
a great deal of tricking others,
to a degree that I think
is not possible anymore today.



When you have fakers coming out now,
you don't have them having passed off
a thousand works. You have them
passing off 100 or 200 works.



And I think that's largely
because of the new tests.
Also, sort of a general suspicion
on the part of the art world.

When you have fakers coming out now, you don't have them having passed off a thousand works. You have them passing off 100 or 200 works. And I think that's largely because of the new tests. Also, sort of a general suspicion on the part of the art world. -- Don Myers, Director, Hillstrom Museum of Art, St. Peter

So he's sort of a watershed moment
for the history of forgery.



[Elmyr de Hory, Art Forger] To make first, a point:
I don't copy paintings, painters.


(Henri Matisse)

I paint in a certain style.
It could be the style of Matisse [Henri Matisse],



(Amedeo Modigliani)

or the style of Modigliani [Amedeo Modigliani],


(Pablo Picasso)

in the style of Picasso [Pablo Picasso],


(Raoul Dufy)

the style of Dufy [Raoul Dufy].

[William Charron, Esq., Partner, Pryor Cashman LLP, New York City] His forgeries were so good
that many people wouldn't
recognize them as fakes [Kees van Dongen].


(Kees van Dongen)

A lot of people would look at an Elmyr,


(Marc Chagall)

but think that they are seeing a Picasso,


(Maurice de Vlaminck)

or a Matisse, or Modigliani,
or some of the other greats that he faked.


New Scotland Yard, London



[Richard Ellis, Former Art Crimes Bureau Chief, Scotland Yard, London] His knowledge of art was clearly very good.
Technically, he was a good artist.
So he could replicate pastiche,
and other known artists' work.
And he knew enough about the market
to know how to actually sell it.



[William Charron, Esq., Partner, Pryor Cashman LLP, New York City] Forgers want and need to have
compelling and believable sounding stories
to go along with their fake works.
In his case, Elmyr presented himself
as a sort of down-on-his-luck aristocrat
whose family had fallen on hard times,
and he was selling off
his collection to help
pay his way.

Forgers want and need to have compelling and believable sounding stories to go along with their fake works. -- William Charron, Esq., Partner, Pryor Cashman LLP, New York City

[Elmyr de Hory, Art Forger] Everything what I sold -- very miserably --
the big money what was made
was never made by me.
It was always made by the dealers,
and the people who resold it.
What I got for it was a token.



[William Charron, Esq., Partner, Pryor Cashman LLP, New York City] Like a lot of forgers,
he never identified for anyone
all of the works he did.
So we may never know
how many are out there.

Like a lot of forgers, he never identified for anyone all of the works he did. So we may never know how many are out there. -- William Charron, Esq., Partner, Pryor Cashman LLP, New York City

[Alasdair Nichol, Chair, Freeman's Auction] We are never safe from forgeries, frankly.
I think a lot of people have
sleepless nights about this.
They really do.
And the question is,
really, "How many of them
passed into museums?"

We are never safe from forgeries, frankly. I think a lot of people have sleepless nights about this. They really do. And the question is, really, "How many of them passed into museums?" -- Alasdair Nichol, Chair, Freeman's Auction

(The Met)



[Don Myers, Director, Hillstrom Museum of Art, St. Peter] I remember reading Thomas Hoving's book
about fakes. And he claims that
40% of all the works that he saw
when he was at the Met were fakes.

I remember reading Thomas Hoving's book about fakes. And he claims that 40% of all the works that he saw when he was at the Met were fakes... The conservator friends suggest that a full 25% of any one major museum's holdings, including things in storage, are not right. -- Don Myers, Director, Hillstrom Museum of Art, St. Peter

(40%)

Things that were offered to him. 40%.


(25% Of All U.S. Art Museums Collections)

The conservator friends suggest that
a full 25% of any one
major museum's holdings,


(35,000 U.S. Art Museums)

including things in storage, are not right.

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Part 2 of 10



[Elmyr de Hory, Art Forger] I never offered a painting, or a drawing,
to a museum who didn't buy it.



[William Charron, Esq., Partner, Pryor Cashman LLP, New York City] It's probably true that
there are some in museums,
or in the hands of collectors,
or their heirs today, that could be found.

[Jeff Oppenheim] How many are still out there?

[William Charron, Esq., Partner, Pryor Cashman LLP, New York City] It's a mystery.



[Elmyr de Hory, Art Forger] "Expose the man who holds the art world
on red hot threads."



[Robert Wittman, Former Senior Investigator, Arts Crimes Team, FBI] When the art world looks
at a painting, or whatever it is,
and they ooh and aah over it,
and they decide that it's



fantastic, and it's wonderful --
when these kinda sorts find out
that these pieces are not legitimate,
I think there's a certain amount
of egg-on-the-face situation.
And I think it's at that point that
they don't wanna talk about it,
because they made a mistake.

When the art world looks at a painting, or whatever it is, and they ooh and aah over it, and they decide that it's fantastic, and it's wonderful -- when these kinda sorts find out that these pieces are not legitimate, I think there's a certain amount of egg-on-the-face situation. And I think it's at that point that they don't wanna talk about it, because they made a mistake. -- Robert Wittman, Former Senior Investigator, Arts Crimes Team, FBI

In 1896, accompanied by the local Nepalese governor, General Khadga Shamsher, Führer discovered a major inscription on a pillar of Ashoka, an inscription which, together with other evidence, confirmed Lumbini as the birthplace of the Buddha. The pillar itself had been known for sometime already, as it had already been reported by Khadga Shamsher to Vincent Arthur Smith a few year earlier. Führer made his great discovery when he dug the earth around the pillar and reported the discovery of the inscription in a pristine state about one meter under the surface.

Führer claimed that the locals called the site "Rummindei", which he identified with the legendary "Lumbini", whereas it was found that the site was only called "Rupa-devi".

The authenticity of the discovery has long been doubted, and was openly disputed in a 2008 book by British writer Charles Allen.

Following the discovery of the pillar, Führer relied on the accounts of ancient Chinese pilgrims to search for Kapilavastu, which he thought had to be in Tilaurakot. Unable to find anything, he started excavating some structures he said were stupas, and was in the process of faking pre-Mauryan inscriptions on bricks, when he was caught in the act by Vincent Arthur Smith. The inscriptions were bluntly characterized by Smith as "impudent forgeries".

Around the same time, Führer was selling fake relics "authentified" but an inexistent inscription of Upagupta, the preceptor of Ashoka, to Shin U Ma, an important monk in Burma. He wrote to the Burmese monk: "Perhaps you have seen from the papers that I succeeded in discovering the Lumbini grove where Lord Buddha was born", noting that "you have unpacked the sacred relics of our Blessed Lord Buddha which are undoubtedly authentic, and which will prove a blessing to those which worship them faithfully". An "authentic tooth relics of the Buddha" sent by Führer in 1896 turned out to have been carved from a piece of ivory, and another sent in 1897 was that of a horse. The forgery was reported in 1898 to the British North-Western Provinces Government in India by Burmologist and member of the Burma commission Bernard Houghton, and started an enquiry which would lead to Führer's resignation on 16 September 1898...

These discoveries, at the time they were made, generated fantastic praise for the work of Führer. According to the New York Post (3 May 1896) the Nigliva discovery "seems to carry the origin of Buddhism much further back". The Liverpool Mercury (29 December 1896) reports that the discovery that Lumbini (also called Paderia) was "the actual birthplace of the Buddha ought to bring devout joy to about 627,000,000 people". The Pall Mall Gazette (18 April 1898) related that the Piprahwa discovery "contains no less a relic than the bones of the Buddha himself".

Führer's archaeological career ended in disgrace. Führer came under suspicion from March 1898 following the reported forgeries of the Buddha's relics.

A formal inquiry was launched into his activities, but officials struggled to find a "printable" reason for Führer's dismissal. Führer was officially confronted by Vincent Arthur Smith, who reported the forgeries of the Buddha's relics. Führer was exposed as "a forger and dealer in fake antiquities". Smith also blamed Führer for administrative failures in filing his reports to the Government, and for a false report about his preparations for future publications on his archaeological research: Führer was obliged to admit "that every statement in it [the report] was absolutely false." The false inscriptions supposed to authentify the Buddha relics were not mentioned in the investigations, apparently out of fear of casting doubt on the other epigraphical discoveries made by Führer. Similarly, the false publication of the ancient Burmese inscriptions, were the object of an institutional cover-up, which would not come to light before 1921, with the revelation of their inexistence made by Charles Duroiselle.

In 1901, Vincent Arthur Smith, after retirement, chose to reveal the blunt truth about the Nepalese discoveries and published a stark analysis of Führer's activities, apparently worried that "the reserved language used in previous official documents has been sometimes misinterpreted". In particular, Smith said of Führer's description of the archaeological remains at Nigali Sagar that "every word of it is false", and characterized several of Führer's epigraphic discoveries as "impudent forgeries". However Smith never challenged the authenticity of the Lumbini pillar inscription and the Nigali Sagar inscription discovered by Führer.

Under official instructions from the Government of India, Führer's resignation was accepted and he was relieved of his positions, his papers seized and his offices inspected by Vincent Arthur Smith on 22 September 1898. Führer had written in 1897 a monograph on his discoveries in Nigali Sagar and Lumbini, Monograph on Buddha Sakyamuni's birth-place in the Nepalese tarai, which was withdrawn from circulation by the Government.

-- Alois Anton Führer, by Wikipedia

[Geraldine Norman] In Auvers, Vincent stayed in a little auberge [inn] run by the Ravoux family. He lived there for just over two months and is credited with having painted eighty-three pictures -- which means more than a picture a day. Some of them must be fakes, and were probably painted by the Gachet circle. Dr. Gachet was a painter, and so was his son Paul known as Coco. After he had shot himself, Vincent struggled back to the auberge mortally wounded.

[Dominique Janssens, Institut Van Gogh, Auvers-Sur-Oise] Adeline, the daughter of the innkeeper, had seen that he was [inaudible]. That's why she came up to his room to check what happened. And then they called the local doctor. And the local doctor didn't want to take care of Vincent, because everybody in the village knew it was Dr. Gachet who takes care for the painters. So Dr. Gachet came over, and then when he had seen there was nothing to do, he asked the neighbor, [Perchick?], to go to Paris to pick up Theo. So Theo arrived at about 12 o'clock, and at one o'clock in the morning he died here in his room. Now Dr. Gachet came over with his son, and he said to his son, "Roll, Coco." because the more he was rolling the paintings, the more he could bring them back home. And that's how he got a collection of paintings on Van Gogh, which are today in the museum at Orsay.

[Geraldine Norman] Dr. Gachet and his son seemed to have taken as many paintings as they could. Gachet specialized in mental illness and homeopathy, but had been a keen amateur painter since his student day. His home attracted many artists, including Renoir, Pissarro and Cezanne, who came to him for medical advice, and loved experimenting with his etching press. Dr. Gachet died in 1909, but his son lived on in the house, becoming more and more eccentric and reclusive. He never had a job, and seems to have lived off selling the pictures and antiques that his father had crammed into the house. One villager, who has devoted her life to the study of local history, is Madame Claude [Migon?].

[Madame Claude (Migon?)] [Speaking French] He wouldn't tolerate people coming to the house. Not even local tradesmen, or people interested in the works.

[Geraldine Norman] [Speaking French] How could he live like that? He had to eat!

[Madame Claude (Migon?)] [Speaking French] It's a mystery. Like many things in this man's life. He was truly his father's son.

[Geraldine Norman] He kept very quiet very quiet about the Van Goghs, until he made a series of donations to French national collections in the 1950s. His gifts, now in the Musee d'Orsay, include works by Van Gogh, Renoir, Pissarro, and Cezanne. He also gave the nation paintings by his father and himself. He signed his pictures, including copies of works by other artists, with the pseudonym Louis Van Ryssel. His father called himself Paul van Ryssel. The museum has reacted to the controversy by having the Gachet Van Goghs scientifically investigated, and announcing that they will mount an exhibition of all Gachet's donations to public institutions in the autumn of 44:30 1998. This is sure to spark another explosive argument.

[Dominique Janssens, Institut Van Gogh, Auvers-Sur-Oise] You have seen when you walk up to the cemetery, the countryside is exactly how it was a hundred years ago. Japanese, they don't come only to visit, but also to bring offers for Vincent. And certain days we just clean the cemetery. And you have lots of little pots of sake, brushes, and also a lot of Japanese who died in in Japan, their dream is to be buried with Vincent. So a lot of Japanese bring over the ashes here, and then they put it on the graves of Vincent and Theo.

[Geraldine Norman] The number of Japanese tourists who come to worship at the van Gogh shrine in Auvers, got a big boost when Yasuda bought the sunflowers in 1987. It will be a terrible disappointment to the nation if they discover their famous sunflower picture is not really by Van Gogh.

[To Tom Hoving, Ex-Director Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC] What do you think Yasuda is going to say if they actually have to face the fact that they are landed with a fake?

[Tom Hoving, Ex-Director Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC] Oh, I don't think they'll face it. I think they hope it'll go away. I do not think that the people in charge of the insurance company are going to let regiments of experts in to take it off the exhibition, and look at it, and maybe even do some analysis, and so on. I just don't think they're gonna do that. I think it would be a very great loss of face. I think the picture was purchased because the only other Vincent van Gogh in Japan prior to the United States firebombing of Tokyo, was a sunflowers, which was destroyed.

[Geraldine Norman] It is said that the painting was relined after its arrival in Japan, which may mean that important evidence has been lost. We asked Yasuda if we could talk to them about this, and our views on the sunflowers problem. Yasuo Goto, the chairman of the company, replied, "We have no intention of participating in any discussion of sunflowers' authenticity, as we hold no doubts whatsoever that it is genuine. We also have no intention of answering the questions mentioned in your letter." I personally find it impossible to believe that the Yasuda sunflowers is by Van Gogh. There's too much evidence against it. It's not mentioned in the letters, or other early documents. It first appears in the hands of Emile Schuffenecker, whose name has long been linked with faking. And it is generally agreed that it is visually inferior to the other two. It does disturb me, however, that so many experts still think it genuine. They aren't talking to each other, and don't know each other's arguments. Which is why the muddle persists. If the experts, the Van Gogh Foundation, and Mr. Goto from Yasuda, could be persuaded to divulge what they know, the truth about the Yasuda picture could be found. Using secrecy to protect their reputations and huge investments just won't do. Christie's has both money and reputation at stake, and has opted for silence. They refused to be interviewed, and issued a statement saying, "We see no reason, on the evidence so far produced, to alter our original opinion that the sunflowers is an authentic work by Van Gogh."

[Tom Hoving, Ex-Director Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC] You don't ever get a concert of opinion in art. Very seldomly you get it. And so this, I think, will just kind of go on forever. And since it's not going to ever be for resale, does it matter?

[Dr. Bogomila Welsh-Ovcharov, Prof. History of Art, University of Toronto] Most of us who know Van Gogh -- and I think a lot of us do, or profess to know a lot about Van Gogh -- know that this very simple man, filled with great humility and compassion for mankind, saw these works as different legacies than financial ones. I think he would be horrified, and distraught beyond anything you can imagine, to see himself somersaulted to such tremendous value, and such crass commercialism. I think it would have been something that he couldn't have ever tolerated.

-- Is Van Gogh's 'Sunflowers' A Fake?: The Fake Van Gogh's, with Geraldine Norman, Timeline, World History Documentaries

[William Charron, Esq., Partner, Pryor Cashman LLP, New York City] It's the ultimate game of cat and mouse.
And how purchasers,



unwitting purchasers of fake art,
are supposed to know that,
I think raises a lot
of very, very difficult
to answer questions.



And certainly difficult in a legal sense,
and something that the law
just has to struggle with
on a case-by-case basis.



[Richard Ellis, Former Art Crimes Bureau Chief, Scotland Yard, London] Really, any area of
crime involving art,
reflects what the marketplace
is doing for art.
So if Picasso is selling well,
you'll find there's an influx of
fake Picassos into the market.
Now how they do that,
whether they do a direct copy,
that's the worst thing they can do.



If they do a pastiche of an artist,
perhaps he's not so well-known,
perhaps he's second tier of that
particular area of art,
and therefore it's
unlikely there's gonna be
a complete catalog raisonné
for the art dealer to check on.
But it looks right.
And hey, it's selling well.
And if he takes it,
"If I don't buy it off this person,
he's gonna take it to a competitor
who sure as hell's gonna buy it,
and I've got somebody who is
really interested in buying
this particular commodity right now."
Dealers go for it. They want to believe.
It's the desire of wanting to see it right.
And this is what the forger
and the conman is playing on.

Dealers go for it. They want to believe. It's the desire of wanting to see it right. And this is what the forger and the conman is playing on. -- Richard Ellis, Former Art Crimes Bureau Chief, Scotland Yard, London

[Robert Wittman, Former Senior Investigator, Arts Crimes Team, FBI] Well, the actual art market
itself, worldwide,
is about $200 billion a year.



That's the consumer part
of that art market.
The largest consumer country in the world
for this type of market
is the United States.



40% of the $200 billion market
is here in the U.S.
Almost $80 billion a year.
To put it in perspective,



if you take the four major
sports in the United States --
baseball, football, hockey, and basketball --
the total receipts each year
is about $26 billion.

[Jeff Oppenheim] How much of that $80 billion
do you think is caused by fakes?



[Robert Wittman, Former Senior Investigator, Arts Crimes Team, FBI] The FBI, Scotland Yard, Interpol,
we put together some estimates
as to what the possible
illicit cultural property market
could have been.



And at that time we said,
maybe $6 billion a year.
When we talk about that market,
we are not just talking about theft.
We are talking about frauds,
forgeries, and fakes,
as well as theft.



And from my experience, what I've seen,
probably 75% of that market
is frauds, forgeries, or fakes.
It is not theft.

When we talk about that market, we are not just talking about theft, we are talking about frauds, forgeries, and fakes, as well as theft. And from my experience, what I've seen, probably 75% of that market is frauds, forgeries, or fakes. -- Robert Wittman, Former Senior Investigator, Arts Crimes Team, FBI

(Wildenstein & CC)

[William Charron, Esq., Partner, Pryor Cashman LLP, New York City] All you know is you went
to a gallery of some repute
and bought something with the name "Matisse".



And it looks like a Matisse,
and you spent a lot of money on it.



Are you supposed to suspect
that maybe it was by de Hory all along?



[Elmyr de Hory, Art Forger] It doesn't want to be a Matisse.



It just wants to demonstrate



how, in short minutes,
close I can get to Matisse.

[Jeff Oppenheim] Clearly, I wasn't the first to be fooled.
And probably not the last.



So I packed up a few
questionable works of art



that I had acquired, and headed to Texas,



where apparently one of the greatest cases
against Elmyr and his associates
had been formed by a gentleman of the name
"Algur Meadows,"


"He thought he'd create a tiny Prado in Texas."

who had been fooled not once, not twice,
but, well, in his own words...


Voice of Meadows From NBC Interview

[Voice of Algur Meadows, from NBC Interview] Of the 40 paintings I have
acquired from two Frenchmen,
38 of them were fakes.



[Allen Olson-Urtecho, Fine Arts Adjuster, Texas] Well, there's different tracks
that you need to do.
A lot of it is a track that is focused
on the paintings themselves,
and where they're located,.



And another track is following
the forger himself.
Visualize a three-legged stool.
Those three aspects
are: provenance, forensics,
and connoisseurship.

[Jeff Oppenheim] So provenance is --
that's getting to where it came from, yes?





[Allen Olson-Urtecho, Fine Arts Adjuster, Texas] Provenance is the history of it.
It includes conservation done to it.





People emphasize the sale,
but they should also focus
on the conservation,
and other things that were
done throughout its history.

[Jeff Oppenheim] Tell me about the connoisseurship side.



[Allen Olson-Urtecho, Fine Arts Adjuster, Texas] Connoisseurship is the oldest
of all of the practices.



It's looking at the painting.
Does it correspond with
the style of the artist?



Does it have that air,
that aura, that says,
"This is it.
This is the brush stroke.
This is the content.



The subject matter is correct."



On the forensic side, there's
a lot of new developments.
A lot of this technology
being brought in
to identifying, attributing,



authenticating works of art,



are technologies that were initially done
for other industries.

There's different tracks that you need to do. A lot of it is a track that is focused on the paintings themselves, and where they're located. And another track is following the forger himself. Visualize a three-legged stool. Those three aspects are: provenance, forensics, and connoisseurship. Provenance is the history of it. It includes conservation done to it. People emphasize the sale, but they should also focus on the conservation, and other things that were done throughout its history. Connoisseurship is the oldest of all of the practices. It's looking at the painting. Does it correspond with the style of the artist? Does it have that air, that aura that says, "This is it. This is the brush stroke. This is the content. The subject matter is correct." On the forensic side, there's a lot of new developments. A lot of this technology being brought in to identifying, attributing, authenticating works of art, are technologies that were initially done for other industries. -- Allen Olson-Urtecho, Fine Arts Adjuster, Texas

[Narayan Khandekar, Director, Straus Center for Conservation & Technical Studies, Harvard Art Museums] Traditionally, understanding a work of art



has been the world of the art historian,
the curator.



And with conservators and scientists
becoming involved
in the museum environment,
we're finding that
conservators have a certain perspective,
and scientists also can have a perspective
that is valid and different.

Art Forensic Tools

• Carbon Dating
• White Lead
• X-Ray
• Dendrochronology
• Stable Isotope Analysis
• Thermoluminescence

And so these three different areas
have complementary skills.


Art Forensic Tools

[Jeff Oppenheim] So using that investigative platform,
how would you go back in now
and look at Elmyr, the master criminal?



[Allen Olson-Urtecho, Fine Arts Adjuster, Texas] From the provenance side,
we would look at dealers
in the cities matching with
the cities he lived in.



Then see if you can find
records of their operations
with, say, a sales receipt,


Sales Receipt from the Algur Meadows Legal Files

a purchase receipt.



[William Charron, Esq., Partner, Pryor Cashman LLP, New York City] I think a big difference between
a forger in Elmyr's day, and a forger today,
is Elmyr could fake his identity,



and have an easier time
getting away with it.
Because, you know, there was no Internet.
There was no mass media in the same way.


Elmyr de Hory; Joseph Dory-Boutin; Hoppmester; Von Hopry; Haury

So Elmyr could present himself
in San Francisco and have one alias,
then he might be in Texas
or Miami with another alias,


Elemer Hoffmann; Elmyr de Hory; Joseph Dory-Boutin; Hoppmester; Von Horry; Haury; Hury; Charles Curiel; Robert Cassou, E. Raynal de Hory; E. Raynal; Elmyr Rainol; Baron de Bouhady; Von Bouhady; Louis Koundjy; Lazslo Elmire; Andre De Herzog; Joseph Alfred Daury

and he just might not be discovered.
I think it's much harder to do that today,
but not impossible.



[Allen Olson-Urtecho, Fine Arts Adjuster, Texas] On the connoisseurship side,


Investigating a possible Fernand Leger

if you deal a lot in those works,
you get an eye. You pick up on things.



You get a feel for the artist.
And so, dealers can weed that out.



[Colleen Boyle, Sr. VP-National Sales Manager, Pall Mall Art Advisors, King of Prussia] We look for style,
signature, medium.
The second thing we're gonna do
is, once we document
those particular aspects of a painting,



we're gonna start our research.
And the first thing
we're gonna look for is history.
We're gonna look at catalog raisonnés.
Is the piece in a catalog raisonné?



We're gonna look, uh,
to see if there's any literary references.



We're gonna look at exhibition history.
Has the piece ever been on exhibition?
Is there a record of it
ever being on exhibition?
Thirdly, we're gonna
look at the provenance.
Where did the piece come from?
If there's no traceable
evidence of acquisition,
that does create a red flag.

[First], we look for style, signature, medium. The second thing we're gonna do is, once we document those particular aspects of a painting, we're gonna start our research. And the first thing we're gonna look for is history. We're gonna look at catalog raisonnés. Is the piece in a catalog raisonné? We're gonna look to see if there's any literary references. We're gonna look at exhibition history. Has the piece ever been on exhibition? Is there a record of it ever being on exhibition? Thirdly, we're gonna look at the provenance. Where did the piece come from? If there's no traceable evidence of acquisition, that does create a red flag. -- Colleen Boyle, Sr. VP-National Sales Manager, Pall Mall Art Advisors, King of Prussia

[Jeff Oppenheim] What's your feeling looking at it now?



[Colleen Boyle, Sr. VP-National Sales Manager, Pall Mall Art Advisors, King of Prussia] I'd have to say, well,
the color scheme,
and the composition,
do appear similar to Leger's other studies.
The actual execution, from a gut feeling,
doesn't appear to be in the hand of Leger.



[Jeff Oppenheim] You're suspicious?


Elmyr?

[Colleen Boyle, Sr. VP-National Sales Manager, Pall Mall Art Advisors, King of Prussia] Yes, I -- I'm very suspicious.

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Part 3 of 10



[Allen Olson-Urtecho, Fine Arts Adjuster, Texas] Now, in the forensics, it's more difficult,
because a lot of these paints
were used by the same artist.





[Narayan Khandekar, Director, Straus Center for Conservation & Technical Studies, Harvard Art Museums] In forgeries, or in something
that has been over-restored,
people will use something
that is not necessarily made
at the right time for that artist.



So, for example, somebody
forging a Botticelli painting



might have used Prussian blue.


Prussian Blue, Pezandie, May, 1936

That's a blue pigment that wasn't available
until several centuries
after the artist had died.
But on the painting it looks right.
And so they'll use it.


Ultra Marine, Tizian Color co., Gift -- J.N. Rosenberg

And afterwards, scientists can come along
and identify that the blue pigment
is not azurite, or ultra marine --
as it should be --
but it is Prussian blue.



And using instruments
that have helped us identify
pigments more carefully --
infrared spectrometry's
been developed to a new level --



we can take
very small amounts of material,
and collect a very good spectrum,


Harvard's Edward W. Forbes Pigment Collection contains 2,500+ samples collected from around the world.

and then connect that to a library.
And we can identify pigments that way.


Laser Desorption Ionization Mass Spectrometry

Also, at Harvard, we've
developed a technique called
"Laser Desorption
Ionization Mass Spectrometry."
And it's a technique
where you put a sample
of pigment on a plate,
zap it with a laser,
and that will volatilize it,
then put it into a mass spectrometer.
And then those very complicated
organic molecules,
that are used for modern paint,
can be identified.

In forgeries, or in something that has been over-restored, people will use something that is not necessarily made at the right time for that artist. So, for example, somebody forging a Botticelli painting might have used Prussian blue. That's a blue pigment that wasn't available until several centuries after the artist had died. But on the painting it looks right. And so they'll use it. And afterwards, scientists can come along and identify that the blue pigment is not azurite, or ultra marine -- as it should be -- but it is Prussian blue. And using instruments that have helped us identify pigments more carefully -- infrared spectrometry's been developed to a new level -- we can take very small amounts of material, and collect a very good spectrum, and then connect that to a library. And we can identify pigments that way. Also, at Harvard, we've developed a technique called "Laser Desorption Ionization Mass Spectrometry." And it's a technique where you put a sample of pigment on a plate, zap it with a laser, and that will volatilize it, then put it into a mass spectrometer. And then those very complicated organic molecules, that are used for modern paint, can be identified. -- Narayan Khandekar, Director, Straus Center for Conservation & Technical Studies, Harvard Art Museums

[Jeff Oppenheim] And if we want to understand Elmyr,
don't we sort of have to understand,
I guess it would be his MO?
Why he did what he did?
Why not be a real legit artist?
And why do this life of crime?

[Allen Olson-Urtecho, Fine Arts Adjuster, Texas] Yeah.

[Jeff Oppenheim] How would we go about that?
What would you suggest?



[Allen Olson-Urtecho, Fine Arts Adjuster, Texas] We study the person,
his profile, his upbringing,
his background,


Budapest

social economic upbringing,
where he comes from.

We study the person, his profile, his upbringing, his background, social economic upbringing, where he comes from. He has an upbringing; he has an art education. What does he do to be able to survive? -- Allen Olson-Urtecho, Fine Arts Adjuster, Texas

Elmyr's Alleged Childhood Neighborhood in Budapest, Hungary

[Jeff Oppenheim] It sounds like you're
suggesting we go to Budapest?

[Allen Olson-Urtecho, Fine Arts Adjuster, Texas] In Budapest, we'll learn about the history
of that period in which he comes up.


Elmyr's Secondary School in Budapest where he already showed interest in artistic studies.

He has an upbringing;
he has an art education


Elmyr wins prize at prestigious art salon sponsored by his school.

You know, what does
he do to be able to survive?
Like, he changes his name.
That's very common in Jewish people
who went through the Holocaust.

[Jeff Oppenheim] Right.

[Allen Olson-Urtecho, Fine Arts Adjuster, Texas] ...and survived


Hungarian Jewish Collecting Prison.

But that experience is so heavy,
that it can create a person
in a certain mold.



And so from that, we'll be
able to know him better,
and understand why it was
so easy for him to just
turn away from being an artist himself,



and just flaunt it with forgeries
to fund a lifestyle.





Yet our intention is to find out the truth.
Find out the truth,
and separate the fake from the real.

Our intention is to find out the truth. Find out the truth, and separate the fake from the real. -- Allen Olson-Urtecho, Fine Arts Adjuster, Texas

BUDAPEST







[Dr. Katalin Gereben, Attorney & Arts Restitution Specialist, Budapest] I knew that Elmyr was
a very talented faker,
who had a very adventurous life,
and who was a very special character.
But we didn't know very much
about what happened to him
when he lived before here, in Hungary.



His original name was Hoffmann Elemer.
In Hungarian, we change
the order of the names.
We put the surname first,
and then we put the given name.



At the turn of the century,
there was a flourishing
artistic colony in Transylvania.



It was called, "the Nagybanya colony".
It was a beautiful, lovely
little Transylvanian village.



The translation actually of this village
is "Huge Mine" -- Nagybanya.



This is a place
which Elmyr attended himself, too.
For this was a really controversial time [1925],


1925

after the First War until the beginning
of the Second World War.



Plenty of new art unions, and
organizations were established.
A lot of kitschy paintings appeared.
There was a huge battle against
all these kitschy things that
appeared on the market.
But there were very good works as well.



There was also a revival
of avant-gardism.
So Elmyr had lots of,
inspiration,
and lots of impact, I think,
on his artistic character.

[Allen Olson-Urtecho, Fine Arts Adjuster, Texas] Yes.

[Dr. Katalin Gereben, Attorney & Arts Restitution Specialist, Budapest] And perhaps, I think this
could be a reason why he felt
a little bit overwhelmed, or maybe --

[Allen Olson-Urtecho, Fine Arts Adjuster, Texas] Overwhelmed by other artists
that were better, maybe?



[Dr. Katalin Gereben, Attorney & Arts Restitution Specialist, Budapest] Yes. Or maybe he felt that the level
to be reached is too high.

[Allen Olson-Urtecho, Fine Arts Adjuster, Texas] Yes.

[Dr. Katalin Gereben, Attorney & Arts Restitution Specialist, Budapest] And maybe it just blocked him.
And that's why he turned to faking things
and not living
his own artistic career.



Or maybe a more deeper part of his character,
a more colorful, and more "liar" character.





[Laszlo Lelkes, Adjunct Professor, University of Fine Arts, Budapest] So this art camp,
or we call it "art colony,"
or "artists' colony,"


Art Colony of Lake Balaton

it has a very rich heritage
in this country.
A very famous artists' colony,
like the Nagybanya artists' colony.
So it's kind of an intellectual circle.



And not only the physical space,
but the common thinking.
But at the same time, trying to
produce artworks that can be
distinguished from other influences,
and other ways of thinking.



Because everything was basically
happening here on the spot.



And there's a very more
important aspect
of being a member of
a regular artist colony,
like Nagybanya.
And many others in this country.
Because it was a kind of brand.



As a brand, it gave you prestige.
You belonged to a certain
intellectual circle
that could give you some more support.


Magyar Nemzeti Galeria



[Dr. Gabor Bellak, Curator, Hungarian National Gallery, Budapest] To be a forger is a very
strange psychological situation:
to be someone, and to be
someone else at the same time.
But he needs to expose himself.



The forgers himself, or themselves,
want to be seen somehow.
Not as a forger, but as
the producer of the work.

To be a forger is a very strange psychological situation: to be someone, and to be someone else at the same time. But he needs to expose himself. The forgers himself, or themselves, want to be seen somehow. Not as a forger, but as the producer of the work. -- Dr. Gabor Bellak, Curator, Hungarian National Gallery, Budapest

[Zsofia Vegvari, Head of Komplex Art Forensics, Budapest] I first encountered Elmyr's body of work a few years ago when I was fortunate enough to examine one of Maklari Kalman's [Kalman Maklary] [paintings]. It was a Modigliani -- an Elmyr Modigliani. The examinations came to a very interesting conclusion. Elmyr didn't try to replicate paints of the period. Instead, he focused on the spirit, and the process of making art.





[Examining a possible Derain watercolor] Yeah, the surface is old. A lot of cracks
on the surface of the color.



Sometimes I see some bubbles, too.
It means this color is not 100 years old.
The paint is very creamy.



And I'm not able to see
small grains inside.

[Dr. Gabor Bellak, Curator, Hungarian National Gallery, Budapest] When we talk about art,
and when we love art,
we love the history --
that which is not seen.
We love that it was painted
by someone who we love.


[Claude Monet]

We love Monet [Claude Monet].
We love Tiziano [Tiziano Vecelli (also known as Titian)]. We love Picasso [Pablo Picasso].
This is part of this whole thing
that we believe is art.



[Zsofia Vegvari, Head of Komplex Art Forensics, Budapest] Several times I see artificial aging,
frothing, make it dirty,
and so on, and so on.



[Dr. Gabor Bellak, Curator, Hungarian National Gallery, Budapest] When something suddenly
proves to be a forgery,
this is an attack against
this kind of knowledge,
and this kind of belief
in our personality.
And this is something
that's very, very difficult
to cure.
Forgery must be served
as fresh as possible.
So the next day is not as good.
The original things
have the same quality every time,
and give you new questions.
They have new inspirations,
even if its young -- 500 years old.
But you see that, yes,
there is still some power.

When we talk about art, and when we love art, we love the history -- that which is not seen. We love that it was painted by someone who we love. We love Monet. We love Tiziano (Titian). We love Picasso. This is part of this whole thing that we believe is art. When something suddenly proves to be a forgery, this is an attack against this kind of knowledge, and this kind of belief in our personality. And this is something that's very, very difficult to cure. Forgery must be served as fresh as possible. So the next day is not as good. The original things have the same quality every time, and give you new questions. They have new inspirations, even if its young -- 500 years old. -- Dr. Gabor Bellak, Curator, Hungarian National Gallery, Budapest

[Zsofia Vegvari, Head of Komplex Art Forensics, Budapest] A hair.
Maybe the hair of the artist. Here.
It's so funny.



[Dr. Gabor Bellak, Curator, Hungarian National Gallery, Budapest] The forgeries unveil themselves,
by themselves, automatically.
This is the time. The time executes [puts to death]
the forgeries after some years.



[Zsofia Vegvari, Head of Komplex Art Forensics, Budapest] We go step by step, and measure
each color with the XRF gun;
and later on we get
the chemical components.



So first I will measure the red one.
On the red area, we need to find
phosphor with mercury or red lead.
On the white surface, cadmium yellow.
And what is the most important is
that on the white area,
it mustn't be titanium white
if this artwork wasn't painted later on.
So it must be lead white --
a kind of mixture with zinc white.

We go step by step, and measure each color with the XRF gun, and later on we get the chemical components. So first I will measure the red one. On the red area, we need to find phosphor with mercury or red lead. On the white surface, cadmium yellow. And what is the most important is that on the white area, it mustn't be titanium white if this artwork wasn't painted later on. So it must be lead white -- a kind of mixture with zinc white. -- Zsofia Vegvari, Head of Komplex Art Forensics, Budapest

[Dr. Gabor Bellak, Curator, Hungarian National Gallery, Budapest] I think that yes, in an aesthetical sense,
the perfect forgery can be produced.
But in an art-historical sense,
it's impossible.

I think that yes, in an aesthetical sense, the perfect forgery can be produced. But in an art-historical sense, it's impossible. -- Dr. Gabor Bellak, Curator, Hungarian National Gallery, Budapest

[Zsofia Vegvari, Head of Komplex Art Forensics, Budapest] So it's not 100 years old. I'm sure.

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Part 4 of 10

[Dr. Gabor Bellak, Curator, Hungarian National Gallery, Budapest] Now, so it's very easy
to see that yes, it's Elmyr de Hory.
Why didn't collectors of the 1950s
see these bad things?
Because they were living at that time.
And the forgeries were prepared
for the taste of that time.



[Zsofia Vegvari, Head of Komplex Art Forensics, Budapest] Yeah, maybe the paper was much more older.

[Dr. Gabor Bellak, Curator, Hungarian National Gallery, Budapest] I think that even today, even this moment,
in some corner of the world,
a good quality forged painting is being made.



[Zsofia Vegvari, Head of Komplex Art Forensics, Budapest] I'd say 50.
This painting is around 50 or 60 years old.


Elmyr?



[Dr. Gabor Bellak, Curator, Hungarian National Gallery, Budapest] And if someone [were to] ask if there are forgeries
in an art collection
in the Hungarian National Gallery,
I would say that as much as I know
today, we don't know about forgeries.
But there might be in 100 years.




National Archives of Hungary



[Dr. Katalin Gereben, Attorney & Arts Restitution Specialist, Budapest] So, for me, this whole research
was very interesting because when we met,
we started to investigate
a little bit more deeper.
We started to dig a little bit more deeper,
here in Hungary,
in the archives, and in databases.





And that opened another,
or maybe more deeper, part of his character,
a more colorful, and more "liar" character.



I'm not sure that it's here,
but I can't really imagine that there was
another Hoffmann Elemer at the same time.







And it says that, uh...
The story goes back to the last year
when there was a huge case,
that Hoffmann Elemer,
Elmyr Hoffmann, the painter,



was arrested by the police
because of stealing something.


Perczel Zita, Actress of Stage & Screen

And later, against this artist,
Zita Perczel [Perczel Zita, Actress of Stage & Screen],
who was the actress of the
Hungarian theater.




Elmyr 1935

Yes, we found something
very interesting about Elmyr
in an archive.
A newspaper article, actually.

"Kleptomaniac Painter ..."
-- Az Est (The Evening) Budapest, March3, 1935 p. 7

"Elmer Bonyhadi-Hoffman is Wanted ...
-- Esti Kurir (Evening Courier) Budapest, March 2, 1935 p. 2

"Painter Elemer Bonyhadi Hoffman Captured and Arrested"
-- Pesti Naplo (Pest Diary) Budapest, March 12, 1935 p. 12

"I didn't really know what I was doing ..."

"I had just gotten back from Spalato where I was mistakenly accused of being a spy ..."

"I was sick and treated with Morphine. Even Prince Joseph can confirm this as I was injected while painting his portrait."

"Police Doctors Examine Kleptomaniac Painter"
-- Pesti Napio (Pest Diary) Budapest, July 22, 1936 p. 8

"Jury examines Mental State"
-- Pesti Hirlap (Budapest News Sheet), April 17, 1936 p. 9

"Bonyhadi-Hoffman deemed limited compos mentis"
-- Pesti Hirlap (Budapest News Sheet), September 20, 1936 p. 9

"compos mentis" deemed limited

And it was
a very interesting story that
once he painted a portrait of an actress.



And while painting this actress
in the apartment of her family,



when they didn't pay attention, he just
took a few things away.
He has stolen a few things away,
like silver things, and jewelries.



And of course, the parents
of this actress
discovered that he was
a thief, basically.
And they went to the police.
The police investigated, and
they found everything
in Elmyr's flat:
all the silver; all the jewelries.
And of course, he was arrested.



It's a funny story, I think. No?



And he told them that, "Well,
those were very, very strange times."
He doesn't exactly remember
what happened in those times.
Probably, it all happened
because he was in Serbia
when the King was killed.
And he was arrested then
because they thought he was a spy.
And he was even treated with morphine.



And even Prince Joseph
can tell that it was the truth.



Because while he was painting his portrait,
he was treated with morphine,
because he was so extremely exhausted,
and excited, and sick.



And his lawyer asked him
to examine his state of mind --



whether he has some psychological problems.



[Elmyr de Hory, Art Forger] And then I proceeded to France, to Paris,
where I studied under Fernand Leger
at the Academie la Grande Chaumiere.


Cafe Montmartre



[Dr. Katalin Gereben, Attorney & Arts Restitution Specialist, Budapest] And I must also add that
in this article, we can read that
he was punished,





and he was arrested before several times.
Not only in Budapest,



but also in London, in Zurich,
and other European cities.




Societe d'Avocats [Society of Attorneys]






Sabine Cordesse, Attorney, Paris



[Sabine Cordesse, Attorney, Paris] [Speaking French] "Convictions. The 18th of March, 1927. Check fraud. The 21st of September, 1927. Fraud. Three months prison. The 15th of October, 1927. Six months prison. Theft. The 27th of October, 1928. Berlin. Two months prison for theft. The 28th of December, 1928. Charlottenburg. Concealment. This is better! February 1929. Here it is. It begins. Concealment. Concurrent sentences. The 10th of May, 1929. The same. Attention, a judgment of fraud and embezzlement. The 21st of August, 1929. London. Infraction with foreign police. Two months prison. The 23rd of December, 1930. Vale-ville. Forgery. Repeated offense. Abusive use of proof of evidence. Three months prison. 1933. Zurich. Fraud. Forgery." And after it stops.

"Convictions. The 18th of March, 1927. Check fraud. The 21st of September, 1927. Fraud. Three months prison. The 15th of October, 1927. Six months prison. Theft. The 27th of October, 1928. Berlin. Two months prison for theft. The 28th of December, 1928. Charlottenburg. Concealment. February 1929. Concealment. Concurrent sentences. The 10th of May, 1929. The same. Attention, a judgment of fraud and embezzlement. The 21st of August, 1929. London. Infraction with foreign police. Two months prison. The 23rd of December, 1930. Vale-ville. Forgery. Repeated offense. Abusive use of proof of evidence. Three months prison. 1933. Zurich. Fraud. Forgery." -- Sabine Cordesse, Attorney, Paris

[Dr. Katalin Gereben, Attorney & Arts Restitution Specialist, Budapest] Actually, this is something that he denied,
and said that his passport was stolen,
and someone under his name
committed these crimes.



[Sabine Cordesse, Attorney, Paris] [Speaking French] It's incredible! Elmyr has the criminal record of a drug addict. Like an addict, it keeps mounting and mounting without end.



[Elmyr de Hory, Art Forger] When all of the other people sort of
tried to get over the Atlantic,
I returned to Budapest.



[Marc Masuorvsky, Co-founder, The Holocaust Art Restitution Project, Washington, D.C.] Just imagine what it's like:
You're in France,
war's about to break out,
the French are getting
a little excited because,
all of a sudden, they realize,
"Well, if there's Germans coming in,



then anybody with a Germanic background
is gonna be suspect."



So they are already starting
to put people in prison.


Zita Perczel in "Meseauto"

If Hungary's his home,
then the natural thing
to do is go back home.
Elmyr goes back to Hungary.
And Hungary's far away.
So, technically speaking,
it's also a point of escape.
And he is a mischievous,
opportunistic person,
based on the background
that we've come to know of him.


June 1941, Elemer released from prison. His parents have long divorced. His father Adolph Hoffman has died. His mother Irene Tener has remarried. His family, disgraced, disowns him. His brother Istvan (Hont) Hoffman has, like Elemer, been in and out of jail. Istvan claims addiction to Morphine.

So I think, honestly,
it was the right choice for him.
And he probably felt that,
being back in the homestead
would allow him to sort of
regroup and figure out
what the next step would be.



[Elmyr de Hory, Art Forger] The war broke out.

[Dr. Katalin Gereben, Attorney & Arts Restitution Specialist, Budapest] And the stories around
he is staying in a concentration camp
are very questionable.


Hungary's Collecting Prison

[Marc Masuorvsky, Co-founder, The Holocaust Art Restitution Project, Washington, D.C.] But clearly, if it's before 1944,
then obviously
it's the Hungarian authorities.



[Dr. Katalin Gereben, Attorney & Arts Restitution Specialist, Budapest] He explains that
he was injured.
I think his leg was broken.
And he was sent to hospital.
This didn't happen in those times.

He explains that he was injured. I think his leg was broken. And he was sent to hospital. This didn't happen in those times. -- Dr. Katalin Gereben, Attorney & Arts Restitution Specialist, Budapest

Special Exhibition. State of Deception. The Power of Nazi Propaganda. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

[Marc Masuorvsky, Co-founder, The Holocaust Art Restitution Project, Washington, D.C.] You think that somebody
like Elmyr might realize that
his background could work against him.
But it can also work for him.



The International Tracing Service
is really about anybody who disappeared,
or went missing.


Marc Masurovsky, Co-founder, The Holocaust Art Restitution Project, Washington, D.C.

The fact that we do have
so many Hungarian names,
is predicated both in part
because of the Budapest situation,
but also because
so many deportations occurred.
And once you cross the "border,"


Counted Remnant: Register of the __ Survivors in Budapest

and face incarceration in a camp,
then your name will surface.



In other words, you have to be in a prison.
You have to be in a camp.
You have to be in a place where
you're gonna be registered.
So we use this card index
to see if we can find anything
on Elmyr's family.



[Dr. Katalin Gereben, Attorney & Arts Restitution Specialist, Budapest] Because if we start to look at the archives,
we mustn't use his
invented name, "Elmyr de Hory."



But we must use,
of course, his original name:
"Hoffmann Elemer."



[Marc Masurovsky, Co-founder, The Holocaust Art Restitution Project, Washington, D.C.] Now, they did confirm the mother.
They confirmed he had a family.

[Dr. Katalin Gereben, Attorney & Arts Restitution Specialist, Budapest] And also, another relative's grave was mentioned
in the letter, who was called Adin.


Comite International De La Croix-Rouge

[Marc Masurovsky, Co-founder, The Holocaust Art Restitution Project, Washington, D.C.] But we couldn't go too much beyond that.
It's only if he somehow
just fell off the radar screen,
then he wouldn't be listed.




Marc Masurovsky, Co-founder, The Holocaust Art Restitution Project, Washington, D.C.

But people like Istvan and Elmyr,
at this point we're sort of
looking at them as a duo
that enable one another to do things,
more illicit than licit.
And those are the kinds
of people, frankly, who,
wake up interests in intelligence agencies.


Istvan Hoffman appears to have been sent to the Garany Camp. In 1944, all internees were relocated to Auschwitz. According to a court document, Istvan was released from Garany before relocation. All records of Istvan disappear till after the war is over.

And if his talents
are known even to Istvan,
and if Istvan is close to the Germans,
for whatever reasons,
then that's the kind of message
that doesn't go unheeded.
Because, by the early '40s BND,
which is really the foreign
counter-intelligence arm
of German secret service,
is looking for people like that.
Because they need
fake passports, fake visas.
And if you have
skilled individuals like Elmyr
who are available,
then they're likely to recruit them.

People like Istvan and Elmyr -- those are the kinds of people, frankly, who, wake up interests in intelligence agencies. And if his talents are known even to Istvan, and if Istvan is close to the Germans, for whatever reasons, then that's the kind of message that doesn't go unheeded. Because by the early '40s, BND, which is really the foreign counter-intelligence arm of German secret service, is looking for people like that. Because they need fake passports; fake visas. And if you have skilled individuals like Elmyr who are available, then they're likely to recruit them. -- Marc Masurovsky, Co-founder, The Holocaust Art Restitution Project, Washington, D.C.

The Nazi Forgery Efforts Included:

• Foreign Identification Papers
• British Pound Notes
• Art Work

[Dr. Katalin Gereben, Attorney & Arts Restitution Specialist, Budapest] "I was taught to question everything."

[admin]

Part 5 of 10



[Elmyr de Hory, Art Forger] Who knows? What is it?
What makes you travel?
You want to change your landscape,
you want to meet new people,
you want to meet new faces,
you think you'll meet
somebody more attractive
in the next town
as you met there. You never know why,
why people travel.









[Jeff???] Michel Braudeau, please. Ah, yes. Hello, Michel. This is Jeff. Yes. Yes, yes. We are here in Paris. 4:00 pm? Yes. Thank you. See you soon.



[Michel Braudeau, Journalist/Author, Paris] [Speaking French] The story of de Hory is a story of someone who endlessly hid.







He died in 1976, so you can still meet people who knew him.


Michel Braudeau, Journalist/Author, Paris

I never met him, but I hope you've met others who did. When Elmyr was young, he faced two problems.



He lived the life of an artist, and he was homosexual. So, he went to Munich, where he had more freedom away from his family.



That didn't go well for long,



so he came to Paris, because that was where it was all happening.



It was the epoch there, in 1926, when it was all happening.





He worked with Fernand Leger at the Grand Chaumiere.



Even Fernand Leger created fakes.



And if he could create a small drawing by copying somebody else -- there it is!



He would play between fellow



by making a fake amongst colleagues. During the era of Courbet, there were many fakes.



Jean-Baptise de CamilleCorot had a factory, because he couldn't keep up with the demand. So he had people serving as his agent, making Corots.



All the painters from the beginning of the 20th century -- all of them copied each other. Even Van Goghs.



There are even two versions of the Irises. I think Elmyr was someone who



benefited greatly from this time,



when there were less checks and balances than today.



And through the good graces of this, he prospered.



[Marc Restellini, Founder/President, Pinacotheque Museum, Paris] [Speaking French] Also with the aid of his accomplice,



Fernand Legros, who was more ill-intentioned than Elmyr. He was happy to stay in his corner without suffering the consequences of his commercial actions in the market of all these artists, and which had monstrous consequence. I think that since de Hory had no money, he would say, "If Fernand Leger did it, why not me?"



[Michel Braudeau, Journalist/Author, Paris] [Speaking French] And if he were to make a little Picasso, which was easy for him, and he could pay his rent -- why not?


1946: Picasso



[Elmyr de Hory, Art Forger] A titled Englishwoman
walked in one day to my room,
and she saw on the wall,
pinned on the wall, a drawing.



And say, "Hey, where you got that Picasso?"
I say, "Well, do you think it's a Picasso?"
She said, "Well, I know enough about Picasso
to know whether it's a Picasso or not."
I say, "Fine."
She say, "Would you sell it?"
I say, "Well, delighted."
So she says, "Well, how much?"



Well, I can't remember saying.
I think 50 pounds, I think she offered me.
And I did sell it to her.
I didn't feel good about. She was a friend.
But the 50 pound helped me a great deal,
because it was the day
of the payment for the rent,



and I didn't have the money for the rent.



[Sabine Cordesse, Attorney, Paris] [Speaking French] Elmyr was absolutely without right to copy these eminent artists. He was prolific.


Henri Matisse

Elmyr de Hory copied as a full-time job.



[Michel Braudeau, Journalist/Author, Paris] [Speaking French] But if we think that perhaps he didn't have the creativity, he would create and learn and become the author of the copy.



[Marc Restellini, Founder/President, Pinacotheque Museum, Paris] [Speaking French] "The Real Fake" is a work eminently complex, that can only be done by a true artist. You must have the capacity of a person that can say, "What type of work would that artist have painted?" To put yourself in the artist's mindset, then take out an oeuvre ...



that is not necessarily what the forger is trying to copy, which reproduces the idea of that artist as if he had painted it himself. That practically never happens.



Forgers are often people who do patchworks.



So, with Modigliani, there were a lot of these types. And play like that, and "boom", there it is.





This is typical as a standard for fakes. The real fake is the oeuvre of the forger.



You regard a subject, and you say, "Okay, I am going to paint this the way Modigliani would have painted this." And then you put yourself into the shoes of the artist completely.










[Examining a Modigliani that was exhibited at the Miami Museum of Art for many years, before being removed.]



[Alexandra Tice Painting Conservator, Washington, D.C.] I'd need to take it out of the frame,
but it's pretty rigid.
So I think there may be
another canvas attached to that,



which would prevent me from
seeing the back of the original.

I think there may be another canvas attached to that, which would prevent me from seeing the back of the original. If a painting's been torn badly, if a painting is flaking, if it's been terribly buckled, crimpled up, to put it back in a single plane, and to consolidate the paint film -- Linings have also been done, perhaps to disguise the back of the original painting. Let's take a look in ultraviolet light. -- Alexandra Tice Painting Conservator, Washington, D.C.

Here, I ... offer a definitive chronology of the true Asokan pillar, discounting those we now know were pre-Asokan. In other words our aim is to state clearly the order and dates of those pillars we know were both carved and erected by Asoka -- which are they? The latter question can be answered only after we are clear about which ones they are not. They do not include the Prayaga (Allahabad) pillar, since we now know that that monument had been standing with a plain shaft before Asoka instructed his mahamatras to engrave it with his first six Pillar Edicts which were issued in 243 B.C. However, in addition to the latter were engraved two earlier edicts: the first of these had been addressed by Asoka to the nearest dharma-mahamatras or 'ministers of morality' located at the regional capital, Kosambi, 30 km. to the west; the second was one of those 'Schism Edicts' first discovered and translated by Alexander Cunningham in 1870, and published in facsimile nine years later in the first edition of Inscriptions of Asoka. It is now important to recognise that nobody before Cunningham had known about this inscription -- and the reason why.



My inability to publish an actual photograph, depending instead on a reproduction of Cunningham's facsimile (fig. 4), has nothing to do with bureaucratic restrictions forbidding a camera in the Fort: the truth is that even if I had been allowed to take my camera, I could not have photographed the inscription satisfactorily, since it is too high and awkwardly placed on the shaft to be taken from the ground without special lenses. It is likewise important to know that the height above ground-level at which the inscription now appears is not the original height, which was lower on the shaft. The explanation is that when the shaft was re-erected in 1837 (after lying for a long period on the ground), the antiquarians of the Bengal Asiatic Society who had planned the restoration,... went out of their way to re-install it on a specially-designed plinth that it was never meant to have.

-- The True Chronology of Aśokan Pillars, by John Irwin

The Ashokan Pillar, located in the Allahabad Fort (madrascourier.com, "Why the Allahabad Pillar Inscriptions Are a National Heritage," by Karthik Venkatesh, November 16, 2018)

Allahabad pillar is a stambha, containing one of the pillar edicts of Ashoka, possibly erected by Ashoka, emperor of the Maurya dynasty, who reigned in the 3rd century BCE, or it may have prior origins. While it is one of the few extant pillars that carry Ashokan edicts, it is particularly notable for containing later inscriptions attributed to the Gupta emperor Samudragupta (4th century CE). Also engraved on the stone are inscriptions by the Mughal emperor Jahangir, from the 17th century.

According to some scholars, the pillar was moved from its original location and installed within Akbar's Allahabad Fort in Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh by Emperor Akbar himself, but this theory is disputed by other scholars who point out the absence of any confirmatory evidence that the pillar was moved, and pre-Mughal inscriptions that indicate that it was already present in its current location. As the fort is now occupied by the Indian Army, the public are only allowed limited access to the premises and special permission is required to view the pillar. [FN: Once a visitor enters the fort via one of the well-guarded gates, a long driveway brings him to the main gate of what is now an ordnance factory. Permission from the army’s station headquarters is required to enter and photography is prohibited from this point onwards. -- Allahabad’s hidden treasure, by Arjun Kumar, Times of India, August 13, 2012]

-- Allahabad Pillar, by Wikipedia

***

Pillar at Allahabad

In Allahabad there is a pillar with inscriptions from Ashoka and later inscriptions attributed to Samudragupta and Jehangir. It is clear from the inscription that the pillar was first erected at Kaushambi, an ancient town some 30 kilometres west of Allahabad that was the capital of the Koshala kingdom, and moved to Allahabad, presumably under Muslim rule.

The pillar is now located inside the Allahabad Fort, also the royal palace, built during the 16th century by Akbar at the confluence of the Ganges and Yamuna rivers. As the fort is occupied by the Indian Army it is essentially closed to the public and special permission is required to see the pillar. The Ashokan inscription is in Brahmi and is dated around 232 BC. A later inscription attributed to the second king of the Gupta empire, Samudragupta, is in the more refined Gupta script, a later version of Brahmi, and is dated to around 375 AD. This inscription lists the extent of the empire that Samudragupta built during his long reign. He had already been king for forty years at that time and would rule for another five. A still later inscription in Persian is from the Mughal emperor Jahangir. The Akbar Fort also houses the Akshay Vat, an Indian fig tree of great antiquity. The Ramayana refers to this tree under which Lord Rama is supposed to have prayed while on exile.

-- Pillars of Ashoka, by Wikipedia

The ashoka pillar is superb structure of mauryan period and kept inside the Allahabad fort. This fort is under the control of Army and tourists are not allowed to go inside without obtaining special pass.

Its out of bounds: The place now serves as a cantonment for the army and is out of bounds for visitors. Special passes may be arranged but the process is not a regular thing. Simply put, nothing worth at the place except for a temple.

-- by Dev1972, Kolkata (Calcutta), India, tripadvisor.com (March, 2016)

Allahabad fort is built by Emperor Akbar. Situated near banks of river Ganga and Yamuna. Close to Sangam. The fort is in control of Indian Army as Ordnance depot or army stores. Common People has very less access inside it. So no one exactly knows what's exactly inside it. Army keep it very secret. Inside fort where people can go, is akshayvat temple, having ancient tree of fig. Which covers many mythological stories, being home of man eating demon where people used to do suicide and other myths. If one wants to go there, they need special permission from commander of ordnance depot.

-- Samreen Siddiqu, Lives in Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, India, Author

The picture hangs in the shadows at the top of a dark, oak-panelled staircase. It is not a masterpiece, but it does repay close study. An effete Indian prince, wearing cloth of gold, sits high on his throne under a silken canopy. On his left stand scimitar and spear carrying officers from his own army; to his right, a group of powdered and periwigged Georgian gentlemen. The prince is eagerly thrusting a scroll into the hands of a statesmanlike, slightly overweight Englishman in a red frock coat.

The painting shows a scene from August 1765, when the young Mughal emperor Shah Alam, exiled from Delhi and defeated by East India Company troops, was forced into what we would now call an act of involuntary privatisation. The scroll is an order to dismiss his own Mughal revenue officials in Bengal, Bihar and Orissa, and replace them with a set of English traders appointed by Robert Clive – the new governor of Bengal – and the directors of the EIC, who the document describes as “the high and mighty, the noblest of exalted nobles, the chief of illustrious warriors, our faithful servants and sincere well-wishers, worthy of our royal favours, the English Company”. The collecting of Mughal taxes was henceforth subcontracted to a powerful multinational corporation – whose revenue-collecting operations were protected by its own private army.

It was at this moment that the East India Company (EIC) ceased to be a conventional corporation, trading and silks and spices, and became something much more unusual. Within a few years, 250 company clerks backed by the military force of 20,000 locally recruited Indian soldiers had become the effective rulers of Bengal. An international corporation was transforming itself into an aggressive colonial power.

Using its rapidly growing security force – its army had grown to 260,000 men by 1803 – it swiftly subdued and seized an entire subcontinent. Astonishingly, this took less than half a century. The first serious territorial conquests began in Bengal in 1756; 47 years later, the company’s reach extended as far north as the Mughal capital of Delhi, and almost all of India south of that city was by then effectively ruled from a boardroom in the City of London. “What honour is left to us?” asked a Mughal official named Narayan Singh, shortly after 1765, “when we have to take orders from a handful of traders who have not yet learned to wash their bottoms?”...

The transaction depicted in the painting was to have catastrophic consequences. As with all such corporations, then as now, the EIC was answerable only to its shareholders. With no stake in the just governance of the region, or its long-term well-being, the company’s rule quickly turned into the straightforward pillage of Bengal, and the rapid transfer westwards of its wealth.

Before long the province, already devastated by war, was struck down by the famine of 1769, then further ruined by high taxation. Company tax collectors were guilty of what today would be described as human rights violations. A senior official of the old Mughal regime in Bengal wrote in his diaries: “Indians were tortured to disclose their treasure; cities, towns and villages ransacked; jaghires and provinces purloined: these were the ‘delights’ and ‘religions’ of the directors and their servants.”

Bengal’s wealth rapidly drained into Britain, while its prosperous weavers and artisans were coerced “like so many slaves” by their new masters, and its markets flooded with British products. A proportion of the loot of Bengal went directly into Clive’s pocket. He returned to Britain with a personal fortune – then valued at £234,000 – that made him the richest self-made man in Europe. After the Battle of Plassey in 1757, a victory that owed more to treachery, forged contracts, bankers and bribes than military prowess, he transferred to the EIC treasury no less than £2.5m seized from the defeated rulers of Bengal – in today’s currency, around £23m for Clive and £250m for the company.

No great sophistication was required. The entire contents of the Bengal treasury were simply loaded into 100 boats and punted down the Ganges from the Nawab of Bengal’s palace to Fort William, the company’s Calcutta headquarters. A portion of the proceeds was later spent rebuilding Powis.

The painting at Powis that shows the granting of the Diwani is suitably deceptive: the painter, Benjamin West, had never been to India. Even at the time, a reviewer noted that the mosque in the background bore a suspiciously strong resemblance “to our venerable dome of St Paul”. In reality, there had been no grand public ceremony. The transfer took place privately, inside Clive’s tent, which had just been erected on the parade ground of the newly seized Mughal fort at Allahabad. As for Shah Alam’s silken throne, it was in fact Clive’s armchair, which for the occasion had been hoisted on to his dining room table and covered with a chintz bedspread.

Later, the British dignified the document by calling it the Treaty of Allahabad, though Clive had dictated the terms and a terrified Shah Alam had simply waved them through. As the contemporary Mughal historian Sayyid Ghulam Husain Khan put it: “A business of such magnitude, as left neither pretence nor subterfuge, and which at any other time would have required the sending of wise ambassadors and able negotiators, as well as much parley and conference with the East India Company and the King of England, and much negotiation and contention with the ministers, was done and finished in less time than would usually have been taken up for the sale of a jack-ass, or a beast of burden, or a head of cattle.”...

The people of Allahabad have also chosen to forget this episode in their history. The red sandstone Mughal fort where the treaty was extracted from Shah Alam -– a much larger fort than those visited by tourists in Lahore, Agra or Delhi -– is still a closed-off military zone and, when I visited it late last year, neither the guards at the gate nor their officers knew anything of the events that had taken place there; none of the sentries had even heard of the company whose cannons still dot the parade ground where Clive’s tent was erected....

In 1859, it was again within the walls of Allahabad Fort that the governor general, Lord Canning, formally announced that the company’s Indian possessions would be nationalised and pass into the control of the British Crown. Queen Victoria, rather than the directors of the EIC would henceforth be ruler of India.

-- The East India Company: The original corporate raiders. For a century, the East India Company conquered, subjugated and plundered vast tracts of south Asia. The lessons of its brutal reign have never been more relevant, by William Dalrymple

[knocks on the canvas] Yeah, it has that feel.
If a painting's been torn badly,
if a painting is flaking...



if it's been terribly buckled, crimpled up,
to put it back in a single plane
and to consolidate the paint film.



Linings have also been done, um...



Perhaps to disguise the back
of the original painting.
Let's take a look
in ultraviolet light, to get a good look.



Um, the varnish...
is fluorescing, which indicates
it's been on there for a while.
If it's been in a restorer's hands



this might well be the restoration varnish.
It's uneven.


(This strongly suggests that whoever painted this work was the same person to forge the signature.)



And the hair, the pigment in the hair,
fluoresces the same way the signature does.
So it certainly suggests that it is


(Elmyr?)

similar paint to that hair.

[??? ] [Speaking Spanish] It's as if he had the same talent as Modigliani.

[Sabine Cordesse, Attorney, Paris] [Speaking French] There are fake Picasso, fake Dufy, fake Van Dogen. The man was extraordinarily prolific. He was the most adept in all of the masters. Matisse --



He had incredible artistic precision above all else.

There are fake Picasso, fake Dufy, fake Van Dogen. The man was extraordinarily prolific. He was the most adept in all of the masters. Matisse. He had incredible artistic precision above all else. -- Sabine Cordesse, Attorney, Paris

(Henri Matisse)



[Peggy Holbein Ellis, Conservator, Institute of Fine Art, NYU, New York City] Now we do think this is a Elmyr de Hory.

[Allen Olson-Urtecho, Fine Arts Adjuster, Texas] Oh.

[Peggy Holbein Ellis, Conservator, Institute of Fine Art, NYU, New York City] Um, it is very good.

[Allen Olson-Urtecho, Fine Arts Adjuster, Texas] Yes.

[Peggy Holbein Ellis, Conservator, Institute of Fine Art, NYU, New York City] And, uh...
however, ultimately,
to fool the eye even more...

[Allen Olson-Urtecho, Fine Arts Adjuster, Texas] Yes.

[Peggy Holbein Ellis, Conservator, Institute of Fine Art, NYU, New York City] ...this is passed off
as a print.

To fool the eye even more, this is passed off as a print. -- Peggy Holbein Ellis, Conservator, Institute of Fine Art, NYU, New York City

If you look at this image, you'll see
lines, and they form
a very pleasant face...

[Allen Olson-Urtecho, Fine Arts Adjuster, Texas] Yes.

[Peggy Holbein Ellis, Conservator, Institute of Fine Art, NYU, New York City] ...of a woman.
And what else do you see?

[Allen Olson-Urtecho, Fine Arts Adjuster, Texas] Oh, I see a signature.

[Peggy Holbein Ellis, Conservator, Institute of Fine Art, NYU, New York City] Yeah.

[Allen Olson-Urtecho, Fine Arts Adjuster, Texas] We see it's a series. It says 23-50.

[Peggy Holbein Ellis, Conservator, Institute of Fine Art, NYU, New York City] Okay.
So the edition is 50,



there's 50 in existence,
and this is the 23rd.
Now, lithographs
are a print making technique.
You think of a Crayola crayon
drived across a paper with texture
what happens to the little bits
of Crayola crayon?

[Allen Olson-Urtecho, Fine Arts Adjuster, Texas] Well, they stay on the paper.

[Peggy Holbein Ellis, Conservator, Institute of Fine Art, NYU, New York City] Yeah, on the high
points, on the high points.
When you're drawing with a wax crayon,
the longer you draw,



the softer the wax gets
and the darker the line.
So what you generally see
is an accumulation of



more and more crayon
onto the surface of the paper.



So let's follow this line down.



[Elmyr de Hory, Art Forger] Matisse drawings,



line were never as sure as mine.
He was hesitant.

[Peggy Holbein Ellis, Conservator, Institute of Fine Art, NYU, New York City] These are very long complex lines.

[Allen Olson-Urtecho, Fine Arts Adjuster, Texas] Yeah, that's a very long line.



[Peggy Holbein Ellis, Conservator, Institute of Fine Art, NYU, New York City] Look at that.
That is a long line.

[Allen Olson-Urtecho, Fine Arts Adjuster, Texas] And it's a lot of
confidence in doing that,
with starting it and finishing it.
You think he understood that...

[Peggy Holbein Ellis, Conservator, Institute of Fine Art, NYU, New York City] It is this line right here.

[Allen Olson-Urtecho, Fine Arts Adjuster, Texas] Oh, that went on for a while.

[Peggy Holbein Ellis, Conservator, Institute of Fine Art, NYU, New York City] Yep.

[Allen Olson-Urtecho, Fine Arts Adjuster, Texas] And we can see it ends over here,
just when it gets really warm.

[Peggy Holbein Ellis, Conservator, Institute of Fine Art, NYU, New York City] Yep. Yeah. Yeah.


(Elmyr?)

[Allen Olson-Urtecho, Fine Arts Adjuster, Texas] That's a very confident hand.

[Peggy Holbein Ellis, Conservator, Institute of Fine Art, NYU, New York City] That's an extremely confident hand.

[admin]

Part 6 of 10

[Marc Restellini, Founder/President, Pinacotheque Museum, Paris] [Speaking French] I'm not sure Elmyr had this capacity to replicate a Modigliani. Maybe he had it. But more than once...



I have been able to recognize an Elmyr immediately.


(Amedeo Modigliani)

Because I have seen many, so I have the knowledge.


(Amedeo Modigliani)


(Marc Restellini, author of Modigliani: The Melancholy Angel, is considered one of the leading Modigliani experts alive today. Despite death threats, he is at work on a definitive catalogue raisonne for the artist.)



[Elmyr de Hory, Art Forger] I want to write uniquely
and exclusively of my work.
And I think my work is good enough
and is serious enough



to give pleasure and joy
to the people who will acquire them.

[Marc Restellini, Founder/President, Pinacotheque Museum, Paris] [Speaking French] He continued to have problems in his personal life because of his homosexuality. This is something he would live with all his life.



He had to leave certain circles



because of history, his history of boys.

He continued to have problems in his personal life because of his homosexuality. This is something he would live with all his life. He had to leave certain circles because of history, his history of boys. -- Marc Restellini, Founder/President, Pinacotheque Museum, Paris

[Elmyr de Hory, Art Forger] Yes, I have too many girls.



They have to put up with... how many?
One, with... two, three, four, five.
Two boys, and five girls.



It's a hard... it's a hard profession.


[Palm Springs Holiday]





[Gerald E. Czulewicz, Sr., Collector/Appraiser, St. Paul] I met Elmyr in Palm Springs,
California, in 1964.



I was involved with Sascha Brastoff...
very popular in Southern California,



and most known for his
ceramics and his jewelry,
gold jewelry and that...
and Wladziu Liberace, the pianist...
and Howard Shoup,





the high style fashion designer for MGM,
and also for Judy Garland,
did all of Judy Garland's costumes
for the Judy Garland television series.
The three of them had a gallery
called the Esplanade



in Westwood, California.
It was kinda like the "in"
gallery at the time,
mainly because of the namesakes
of the ownership.



We had one of the most
unique meetings with Elmyr
at a little restaurant called the Matador,
a little Spanish restaurant, which was
a favorite hangout for a lot
of celebrity people and that.
And, uh, the meeting was based on the idea
of Elmyr having an exhibition of
his own work at the Esplanade.
Very unexpectedly,
in that meeting, in the conversations,
uh, the idea of his reputation
being affiliated
with fake or fraudulent art
had come up in conversation.



Prior to that, I had no true knowledge
of it or anything,



but, you know, as
an art collector, art dealer,
art appraiser, and so forth,
I kinda related to that portion
in that conversation very deeply.
And I thought, "My goodness.
Isn't this something?"



[Greetings from FLORIDA, "The Land of Sunshine"]



[Michel Braudeau, Journalist/Author, Paris] [Speaking French] Ultimately, he came back, in the '40s or '50s, he came back to Miami.





[Jeanne Chisholm, Gallerist, Palm Beach] Well, I was first introduced
to Elmyr de Hory's work
as a little girl
when I would visit Mother's
friends in Palm Beach or perhaps Miami,



and it just seemed every great house
had a de Hory or two





juxtaposed amongst all of these
other fabulous collections
of authentic, original paintings.
And I was a rather brazen,
curious, outspoken child, then.
I had to be...
have my enthusiasm curbed, so to speak.



You know, to not be
so terribly rude as to ask,



"Which one is the de Hory?
Which one is the fake?"

It just seemed every great house had a de Hory or two juxtaposed amongst all of these other fabulous collections of authentic, original paintings. -- Jeanne Chisholm, Gallerist, Palm Beach

[Michel Braudeau, Journalist/Author, Paris] [Speaking French] He was very depressed. He was suicidal. It was at this time that he met another forger



who had a good head for this way of life. Fernand Legros had knowledge.



He was gay, like Elmyr.



Both of them fakers. But Legros



had a cheeky assurance about him that was unbelievable.

[Sabine Cordesse, Attorney, Paris] [Speaking French] It's clear that Legros was the head, or the brains, of the operation.



He was the type that has that magic touch.



[Michel Braudeau, Journalist/Author, Paris] [Speaking French] He arrived in America with a suitcase filled with fakes, but not signed. Because if the customs agent asked him, "What is this, Mr. Legros?", he would answer, "Oh, this? This is nothing but copies."



Oh, he was impossible! Then he would have the paintings forged. And then, upon his return, he'd have the same agents, the American customs agents,



issue him certificates of authenticity for all of the paintings. Thus he had increased the value of the paintings by 100%. And so Legros, with the help of these customs agents,



made a fortune with this one suitcase.

He was very depressed. He was suicidal. It was at this time that he met another forger who had a good head for this way of life. Fernand Legros had knowledge. He was gay, like Elmyr. Both of them fakers. But Legros had a cheeky assurance about him that was unbelievable. He arrived in America with a suitcase filled with fakes, but not signed. Because if the customs agent asked him, "What is this, Mr. Legros?", he would answer, "Oh, this? This is nothing but copies." Oh, he was impossible! Then he would have the paintings forged. And then, upon his return, he'd have the same agents, the American customs agents, issue him certificates of authenticity for all of the paintings. Thus he had increased the value of the paintings by 100%. And so Legros, with the help of these customs agents, made a fortune with this one suitcase. -- Michel Braudeau, Journalist/Author, Paris

[Sabine Cordesse, Attorney, Paris] [Speaking French] The brains was clearly Legros. Legros had this assurance,



like a Levantine, as you say.



[Michel Braudeau, Journalist/Author, Paris] [Speaking French] He wore a fur coat. He had gold chains, dark sunglasses,



a Rolls Royce, a big beard -- a true character.



Finally, the police began to, the police and certain collectors, began to wake up a little late --



and began to realize that something was not right.



Something was, in fact, wrong with what was being sold. Then they went to Mexico,





I think, where they continued to sell via the mails, because they continued to sell.



[Narayan Khandekar, Director, Straus Center for Conservation & Technical Studies, Harvard Art Museums] Elmyr offers us a chance
to look at how decisions were made,



and to understand with...
where we might have gone wrong,
where a forger can get in there
and take advantage of a certain system.


[Agnes Mongan, 1905-1996, Curator of Drawings, Harvard, 1949-1975]
[Agnes Mongan, Fogg Museum, Harvard, 1968-1971]

Agnes Mongan was somebody who started
at a junior level in the museum,
and worked her way up
to eventually be
the director of the museum.
In a world at that time
that was dominated by men,
she was an important female figure,
and an inspiration for many.





She had these drawings
that were in her collection.
She had access
to the Conservation Department
and all the facilities there.





What the drawings had was,
that they were made of materials
that were all available to the artist.
And so, any scientific approach
to try and identify
the materials used on the drawings
would not have yielded any evidence
whether they are real or not.
Again, they contain a veneer of something
that looks genuine.
But when you spend
a lot of time looking at them,
there's something missing.
In this instance,
it's the connoisseurship leg
of the stool that came away,
and unbalanced this tripod.
You know, she had the eye.
You know, she was able to
look at these and say,



"There's something
wrong with these drawings.
They don't look right."

Agnes Mongan was somebody who started at a junior level in the museum, and worked her way up to eventually be the director of the museum.... She had these drawings that were in her collection.... Again, they contain a veneer of something that looks genuine. But when you spend a lot of time looking at them, there's something missing. In this instance, it's the connoisseurship leg of the stool that came away, and unbalanced this tripod. You know, she had the eye. You know, she was able to look at these and say, "There's something wrong with these drawings. They don't look right." -- Narayan Khandekar, Director, Straus Center for Conservation & Technical Studies, Harvard Art Museums

[Michel Braudeau, Journalist/Author, Paris] [Speaking French] Legros joined up with a young Canadian, Real Lessard,



who also made the fakes, and sold like that.





[Sabine Cordesse, Attorney, Paris] [Speaking French] The brains was clearly Legros.



It was he who had had the ideas; he who managed the group. It was he who orchestrated on one side Elmyr de Hory,



and on the other side, Real Lessard.

[Michel Braudeau, Journalist/Author, Paris] [Speaking French] Legros found Elmyr to be a little agitated and nervous,



so he sent him to Australia for a while.

Legros found Elmyr to be a little agitated and nervous, so he sent him to Australia for a while. -- Michel Braudeau, Journalist/Author, Paris

[AUSTRALIA]



[Peggy Holbein Ellis, Conservator, Institute of Fine Art, NYU, New York City] If we, at first glance,
as we look at this, our eyes immediately
make the connections, recognize the image.
And it says to us,



"This is... this is Matisse.



In fact, here's Matisse, right back here
looking in." And this
is a very exciting drawing for that.



And it's signed,
"Henri Matisse, 1935."
Everything is right about it
in terms of materials.
The ink is right: he used a dip pen.
The characteristics
of the lines are correct.



It is on an artist paper
that is like the
paper used by Matisse.

[Allen Olson-Urtecho, Fine Arts Adjuster, Texas] There's some writing on the back.



[Peggy Holbein Ellis, Conservator, Institute of Fine Art, NYU, New York City] And we do have a watermark
on here, too -- right here.
We know that Matisse
did use MBM France paper.
However, there is a little red flag here.

[Allen Olson-Urtecho, Fine Arts Adjuster, Texas] Yes?

[Peggy Holbein Ellis, Conservator, Institute of Fine Art, NYU, New York City] Perrigo. J Perrigo, it would appear,
was never used by Matisse.
Interestingly enough,
Perrigo arche was sold in Australia.



[Allen Olson-Urtecho, Fine Arts Adjuster, Texas] Oh!

[Peggy Holbein Ellis, Conservator, Institute of Fine Art, NYU, New York City] Oh!

If we, at first glance, as we look at this, our eyes immediately make the connections, recognize the image. And it says to us, "This is... this is Matisse. In fact, here's Matisse, right back here looking in." And this is a very exciting drawing for that. And it's signed, "Henri Matisse, 1935." Everything is right about it in terms of materials. The ink is right: he used a dip pen. The characteristics of the lines are correct. It is on an artist paper that is like the paper used by Matisse. And we do have a watermark on here, too -- right here. We know that Matisse did use MBM France paper. However, there is a little red flag here. Perrigo. J Perrigo, it would appear, was never used by Matisse. Interestingly enough, Perrigo arche was sold in Australia. -- Peggy Holbein Ellis, Conservator, Institute of Fine Art, NYU, New York City

[Sabine Cordesse, Attorney, Paris] [Speaking French] It's very interesting because, in addressing Fernand Legros, and Real Lessard, you address a population that was every adaptable. They would offer a Dufy in [the] United States, they would offer a Matisse in Caracas. Truly adaptable.



They were high rollers in the financial side. I think he was an absolute beast, because he would demand,



"Make me a Dufy, or you will be in trouble! Make it quick!"



And then he would sell it to a poor countess.

[admin]

Part 7 of 10

[LONDON]



[Kristina von Merveldt, Countess, London]



[Allen Olson-Urtecho, Fine Arts Adjuster, Texas] So, tell me about art in your life?
Did you grow up with it,
or how did it enter your life?



[Kristina von Merveldt, Countess, London] I grew up in a castle.



So there must have been lots of it.



We've got a few Modiglianis.
I've got a Marie Laurencin,
which I think you've seen.
I've got a couple of Dufys.
And Picassos, which I don't think
masters it.
And the lady here,
who we can't mention,
she bought a huge collection.
And then, when they had a few problems,
somehow or other I ended up
with the collection -- at a price.



But, as you know, he didn't make much money
doing his own stuff.



So then, whoever it was,
started making him
not copy, but make one more.
So let's say there are 100 Picassos --
there must be 150 nowadays.



They're fakes, aren't they?
They're not forgeries.
Because they are not copies.
They're just one more.



So like, if Dufy painted
20, now there are 50.
Well he didn't,
he didn't copy precisely,
but, I mean, as you well know
he used the right paper,
he used the right whatever it had to be.
But he was brilliant, I think.

So then whoever it was started making him, not copy, but make one more. So let's say there are 100 Picassos. There must be 150 nowadays. So like if Dufy painted 20, now there are 50. -- Kristina von Merveldt, Countess, London

And they say, "Oh, he never
signed Dufy or Picasso."



That's rubbish.

[Sabine Cordesse, Attorney, Paris] [Speaking French] Legros was probably a great seducer. He would court the widows of the artists.

Legros was probably a great seducer. He would court the widows of the artists. -- Sabine Cordesse, Attorney, Paris

[Roger de Cabrol, Interior Designer & Friend of Elmyr, New York City]

Some of the widows, they still were alive.
And he knew they were not even aware
of what the husbands had done.
And he would just pay them a little bit,
and then they would just
sign a document saying,
"Yes, my husband painted this."

Some of the widows, they still were alive. And he knew they were not even aware of what the husbands had done. And he would just pay them a little bit, and then they would just sign a document saying, "Yes, my husband painted this." -- Roger de Cabrol, Interior Designer & Friend of Elmyr, New York City

And that was it,
it was not that much research.

[Michel Braudeau, Journalist/Author, Paris] [Speaking French] Legros, in part for his own survival, sent Elmyr to live in Ibiza.



Ibiza had yet to become known from the film of Barbert Schroeder.



[IBIZA]

-- Pink Floyd – Cirrus Minor (soundtrack to Barbet Schroeder’s film)

[Mariano Llobet, Elmyr's Lawyer & Friend, Ibiza] [Speaking Spanish] Elmyr first came to Ibiza, and established himself there. He resided adjacent to one of my properties, in Villa Platero.









Elmyr was a sensible person. A very appreciative person. A person of impeccable taste.



But above everything else, theatrical.



He always seemed to be on stage.







Always impeccably dressed, generally.



But for me, he was truly a great performer.





He really knew how to live life.

Elmyr was a sensible person. A very appreciative person. A person of impeccable taste. But above everything else, theatrical. He always seemed to be on stage. Always impeccably dressed, generally. But for me, he was truly a great performer. He really knew how to live life.-- Mariano Llobet, Elmyr's Lawyer & Friend, Ibiza

[Carlos Martorell, Author/Publicist, Ibiza] [Speaking French] This is a party in Ibiza.



That's me.





When I came to Ibiza for the first time,
the reason was, in the times of Franco,
there was a lot of repression.



Here was a place with total freedom,
completely virgin,
a very poor, very poor island.
But because of poverty,
it was absolutely beautiful.
We were living without
electricity and running water
in the country.



[Roger de Cabrol, Interior Designer & Friend of Elmyr, New York City] Ibiza, nobody knew about it, really.



It was like, to get there,
the access was like, you know,
you'd fly in a little plane,
and the airport was a tiny hut.



[Lanny Powers, Artist/Curator & Friend of Elmyr, New York City] The place was so beautiful, and so utopian,
that everybody had the need
to create something out of that.
It was quite extraordinary.

The place was so beautiful, and so utopian, that everybody had the need to create something out of that. It was quite extraordinary. -- Lanny Powers, Artist/Curator & Friend of Elmyr, New York City

[Roger de Cabrol, Interior Designer & Friend of Elmyr, New York City] And in those days, in the '60s,
what you had is Franco was alive.
So you had basically, all the criminals
who were being sought after
by Interpol, or whatever,
living in that island.



You had Nazis.



You had conmen. You had everything.



And in fact, you know,
the police force in the island
were dressed in remnants
of the Afrika Korps.

And in those days, in the '60s, what you had is Franco was alive. So you had basically, all the criminals who were being sought after by Interpol, or whatever, living in that island. You had Nazis. You had conmen. You had everything. And in fact, you know, the police force in the island were dressed in remnants of the Afrika Korps. -- Roger de Cabrol, Interior Designer & Friend of Elmyr, New York City

The Afrika Korps or German Africa Corps (German: Deutsches Afrikakorps, pronounced DAK) was the German expeditionary force in Africa during the North African Campaign of World War II. First sent as a holding force to shore up the Italian defense of its African colonies, the formation fought on in Africa, under various appellations, from March 1941 until its surrender in May 1943. The unit's best known commander was Field Marshal Erwin Rommel.

The Afrika Korps formed on 11 January 1941 and one of Hitler's favourite generals, Erwin Rommel, was designated as commander on 11 February. Originally Hans von Funck was to have commanded it, but Hitler loathed von Funck, as he had been a personal staff officer of Werner von Fritsch until von Fritsch was dismissed in 1938.

The German Armed Forces High Command (Oberkommando der Wehrmacht, OKW) had decided to send a "blocking force" to Italian Libya to support the Italian army. The Italian 10th Army had been routed by the British Commonwealth Western Desert Force in Operation Compass (9 December 1940 – 9 February 1941) and captured at the Battle of Beda Fomm. The German blocking force, commanded by Rommel, at first consisted of a force based only on Panzer Regiment 5, which was put together from the second regiment of the 3rd Panzer Division. These elements were organized into the 5th Light Division when they arrived in Africa from 10 February – 12 March 1941. In late April and into May, the 5th Light Division was joined by elements of 15th Panzer Division, transferred from Italy. At this time, the Afrika Korps consisted of the two divisions, and was subordinated to the Italian chain of command in Africa.[2]

On 15 August 1941, the German 5th Light Division was redesignated 21st Panzer Division, the higher formation of which was still the Afrika Korps. During the summer of 1941, the OKW increased the presence in Africa and created a new headquarters called Panzer Group Africa. On 15 August, the Panzer Group was activated with Rommel in command, and command of the Afrika Korps was turned over to Ludwig Crüwell. The Panzer Group comprised the Afrika Korps, with some additional German units now in North Africa, plus two corps of Italian units. The Panzer Group was, in turn, redesignated as Panzer Army Africa on 30 January 1942.

After the German defeat in the Second Battle of El Alamein and the Allied landings in Morocco and Algeria (Operation Torch), the OKW once more upgraded the presence in Africa by adding first the XC Army Corps, under Nehring, in Tunisia on 19 November 1942, then an additional 5th Panzer Army on 8 December, under the command of Colonel-General Hans-Jürgen von Arnim.

On 23 February 1943, the original Panzer Army Africa, which had since been re-styled as the German-Italian Panzer Army, was now redesignated as the Italian 1st Army and put under the command of Italian general Giovanni Messe. Rommel, meanwhile, was placed in command of a new Army Group Africa, created to control both the Italian 1st Army and the 5th Panzer Army. The remnants of the Afrika Korps and surviving units of the 1st Italian Army retreated into Tunisia. Command of the Army Group was turned over to Arnim in March. On 13 May, the Afrika Korps surrendered, along with all other remaining Axis forces in North Africa.

Most Afrika Korps POWs were transported to the United States and held in Camp Shelby in Mississippi, Camp Hearne in Texas and other POW camps until the end of the war.

-- Afrika Korps, by Wikipedia

'Cause Spain in the '60s
and '70s was, you know,
church and, uh --
it wasn't like it is now.



They were like 40 years behind.

[Carlos Martorell, Author/Publicist, Ibiza] The group of people in Ibiza
was called a family.



We were all black sheeps
escaping from our families.
And we created THE family here.

[Roger de Cabrol, Interior Designer & Friend of Elmyr, New York City] It was a beautiful island.



[Lanny Powers, Artist/Curator & Friend of Elmyr, New York City] It was a wonderfully magic time, actually.



[Carlos Martorell, Author/Publicist, Ibiza] It was a fantastic time.



[Lanny Powers, Artist/Curator & Friend of Elmyr, New York City] In retrospect, it seems
incredibly innocent.

[Carlos Martorell, Author/Publicist, Ibiza] One of my uncles had a lover,
called Angeles de la Vega.
When I arrived to Ibiza,
there was a woman --
she's still alive -- called Arlene.
An American woman.



She opened a bar: La Tierra.

[Lanny Powers, Artist/Curator & Friend of Elmyr, New York City] It would be a little bit like
the Rick's in "Casablanca."
You saw people there you knew
from all over the world.

[Carlos Martorell, Author/Publicist, Ibiza] The bar was fantastic.
It was a meeting point after dinner.



[Lanny Powers, Artist/Curator & Friend of Elmyr, New York City] It was run by
a Jewish American lady,
named Arlene Kaufman.
She spoke Spanish impeccably.
Grammatically, but with a Brooklyn accent.
So it was [imitating her Brooklyn Spanish]
I mean, it was --



[Carlos Martorell, Author/Publicist, Ibiza] And she was a fantastic DJ.
Not "Chumba, Chumba, Chumba," but I mean --
the best music you ever heard
was Arlene in La Tierra.
The first day I arrived to Ibiza,
of course, I go to La Tierra.
Angeles de la Vega,
she had a bar next called
La Sirena Gorda: The Fat Mermaid.
She was fat also.
"Come, sit down; let's talk."
Then I realize she was the lover,
had been the lover of my uncle Oliveras.
I was really young,
and looking quite good.
So she took me to Elmyr's house
as a sexual present.
I wanted to kill her.
I arrived there,
completely naive. I didn't know her.
Elmyr already was --
he always looked like
a very old man to me, you know?
I never met Elmyr very young.
He had white hair, small,
with glasses sometimes, you know?
And I remember, there was
like a sculpture,
a white sculpture of a mermaid
with a male sex.



And I was waiting like this,
and suddenly I realize
I was against that funny sculpture.
"What? No problem."
Uh, Elmyr understood perfectly
that I was not going to be there
for what Angeles thought.
And we became good friends.

The first day I arrived to Ibiza, of course, I go to La Tierra. Angeles de la Vega, she had a bar next called La Sirena Gorda: The Fat Mermaid. She was fat also. "Come, sit down; let's talk." Then I realize she was the lover, had been the lover of my uncle Oliveras. I was really young, and looking quite good. So she took me to Elmyr's house as a sexual present. I wanted to kill her. I arrived there, completely naive. I didn't know her. Elmyr already was -- he always looked like a very old man to me, you know? I never met Elmyr very young. He had white hair, small, with glasses sometimes, you know? And I remember, there was like a sculpture, a white sculpture of a mermaid with a male sex. And I was waiting like this, and suddenly I realize I was against that funny sculpture. "What? No problem." Elmyr understood perfectly that I was not going to be there for what Angeles thought. And we became good friends. -- Carlos Martorell, Author/Publicist, Ibiza

[Lanny Powers, Artist/Curator & Friend of Elmyr, New York City] Elmyr's house, La Falaise,
was very beautiful.



[Richard Compton Miller, Journalist & Friend, London] And he invited me to his villa,
his rented villa in Ibiza,
which I really enjoyed.
And the funny thing about staying there
was that you never saw him
early in the morning.
Because his routine was to get up at dawn.
And there was one --
it was like a sort of garage.
And he used to work in there.
And that one thing was banned.
He made it very clear,
"You are not allowed into that room."
That room was a secret.



And that's where he painted,
until about lunch time.

And he invited me to his villa, his rented villa in Ibiza, which I really enjoyed. And the funny thing about staying there was that you never saw him early in the morning. Because his routine was to get up at dawn. And there was one -- it was like a sort of garage. And he used to work in there. And that one thing was banned. He made it very clear, "You are not allowed into that room." That room was a secret. And that's where he painted, until about lunch time. -- Richard Compton Miller, Journalist & Friend, London

[Lanny Powers, Artist/Curator & Friend of Elmyr, New York City] There were a lot of artists
in Ibiza in those days.
That was a very,
it was very much a center of activity,
of creative activity.
There was a lot going on.

[Richard Compton Miller, Journalist & Friend, London] And then he would go down to Ibiza Town
where he was a great character.
People loved him.



And, you know, he would sit
at his favorite bar
and have a coffee, and people would say,
"Hi, Elmyr."



[Joel Roger, Gallerist & Antiques Dealer, Ibiza] He had a way in court.
I ran into him in the Montesol.

[Kristina von Merveldt, Countess, London] We met him in that café --
whatever the cafe's called -- in Ibiza.





[Richard Compton Miller, Journalist & Friend, London] This is a picture that Elmyr
did when we were both in
Ibiza Town.
And he was sitting at the café,
as he always did,
particularly on a Saturday morning.
And, you know, I suddenly
noticed he was doing a drawing.
And it turned out that he was sketching me
with this rather ridiculous hat.
And afterwards,
he tore it off and gave it to me.
And I'm rather proud of it.



[Joel Roger, Gallerist & Antiques Dealer, Ibiza] Always when he was
having a drink there or
coffee or lunch,



there was a lot of people
sitting around him.

[Elmyr de Hory, Art Forger] So, tomorrow. The party is a big party.
So don't miss it tomorrow. 8:00. 8:00.



[Woman] Thank you very much, Elmyr.

[Joel Roger, Gallerist & Antiques Dealer, Ibiza] And he was inviting everyone
who would like to have a drink or whatever.
So it was incredible.

[admin]

Part 8 of 10



[Kristina von Merveldt, Countess, London] He was adorable. And he was very small.
And he had a mind of his own,
as you well know.



[Joel Roger, Gallerist & Antiques Dealer, Ibiza] He was giving a fabulous party.
Everybody was received like a princess.
And you were living in another world.
Of course, they had no money problem.

He was giving a fabulous party. Everybody was received like a princess. And you were living in another world. Of course, they had no money problem. -- Joel Roger, Gallerist & Antiques Dealer, Ibiza

[Elmyr de Hory, Art Forger] Anybody want to eat?



[Lanny Powers, Artist/Curator & Friend of Elmyr, New York City] He liked to play with



the European aristocracy.



They were the people



who really knew who he was.



And he knew who they were.



And somehow, that was his playground.



He enjoyed being with those people.
That's who he wanted acknowledgment from.

He liked to play with the European aristocracy. They were the people who really knew who he was. And he knew who they were. And somehow, that was his playground. He enjoyed being with those people. That's who he wanted acknowledgment from. -- Lanny Powers, Artist/Curator & Friend of Elmyr, New York City

[Roger de Cabrol, Interior Designer & Friend of Elmyr, New York City] He knew the whole
French community in Ibiza.



He knew Jacqueline de Ribes.
He knew my uncle [inaudible] Cabrol.
He knew [inaudible]...
And he had many friends.

Ursula Andress

Ursula Andress was
a very good friend of his.



He knew Roman Polanski. He was
a very good friend of his.



Fernando Ray, the actor.



[Carlos Martorell, Author/Publicist, Ibiza] I used to see him
with a lot of friends, like



Countess Jacqueline de Ribes,
who was nominated
the most elegant woman in the world.

Jacqueline de Ribes in Yves Saint Laurent, photographed by Richard Avedon, in 1962. The Richard Avedon Foundation / Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art

[Roger de Cabrol, Interior Designer & Friend of Elmyr, New York City] [Speaking French] The fake princess, Smilja Mihalovich; the comtesse (Jacqueline) de Ribes; the wife of Clifford Irving; me, with the faux princess.



[Carlos Martorell, Author/Publicist, Ibiza] Smilja Mihailovich
was an incredible personage,
and a very good friend of Elmyr.
But it was fantastic, because Smilja
was married to a taxi driver.

Smilja Mihailovitch

When she comes here,
and we don't know why she comes here,
she pretends she's a princess.
But they used to talk
in Hungarian, or in Yugoslavian.
And they were insulting each other.
It was fantastic.
I remember her saying [Speaking in Hungarian] --
It's like, "Fuck you," to him.
And in French he was saying,
"Princesse, de mon cul": "Princess of my ass," you know.
It was incredible, because
they were very good friends.
But they were fighting all the time.

Smilja Mihailovich was an incredible personage, and a very good friend of Elmyr. But it was fantastic, because Smilja was married to a taxi driver. When she comes here, and we don't know why she comes here, she pretends she's a princess. But they used to talk in Hungarian, or in Yugoslavian. And they were insulting each other. It was fantastic. I remember her saying [Speaking in Hungarian] -- It's like, "Fuck you," to him. And in French he was saying, "Princesse, de mon cul": "Princess of my ass," you know. It was incredible, because they were very good friends. But they were fighting all the time. -- Carlos Martorell, Author/Publicist, Ibiza

[Lanny Powers, Artist/Curator & Friend of Elmyr, New York City] He didn't seem to care a great deal
about the art scene that was going on.
I mean, he was interested. But it wasn't
like he was going
to be a participant in it.

[Mariano Llobet, Elmyr's Lawyer & Friend, Ibiza] [Speaking Spanish] And then it became known that he was an artist. Our position with Elmyr's work is complicated,



reflecting on him as a complex character that deserves unique treatment.



[Elena Ruiz, Director, Contemporary Art Museum, Ibiza] [Speaking Spanish] Elmyr is fascinating, especially from a human interest aspect. He invented his art pieces, not necessarily copying, but he invented masterpieces from famous artists, as well as reputable upcoming artists. I think that is brilliant.

Elmyr is fascinating, especially from a human interest aspect. He invented his art pieces, not necessarily copying, but he invented masterpieces from famous artists, as well as reputable upcoming artists. I think that is brilliant. -- Elena Ruiz, Director, Contemporary Art Museum, Ibiza

[Carlos Martorell, Author/Publicist, Ibiza] Pacha organizes a party for cancer.
And there was an auction.
And Elmyr gave us a painting.



And the painting is in the book of Pacha,
the photo with him.



And the painting is quite ugly.
Because he was fantastic --
alla fasson Picasso, alla fasson Chagall, alla fasson Matisse.
Fantastic. But when he
was supposed to do something,
it was four flowers, and not very good.

Pacha organizes a party for cancer. And there was an auction. And Elmyr gave us a painting. And the painting is in the book of Pacha, the photo with him. And the painting is quite ugly. Because he was fantastic -- alla fasson Picasso, alla fasson Chagall, alla fasson Matisse. Fantastic. But when he was supposed to do something, it was four flowers, and not very good. -- Carlos Martorell, Author/Publicist, Ibiza

Still life after Raoul Dufy, watercolor on paper, h. 27-1/2 w. 20-1/2 in.(sheet)
signed 'Dufy' lower right and 'Elmyr' on verso, on Arches paper, framed

[Roger de Cabrol, Interior Designer & Friend of Elmyr, New York City] But there's some forgers
who can copy very well.
And then they have their own style.
He didn't have his own style.

But there's some forgers who can copy very well. And then they have their own style. He didn't have his own style. -- Roger de Cabrol, Interior Designer & Friend of Elmyr, New York City

[Lanny Powers, Artist/Curator & Friend of Elmyr, New York City] I think he had an extremely
profound understanding
of what other artists had done.



I don't think he had
the same desperate need
or commitment to realize that in himself.



[Carlos Martorell, Author/Publicist, Ibiza] And the fantastic thing of Elmyr,
he was unique in this world.
He was inventing.



I mean, you would see this is a Matisse,
this is a Picasso, this is a Chagall,
this is a Renoir.
Even Picasso would have said,
"This is mine."

[Elena Ruiz, Director, Contemporary Art Museum, Ibiza] [Speaking Spanish] When I first started working at this museum, The Contemporary Art Museum of Ibiza, one of the leading contemporary art museums of Spain,







we had at that time two paintings by Elmyr:



a fake Degas, and a fake Picasso.





I thought, yes, we are going to exhibit this piece, because visitors to the museum expect to see an Elmyr, because he lived in Ibiza, et cetera.



So we decided to display the pieces



in what we call the "transitory and confrontational areas," which every museum visitor travels through as a crossroads between the temporary and permanent galleries. In doing this, the pieces are no longer a museum piece. They become philosophical works on which to reflect over and over.



If you will allow me this comparison, this is similar to an issue we had with a work by Goya that we weren't sure if it was a true Goya. There is a game in this for us at the museum. Because with an Elmyr, it is clear, because he signed it. So we know it's a fake Degas.



However, with the Goya, there was a chance it might be a Goya. I believe it to be a Goya, but I couldn't be certain. I am not a specialist.



Not in Goya. Not in Elmyr. But I said, "Fine, let's go investigate." The investigation involved a conference as to why we thought it to be a Goya. But the importance of that is not for now. But by presenting these pieces beside one another, we are able to address a sensitive subject. What is "fake"?



What is "real"? What is "legitimate"? Is this work by Goya really by Goya? And if not a Goya, is that what is important? Is the fact it is real or not what is the most important? The painting is fantastic. It's fantastic! Isn't it the same with Elmyr? That's why the idea of the piece being real or fake is simply an idea. It's extremely interesting from the point of view of a historian, but also for any other person as a means by which to deeply reflect, "Is it real, or is it fake?" We need to unravel the fantastic stories behind these works, as this will legitimize inclusive of the fake aspect. Meaning, they are no longer simply museum pieces, they become philosophical pieces, metaphysical pieces, that need to be reflected upon deeply. This needs to be considered, even if it's not the most important.

When I first started working at this museum, The Contemporary Art Museum of Ibiza, one of the leading contemporary art museums of Spain, we had at that time two paintings by Elmyr: a fake Degas, and a fake Picasso. I thought, yes, we are going to exhibit this piece, because visitors to the museum expect to see an Elmyr, because he lived in Ibiza, et cetera. So we decided to display the pieces in what we call the "transitory and confrontational areas," which every museum visitor travels through as a crossroads between the temporary and permanent galleries. In doing this, the pieces are no longer a museum piece. They become philosophical works on which to reflect over and over. If you will allow me this comparison, this is similar to an issue we had with a work by Goya that we weren't sure if it was a true Goya. There is a game in this for us at the museum. Because with an Elmyr, it is clear, because he signed it. So we know it's a fake Degas. However, with the Goya, there was a chance it might be a Goya. I believe it to be a Goya, but I couldn't be certain. I am not a specialist. Not in Goya. Not in Elmyr. But I said, "Fine, let's go investigate." The investigation involved a conference as to why we thought it to be a Goya. But the importance of that is not for now. But by presenting these pieces beside one another, we are able to address a sensitive subject. What is "fake"? What is "real"? What is "legitimate"? Is this work by Goya really by Goya? And if not a Goya, is that what is important? Is the fact it is real or not what is the most important? The painting is fantastic. It's fantastic! Isn't it the same with Elmyr? That's why the idea of the piece being real or fake is simply an idea. It's extremely interesting from the point of view of a historian, but also for any other person as a means by which to deeply reflect, "Is it real, or is it fake?" We need to unravel the fantastic stories behind these works, as this will legitimize inclusive of the fake aspect. Meaning, they are no longer simply museum pieces, they become philosophical pieces, metaphysical pieces, that need to be reflected upon deeply. This needs to be considered, even if it's not the most important.-- Elena Ruiz, Director, Contemporary Art Museum, Ibiza

Criticism of postmodernism

Criticisms of postmodernism are intellectually diverse, including the argument that postmodernism is meaningless and promotes obscurantism.

In part in reference to post-modernism, conservative English philosopher Roger Scruton wrote, "A writer who says that there are no truths, or that all truth is 'merely relative,' is asking you not to believe him. So don't." Similarly, Dick Hebdige criticized the vagueness of the term, enumerating a long list of otherwise unrelated concepts that people have designated as postmodernism, from "the décor of a room" or "a 'scratch' video", to fear of nuclear armageddon and the "implosion of meaning", and stated that anything that could signify all of those things was "a buzzword".

The linguist and philosopher Noam Chomsky has said that postmodernism is meaningless because it adds nothing to analytical or empirical knowledge. He asks why postmodernist intellectuals do not respond like people in other fields when asked, "what are the principles of their theories, on what evidence are they based, what do they explain that wasn't already obvious, etc.?...If [these requests] can't be met, then I'd suggest recourse to Hume's advice in similar circumstances: 'to the flames'."

Christian philosopher William Lane Craig has said "The idea that we live in a postmodern culture is a myth. In fact, a postmodern culture is an impossibility; it would be utterly unliveable. People are not relativistic when it comes to matters of science, engineering, and technology; rather, they are relativistic and pluralistic in matters of religion and ethics. But, of course, that's not postmodernism; that's modernism!"

American author Thomas Pynchon targeted postmodernism as an object of derision in his novels, openly mocking postmodernist discourse.

American academic and aesthete Camille Paglia has said:

The end result of four decades of postmodernism permeating the art world is that there is very little interesting or important work being done right now in the fine arts. The irony was a bold and creative posture when Duchamp did it, but it is now an utterly banal, exhausted, and tedious strategy. Young artists have been taught to be "cool" and "hip" and thus painfully self-conscious. They are not encouraged to be enthusiastic, emotional, and visionary. They have been cut off from artistic tradition by the crippled skepticism about history that they have been taught by ignorant and solipsistic postmodernists. In short, the art world will never revive until postmodernism fades away. Postmodernism is a plague upon the mind and the heart.

German philosopher Albrecht Wellmer has said that "postmodernism at its best might be seen as a self-critical – a sceptical, ironic, but nevertheless unrelenting – form of modernism; a modernism beyond utopianism, scientism and foundationalism; in short a post-metaphysical modernism."

A formal, academic critique of postmodernism can be found in Beyond the Hoax by physics professor Alan Sokal and in Fashionable Nonsense by Sokal and Belgian physicist Jean Bricmont, both books discussing the so-called Sokal affair. In 1996, Sokal wrote a deliberately nonsensical article in a style similar to postmodernist articles, which was accepted for publication by the postmodern cultural studies journal, Social Text. On the same day of the release he published another article in a different journal explaining the Social Text article hoax. The philosopher Thomas Nagel has supported Sokal and Bricmont, describing their book Fashionable Nonsense as consisting largely of "extensive quotations of scientific gibberish from name-brand French intellectuals, together with eerily patient explanations of why it is gibberish," and agreeing that "there does seem to be something about the Parisian scene that is particularly hospitable to reckless verbosity."

Zimbabwean-born British Marxist Alex Callinicos says that postmodernism "reflects the disappointed revolutionary generation of '68, and the incorporation of many of its members into the professional and managerial 'new middle class'. It is best read as a symptom of political frustration and social mobility rather than as a significant intellectual or cultural phenomenon in its own right."

Analytic philosopher Daniel Dennett said, "Postmodernism, the school of 'thought' that proclaimed 'There are no truths, only interpretations' has largely played itself out in absurdity, but it has left behind a generation of academics in the humanities disabled by their distrust of the very idea of truth and their disrespect for evidence, settling for 'conversations' in which nobody is wrong and nothing can be confirmed, only asserted with whatever style you can muster."

American historian Richard Wolin traces the origins of postmodernism to intellectual roots in fascism, writing "postmodernism has been nourished by the doctrines of Friedrich Nietzsche, Martin Heidegger, Maurice Blanchot, and Paul de Man—all of whom either prefigured or succumbed to the proverbial intellectual fascination with fascism."

Daniel A. Farber and Suzanna Sherry criticised postmodernism for reducing the complexity of the modern world to an expression of power and for undermining truth and reason:

If the modern era begins with the European Enlightenment, the postmodern era that captivates the radical multiculturalists begins with its rejection. According to the new radicals, the Enlightenment-inspired ideas that have previously structured our world, especially the legal and academic parts of it, are a fraud perpetrated and perpetuated by white males to consolidate their own power. Those who disagree are not only blind but bigoted. The Enlightenment's goal of an objective and reasoned basis for knowledge, merit, truth, justice, and the like is an impossibility: "objectivity," in the sense of standards of judgment that transcend individual perspectives, does not exist. Reason is just another code word for the views of the privileged. The Enlightenment itself merely replaced one socially constructed view of reality with another, mistaking power for knowledge. There is naught but power.

Richard Caputo, William Epstein, David Stoesz & Bruce Thyer consider postmodernism to be a "dead-end in social work epistemology." They write:

Postmodernism continues to have a detrimental influence on social work, questioning the Enlightenment, criticizing established research methods, and challenging scientific authority. The promotion of postmodernism by editors of Social Work and the Journal of Social Work Education has elevated postmodernism, placing it on a par with theoretically guided and empirically based research. The inclusion of postmodernism in the 2008 Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards of the Council on Social Work Education and its 2015 sequel further erode the knowledge-building capacity of social work educators. In relation to other disciplines that have exploited empirical methods, social work's stature will continue to ebb until postmodernism is rejected in favor of scientific methods for generating knowledge.

H. Sidky pointed out what he sees as several inherent flaws of a postmodern antiscience perspective, including the confusion of the authority of science (evidence) with the scientist conveying the knowledge; its self-contradictory claim that all truths are relative; and its strategic ambiguity. He sees 21st-century anti-scientific and pseudo-scientific approaches to knowledge, particularly in the United States, as rooted in a postmodernist "decades-long academic assault on science:"

Many of those indoctrinated in postmodern anti-science went on to become conservative political and religious leaders, policymakers, journalists, journal editors, judges, lawyers, and members of city councils and school boards. Sadly, they forgot the lofty ideals of their teachers, except that science is bogus.

-- Postmodernism, by Wikipedia

[Mariano Llobet, Elmyr's Lawyer & Friend, Ibiza] [Speaking Spanish] He drew so well that he used his left hand, because if he used his right hand it would be too perfect.



Better than Modigliani!



So, for me, he was a great artist.

He drew so well that he used his left hand, because if he used his right hand it would be too perfect. Better than Modigliani! So, for me, he was a great artist. -- Mariano Llobet, Elmyr's Lawyer & Friend, Ibiza

[Lanny Powers, Artist/Curator & Friend of Elmyr, New York City] Sometimes in art, talent is the first thing
that has to be transcended.
It's when you go beyond your talent,
and you go beyond what you know,
or what is known,
that it starts to become meaningful,
and starts to become valued.



[Mariano Llobet, Elmyr's Lawyer & Friend, Ibiza] [Speaking Spanish] I have seen, personally, Elmyr rapidly create, with just four strokes of the brush.



But suddenly, faced with an order of extradition from France,





for the charge of forgery



from the French judicial authorities, and Ibiza being such a small place,



we had no choice but to comply.



[Lanny Powers, Artist/Curator & Friend of Elmyr, New York City] I believe he was in jail,
I mean, for a brief time.



[Carlos Martorell, Author/Publicist, Ibiza] After, we know, when he
was in the papers and all that,
I don't remember in what year,
but then they knew.


[MAGAZINE ARTICLE: FAKE: The artist behind the greatest art swindle of the twentieth century tells how he bilked millionaires, museums, and art experts, by Clifford Irving]

[Mariano Llobet, Elmyr's Lawyer & Friend, Ibiza] [Speaking Spanish] So he was detained for a few days due to quarrels he had with his associates,



Fernand Legros and Real Lessard.



[Carlos Martorell, Author/Publicist, Ibiza] I don't think he knew
his paintings were going to
museums as fakes and all that.
And when he finds out, I think it's when
the bad thing started, too.

I don't think he knew his paintings were going to museums as fakes and all that. And when he finds out, I think it's when the bad thing started, too. -- Carlos Martorell, Author/Publicist, Ibiza

[MAGAZINE ARTICLE: He thought he'd create a tiny Prado in Texas. / 'Peddlers' brought art to his door.]

[Elmyr de Hory, Art Forger] Let's say we could find a Modigliani made by Kisling [Moise Kisling], a Modigliani by Elmyr, and one Modigliani by Modigliani [Amedeo Modigliani]. We put these three drawings in front of a group. Let's say one is a director or curator of drawings of the Metropolitan; one is a self-proclaimed expert; and one is a great art dealer. It could be anyone, from Knoedler [The Knoedler Gallery] to Perls [The Perls Gallery], or any of the great ones who consider themselves great and experts. And if any of them recognize which one is which, I am ready to make a great gift to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and they can hang it next to some other Modiglianis, who are possibly also by me.

As explained above, the question of authorship of the French text [Ezour-Vedam] concerns only the first of the stages shown in Figure 19. The author worked in the environment of the Malabar mission where Telugu was the target language. What he had in mind was not producing a fake Veda translation because he was inspired by La Croze's wish to see a European-language translation of the Vedas (Rocher 1984:73), nor did he have any intention of committing a literary forgery and a "religious imposition without parallel" (Ellis 1822:1). Rather, a missionary had the idea to create such texts for the education and conversion of heathens and designed a format that made them easy to memorize and use for missionaries and catechists and, of course, also easy to understand by the native audience who must for the most part have been illiterate. There were no Voltaires sitting at the catechists' feet in those villages near Pondicherry.

-- The Birth of Orientalism, by Urs App

[Roger de Cabrol, Interior Designer & Friend of Elmyr, New York City] His work was in
the collection of Algur Meadows,
and the Perls.
And, you know, it's like
all scattered around.

[Allen Olson-Urtecho, Fine Arts Adjuster, Texas] Not as Elmyr's.

[Roger de Cabrol, Interior Designer & Friend of Elmyr, New York City] No, not as Elmyr.

His work was in the collection of Algur Meadows, and the Perls. And, you know, it's like all scattered around. -- Roger de Cabrol, Interior Designer & Friend of Elmyr, New York City

[admin]

Part 9 of 10



[Female Reporter] Now Mr. Meadows, how did you happen to
get into French modern art,
and where did you start buying that?

[Algur H. Meadows, Businessman & Art Collector] In 1961 my wife passed away.
In 1962 I married my present wife [Elizabeth Boggs Bartholow].



On our honeymoon,
which lasted about six months,
our first stop was Paris.
We went to several galleries,
looking for Raoul Dufys.
And we found about seven altogether.
Six or seven. And we bought them all.



[Female Reporter] Well, besides buying in galleries,
did you get paintings any other way?



[Algur H. Meadows, Businessman & Art Collector] You mean,
about the two Frenchmen?
That's another story.



[Sabine Cordesse, Attorney, Paris] [Speaking French] "The sequestration of the paintings of the 38 art works
has been assigned to Syndicate of Artistic Property, 12 Herner St..."

[Jeff Oppenheim] It doesn't exist anymore?

[Sabine Cordesse, Attorney, Paris] [Speaking French] No, it doesn't exist anymore, for many years. "And as of this day, are no longer the property of Mr. Meadows."

[Algur H. Meadows, Businessman & Art Collector] In 1964 my wife called me at the office,
and said that
a friend of hers has asked
two Frenchman to come over
and show us
some paintings they had for sale, that
they had brought from Paris.
And they want to come at 4:00.
Can you come home early?



I said, "The very idea! You wouldn't invite
peddlers or strangers into our home!
No, I won't come home at 4:00."
But I did come home at 6:00,
and the dealers were there.



And they had,
from the back of their car,
they had taken out some six,
five or six paintings,
and had them standing all around the car.











And so they introduced themselves,
and they appeared to be
gentlemen.
Then I said, "Well, since you came anyway,
bring the paintings on in the house."





[Sabine Cordesse, Attorney, Paris] [Speaking French] For his second wife, he started collecting impressionist works. Impressionist must always come with certification. And I know what I am talking about in this matter.



[Algur H. Meadows, Businessman & Art Collector] Yes, they had certificates.




Andre Pacitti, One of the leading art experts of his time.

Signed by experts
appointed by the French government
to authenticate such paintings.









And besides, they had evidence that
these particular paintings
had been purchased
from one of the outstanding
auction houses in this country.

Yes, they had certificates. Signed by experts appointed by the French government to authenticate such paintings. And besides, they had evidence that these particular paintings had been purchased from one of the outstanding auction houses in this country. -- Algur H. Meadows, Businessman & Art Collector

[Jean-Pierre Duclos, Attorney for Mr. Meadows, Paris] I met Mr. Meadows through an American attorney.
I don't remember if you found
his complaint before the exam,
before the French justice,
through me or through the US consulate.



What is there from
what you gave me, is that it was filed
against "X,"
which means for the U.S.
It would mean "A-Y-Z," yeah?

[Jeff Oppenheim] Right. Mr. Smith
or something. John Doe.

[Jean-Pierre Duclos, Attorney for Mr. Meadows, Paris] Yeah, John Doe. Exactly.

[Jeff Oppenheim] And why did he do that? Why?

[Jean-Pierre Duclos, Attorney for Mr. Meadows, Paris] Because
there's two ways to trigger
an examination
by an examining judge.



One way is to do it
against the designated party,
in which case
you have to file a bond.

[Jeff Oppenheim] Right.



[Jean-Pierre Duclos, Attorney for Mr. Meadows, Paris] If you file against "X,"



then it is up to
the French examining judge.



The examining judge is going
to investigate the case, and
will decide
whether or not John Doe
is going to stand trial.

[William Charron, Esq., Partner, Pryor Cashman LLP, New York City] Art cases cause
problems for the courts.



The courts are not fans of having to decide
art authenticity cases.

[Robert Wittman, Former Senior Investigator, Arts Crimes Team, FBI] Ultimately, any case
you're gonna be able to bring



in any kind of court,
is gonna have some proof of fraud.
And so you're gonna
have to prove the elements,
the same as in any other case:
a loss of,
some type of loss,
of profit or loss of money,
something valuable,
dependence on the information
to make that decision,
and the victim.

Must Prove the Elements: (1) Substantiated Loss, (2) Reasonable Reliance, (3) Creditable Victim

So, those are the things
you're gonna have to show.
And in the case of Elmyr at the time,
that's what Meadows would have had to prove
in his court proceedings.

[William Charron, Esq., Partner, Pryor Cashman LLP, New York City] So for a judge to come in and say,
"I think this work is or is not authentic,"
has ramifications.



And courts,
they don't wanna make those ramifications.



They don't want to be market makers.
Particularly for something that they feel
uncomfortable analyzing.

Art cases cause problems for the courts. The courts are not fans of having to decide art authenticity cases. So for a judge to come in and say, "I think this work is or is not authentic," has ramifications. And courts, they don't wanna make those ramifications. They don't want to be market makers. Particularly for something that they feel uncomfortable analyzing. -- William Charron, Esq., Partner, Pryor Cashman LLP, New York City

There's no dispute: This was the work of consummate artists. Ultimately, the judge said, "Look, my dear friends from the academia, I'm a judge. I know how to judge by evidence. I can't determine for scientists whether their scientific conclusions are correct or not." I would say that the ruling brought to light the problematic nature of this profession. -- Dr. Gideon Avni, Head of the Archaeological Division, Israeli Antiquities Authority, Head of the IAA's Content & Writing Committee

-- Into the Land: The Forgery Scandal, Created by Eiv Kristal and Natan Odenheier

[Algur H. Meadows, Businessman & Art Collector] For the next two years
they came to Dallas 10 or 12 times,
each time bringing different paintings.



[Female Reporter] And you kept buying?



[Algur H. Meadows, Businessman & Art Collector] I kept buying.





[Female Reporter] Uh, did you buy,
two, three, four at a time?





[Algur H. Meadows, Businessman & Art Collector] Two, three, four, sometimes eight.



[Female Reporter] What kind of money
are we talking about here?





[Algur H. Meadows, Businessman & Art Collector] Well,
the first deal was perhaps, uh,
$70,000 or $80,000.

Meadows Collection Estimated Value in 1968: $1,362,750
Meadows Collection Estimated Value today: $9,281,463 (not accounting for inflation)

All together --
$600,000 perhaps.


(NEWSPAPER ARTICLE: Enter Fernand Legros wearing a large floppy yellow hat ... Nineteen Months Ago, an International Warrant Was Issued for His Arrest. Yet Legros Lives [ ] In a Swiss Village Without Difficulty)

Nineteen Months Ago, an International Warrant Was Issued for His Arrest. Yet Legros Lives In a Swiss Village Without Difficulty. -- Newspaper Article

[Jean-Pierre Duclos, Attorney for Mr. Meadows, Paris] I think there was
an international search warrant.



Legros I believe was,
arrested in Switzerland.



[Sabine Cordesse, Attorney, Paris] [Speaking French] Interpol had Legros in Switzerland. And they deferred to the art world. All they can do is request he comes before a judge. And if he decides not to go, there is nothing they can do.



[Jean-Pierre Duclos, Attorney for Mr. Meadows, Paris] When you have an international warrant,
there is cooperation between the two states.



[Sabine Cordesse, Attorney, Paris] [Speaking French] For me, what is particularly interesting, is the absence of cooperation between certain countries.



[Jean-Pierre Duclos, Attorney for Mr. Meadows, Paris] The French asked that
Legros be extradited from Switzerland.

[Sabine Cordesse, Attorney, Paris] [Speaking French] I am of the sentiment that there was a



voluntary support for Fernando Legros by the Swiss.

[Jean-Pierre Duclos, Attorney for Mr. Meadows, Paris] Yes, the Swiss have a similar system
to the French one,
and you can be



put temporarily in jail,
or obliged to stay in a hotel,
until such time as the Swiss authorities
will make a decision.

[Sabine Cordesse, Attorney, Paris] [Speaking French] Voluntary support in the sense of to punish or not punish.

[Jeff Oppenheim] Then even the French courts,
at that point, are still
having to continue a petition.

[Jean-Pierre Duclos, Attorney for Mr. Meadows, Paris] Yeah.

[Jeff Oppenheim] That's not guaranteed.

[Jean-Pierre Duclos, Attorney for Mr. Meadows, Paris] No, no.

[Sabine Cordesse, Attorney, Paris] [Speaking French] I am of the sentiment that the Swiss preferred to side with him.



Maybe because there were many Swiss who had bought their oeuvres from him, and it would cause a great scandal.

Interpol had Legros in Switzerland. And they deferred to the art world. All they can do is request he comes before a judge. And if he decides not to go, there is nothing they can do. I am of the sentiment that there was a voluntary support for Fernando Legros by the Swiss. Voluntary support in the sense of to punish or not punish. I am of the sentiment that the Swiss preferred to side with him. Maybe because there were many Swiss who had bought their oeuvres from him, and it would cause a great scandal. -- Sabine Cordesse, Attorney, Paris

[Jean-Pierre Duclos, Attorney for Mr. Meadows, Paris] Elmyr, strangely enough,
I don't remember him
carrying the French case,
which was really directed against Legros.

Asi vivio el falsificador de 1.000 obras de arte
[Google translate: This is how the counterfeiter of 1,000 works of art lived]

[Mariano Llobet, Elmyr's Lawyer & Friend, Ibiza] [Speaking Spanish] Because it was never proven that he forged a painting. Because if he painted a painting "in the manner of," and somebody else signed it, and there was no proof he did it in Spain, there would be no claim. And I believe in France, there would be even less.

Because it was never proven that he forged a painting. Because if he painted a painting "in the manner of," and somebody else signed it, and there was no proof he did it in Spain, there would be no claim. And I believe in France, there would be even less. -- Mariano Llobet, Elmyr's Lawyer & Friend, Ibiza

[William Charron, Esq., Partner, Pryor Cashman LLP, New York City] It's not illegal to paint something
in the style of another artist.
Where you cross the line is if
you sign that artist's name,
and you're not that artist.

It's not illegal to paint something in the style of another artist. Where you cross the line is if you sign that artist's name, and you're not that artist. -- William Charron, Esq., Partner, Pryor Cashman LLP, New York City

[Carlos Martorell, Author/Publicist, Ibiza] I don't think he knew
his paintings were going to museums
as fakes, and all that.
And when he finds out, I think it's when
the bad things started.





[Allen Olson-Urtecho, Fine Arts Adjuster, Texas] Well, we found some records that show that Elmyr
had a painting
lent to a friend,
who decided to put it
on consignment with Knoedler.



What we do know is that
the forgery by Elmyr de Hory --
it was sold for $60,000 in 1958 --





[William Charron, Esq., Partner, Pryor Cashman LLP, New York City] Knoedler is,
it was, the oldest and the most prestigious
gallery in America.
Prestige, I guess, is a qualitative term,
certainly by many accounts.



[Elmyr de Hory, Art Forger] [Holding a magazine] Lookit. Lookit.
"Expose the man who holds the art world
on red hot threads."

[Woman] [Laughing]



[Carlos Martorell, Author/Publicist, Ibiza] People were not giving a shit in Ibiza
about what Elmyr was doing.



[Roger de Cabrol, Interior Designer & Friend of Elmyr, New York City] He was very well liked in Ibiza,
because he was an outlaw.

He was very well liked in Ibiza, because he was an outlaw. -- Roger de Cabrol, Interior Designer & Friend of Elmyr, New York City

[Time Magazine Cover: Con Man of the Year: Clifford Irving, by Elmyr de Hory]

[Lanny Powers, Artist/Curator & Friend of Elmyr, New York City] He enjoyed his celebrity a great deal.
And the fact that it was based on notoriety
didn't seem to faze him.



[Elmyr de Hory, Art Forger] "Elmyr is a profound embarrassment for the art world."





[Lanny Powers, Artist/Curator & Friend of Elmyr, New York City] He started doing the same painting.
I mean, he would do a big hour of,
whatever, you know, a Modigliani.
And he would sign his name.
And then he would sign "by Elmyr."
So that he couldn't be charged with fraud,
and selling a fake.
But at the same time,
it was a real fake.
It was authenticated by his own signature.

He started doing the same painting. I mean, he would do a big hour of, whatever, you know, a Modigliani. And he would sign his name. And then he would sign "by Elmyr." So that he couldn't be charged with fraud, and selling a fake. But at the same time, it was a real fake. It was authenticated by his own signature. -- Lanny Powers, Artist/Curator & Friend of Elmyr, New York City

[Richard Compton Miller, Journalist & Friend, London] He became a star overnight
with his wonderful pictures.

[admin]

Part 10 of 10



[Elmyr de Hory, Art Forger] Picasso would get for something
like that uh,
$15,000, or $20,000.



I will sell it for less.



[Richard Compton Miller, Journalist & Friend, London] And in the years to come, he said to me,
when we were walking
down past the Royal Academy,
he said that you'll find an Elmyr
in nearly every major collection
in the world.

And in the years to come, he said to me, when we were walking down past the Royal Academy, he said that you'll find an Elmyr in nearly every major collection in the world. -- Richard Compton Miller, Journalist & Friend, London

[Mariano Llobet, Elmyr's Lawyer & Friend, Ibiza] During the last three years of Elmyr's life,



he had a contract with Mr. Isdro Clot, a Spanish Art Dealer,



to have him purchase all of Elmyr's production. Clot bought the works just as is, not signed. Not signed as Matisse, nor Modigliani.



Not even signed Elmyr!



And this man kept



Elmyr's last 300 paintings.



To me, this is the last grand mystery of Elmyr's life.




(300 Works)



[Elmyr de Hory, Art Forger] I would like to see
that poor Hungarian refugee
who would have resisted
of that temptation.



[Michel Braudeau, Journalist/Author, Paris] [Speaking French] He was still being sought by the police in Spain to be extradited to justice in France.







[Roger de Cabrol, Interior Designer & Friend of Elmyr, New York City] All his life he was in flight,
and running away. Not the police,
but he was running away from
the people he was involved with,
like Fernand Legros
and two other art dealers
who were after him.

All his life he was in flight, and running away. Not the police, but he was running away from the people he was involved with, like Fernand Legros and two other art dealers who were after him. -- Roger de Cabrol, Interior Designer & Friend of Elmyr, New York City

[Jeff Oppenheim] Do you know anything about those threats
that he received at least?



[Carlos Martorell, Author/Publicist, Ibiza] Well, uh...
I remember when they killed his dog.



They hung him in a tree.
And I think there was
a paper saying that,
"The next will be you."

I remember when they killed his dog. They hung him in a tree. And I think there was a paper saying that, "The next will be you." -- Carlos Martorell, Author/Publicist, Ibiza

[Mariano Llobet, Elmyr's Lawyer & Friend, Ibiza] [Speaking Spanish] Elmyr had become Legros's enemy.



And Mr. Legros had Elmyr terrorized.



And Elmyr was convinced



that if he was sent to jail in France,



even for just 24 hours,



Legros had enough power to have him killed.



[Roger de Cabrol, Interior Designer & Friend of Elmyr, New York City] I mean, he was like really cornered.





[Carlos Martorell, Author/Publicist, Ibiza] And one day Elmyr
arrived like usual
to the terrace of the Montesol



with his hippie bag, and saying [in French: "Good day. Tomorrow I am going to commit suicide."]
We thought he was making a joke.



[Lanny Powers, Artist/Curator & Friend of Elmyr, New York City] I had breakfast with him
the day before he died, at the Montesol.
We all knew then that
they were trying to extradite him,
and stand charges again. And he said, "No.
I will never spend another day in jail."



He said, "If I know
they're coming for me,
when they make the decision,
if they're coming for me,
I'll kill myself.
They will not get me."



And he did.

I had breakfast with him the day before he died, at the Montesol. We all knew then that they were trying to extradite him, and stand charges again. And he said, "No. I will never spend another day in jail." He said, "If I know they're coming for me, when they make the decision, if they're coming for me, I'll kill myself. They will not get me." And he did. -- Lanny Powers, Artist/Curator & Friend of Elmyr, New York City

Chapter 6: The Drowning

Lake Constance, 8-9 April 1898

On the late afternoon of 8 April 1898 a stout, middle-aged gentleman with a full beard was seen sculling a hired skiff on Lake Constance, which straddles the border between Germany and Switzerland. According to eye-witnesses, he was 'rowing forward and backward for some time on one and the same spot Three days earlier he had walked into a hotel in the lakeside town of Lindau, booked a room but failed to sign himself in. He had spent most of 7 April rowing up and down on Lake Constance and then on the afternoon of 8 April had again resumed his rowing, having left at the reception desk of his hotel a telegram addressed to his wife in Zurich that said nothing more than 'Come tomorrow: He was last seen on the water 'after 7 o'clock in the evening; which at that time of the year meant after dark. On the morning of 9 April the skiff was seen still on the water but overturned, unmanned and with one oar missing. Despite this discovery, two days passed before the hotel manager felt sufficiently concerned by the absence of his guest to contact the police. A search was instituted but without success and, after several days, was called off without a body being found. Indeed, the body never surfaced, which was highly unusual, raising the possibility that it had been weighted down.

Because of the lack of a corpse, his family's confusion over his whereabouts and the understandable caution of the local authorities to commit themselves, it was not until 15 April that it was established that the missing presumed drowned rower was Hofrath Doktor Johann Georg Buhler, Knight of the Prussian Order of the Crown, Comthur of the Order of Franz-Josef, Commander of the Indian Empire, Professor of Indian Philology and Archaeology at the University of Vienna. Letters written to T. W. Rhys Davids in February show that Buhler was with his Swiss wife and their sixteen-year-old son in Zurich until he returned to Vienna on 26 February. According to Buhler, the Austrian Government had decreed an unusually early Easter vacation that year, which meant that his teaching duties at the university were to resume on 21 March and would continue over the Easter weekend itself, beginning on Good Friday 8 April. Yet it appears that, without a word to his wife or to anyone else, the Professor had abandoned his academic duties on 5 April to return to his family in Zurich — except that, unaccountably, he had stopped off at Lake Constance to go rowing.

The manner of Buhler's death at the age of sixty-one shocked philologists and historians through Europe and Asia. On the 8th of April last,' wrote his close friend the Sanskritist Professor Max Muller, in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society —

while enjoying alone in a small boat a beautiful evening on the Lake of Constance, he seems to have lost an oar, and in trying to recover it, to have overbalanced himself. As we think of the cold waves closing over our dear friend, we feel stunned and speechless before so great and cruel a calamity ... He who for so many years was the very life of Sanskrit scholarship, who helped us, guided us, corrected us, in our different researches, is gone.

That was the line taken by friends and colleagues alike. In India the Indian Antiquary printed no less than twelve extended obituaries or appreciations by his peers of the scholar acknowledged by one and all to have been the greatest among them. Several went into unusual detail on the circumstances leading up to the great man's tragic demise. 'Boating was Buhler's favourite sport, and he often liked to practice it, particularly after hard work,' wrote one of these obituarists, the historian Professor Werner Kaegi of Basle:

On Good Friday the 8th he was induced by the beautiful spring weather to stay one day longer, 'in order to make a longer excursion,' as he was heard saying. He started in the afternoon in one of those long and narrow boats, the oars of which lie so lightly on the outriggers, that they are lifted even at a great distance by the wash of a steamer, if they are not held tightly as soon as the waves approach. ... In the opinion of experienced people living near the lake it is highly probable that he lost one oar, which he tried to secure again, and in trying to catch it he, being a stout man, fell overboard. By this natural and simple hypothesis the terrible accident becomes perfectly plain and intelligible.

Prof. Kaegi had added this detailed explanation to his obituary because, as he explained, of newspaper reports of 'rumours circulating in Vienna as to a voluntary or violent death of Hofrath Buhler.' He went on to insist that he and the late Professor's friends 'deny most positively the very possibility of a suicide committed by Buhler for ethical or philosophical motives.'

Yet there were features of Buhler's behaviour that were hard to explain away, particularly his entirely uncharacteristic behaviour in not communicating with his wife. This his friend C. H. Tawney surmised was because 'Professor Buhler had evidently intended to surprise his family in Zurich with his visit, and had therefore given no hint of his movements, [as a result of which] they continued to correspond with him at his address in Vienna and were much distressed at receiving no answer: It was also suggested that even the greatest of scholars might have had weaknesses that left them vulnerable to outside pressures. 'Buhler was free of all touchiness in questions of scholarship,' declared Prof. Friedrich Knauer of Kiew University, while adding that 'even men of the greatness of a Buhler are not always proof against "gnatbites'". The newly-elected Boden Professor of Sanskrit Arthur MacDonnell took much the same line, referring to Baler's 'high-mindedness' which 'always deterred him from doing or saying anything against those to whom he felt he owed a debt of gratitude; while also hinting at a degree of touchiness about his professional reputation: 'Had he ever been unjustifiably attacked, his aggressor would probably have had cause to repent his temerity. For Buhler, as he told me himself, kept a record of the blunders which he found in the labours of other scholars, and which he might have felt compelled to refer to in self-defence.'

Despite the defensive operation mounted by friends and colleagues the circumstantial evidence was compelling, suggesting this apparently strong and healthy man, still at sixty-one very much in possession of his faculties, had indeed taken his own life. If it was a suicide, the reasons why will never be known for certain. But some would claim that a combination of revelations concerning his former student and long-time collaborator in India lay at the heart of it; and that these revelations led the unfortunate Prof. Buhler to believe that the Piprahwa inscription, about which he had written so recently and so confidently, was nothing more than another fraud perpetrated by Fuhrer — one with which his own name would be inextricably linked. If so, he was not to know that the chronology of events made such a forgery impossible.

-- Lumbini On Trial: The Untold Story. Lumbini Is An Astonishing Fraud Begun in 1896, by T. A. Phelps

It took some weeks for the news of Buhler's disappearance and presumed drowning to filter through to India. Anton Fuhrer's response is unrecorded and can only be imagined.

To what degree the death of the world's pre-eminent Sanskritist affected the enquiry into Dr. Fuhrer's dealings with U Ma is equally a matter for conjecture. But it is odd that what might be called the Fuhrer scandal failed to break and that its author appeared to suffer no consequences. This may be attributed to the Government of NWP&O's determination to prevent the affair from becoming public knowledge and so cast a stain on one of its departments. Whatever was said on the subject was kept off the record and, as far as possible, out of the files, and initially, at least, the Archaeological Surveyor to the Government of NWP&O held on to his job.

However, on 8 August, four months after Buhler's death, Charles Odling, CSI, Secretary and Chief Engineer to Govt., NWP&O, PWD, received the first of 500 printed copies of Dr. Fuhrer's long-delayed Antiquities of Buddha Sakyamuni's Birth-Place in the Nepalese Tarai. He was perturbed to discover that it had been printed without being submitted to his own office for approval. This did not prevent him from authorising a week later Fuhrer's costings for a new publication: 500 copies of what was evidently intended to be an extremely lavish report on the Archaeological Surveyor's excavations of Kapilavastu — the printing to be done at the Government Presses in Allahabad, the twenty line drawings prepared at the Survey of India Offices at Dehra Dun and the fourteen coloured plates prepared by Messrs. Griggs and Sons in London, this last at a cost of £75. Odling's only proviso was that Fuhrer's proofs for this second publication must be submitted to him before printing.

Copies of Fuhrer's Antiquities now began to circulate through a number of NWP&O Government departments, with one copy landing on the desk of the Lieutenant-Governor. What Sir Antony MacDonnell's first thoughts were on reading the book are not known but his response was to ask his acting Chief Secretary, Vincent Smith, to carry out a thorough enquiry into Dr. Fuhrer's activities that extended far beyond his Buddhist relic forgeries. Within weeks this enquiry reached its inevitable conclusion in a face-to-face confrontation between Smith and Fuhrer in the exhibition hall of the Lucknow Museum.

'I went to Lucknow in September 1898, by order of government,' wrote Smith afterwards, 'to enquire into Dr. Fuhrer's proceedings, and convict him of systematic falsification of his correspondence with several Governments: One of the first questions Smith put to Fuhrer was why a drawing on display in front of them, showing the base of the damaged stupa he had excavated at Sagarwa, bore the label `Stupa of Mahanaman':

I asked Dr. Fuhrer his authority for this label, and he answered with some confusion that he found a brick with the word Maha on it which he interpreted as Mahanaman. He added that the brick crumbled to pieces. The story about the brick being manifestly false, I told Dr. Fuhrer so, and drew my pencil across the label. He did not make a protest, or say a word about the alleged inscription on the casket lid [found in the same stupa]. No photograph or facsimile of that inscription exists, and it is perfectly clear that no such inscription exists. In his correspondence with the Burmese priest Uma [U Ma], Dr. Fuhrer committed an exactly similar forgery by sending Uma a document purporting to be a copy of an inscription on a casket, and reading, 'Relics of Upagupta.' I charged Dr. Fuhrer to his face with that forgery and he did not deny it.

Dr. Fuhrer now took the only course of action still open to him: he resigned on the spot before he could be sacked. It was a resignation that the Government of the N WP&O was only too happy to accept.

However, there still remained the urgent questions of what was to be done with Dr. Fuhrer's two Nepal reports — the one newly published and the other about to be printed — and who was to take over the Archaeological Surveyor's work. It was decided at the highest level that all copies of Fuhrer's Antiquities of Buddha Sakyamuni's Birth-Place should be withdrawn with all speed and destroyed, and that the publication of Fuhrer's Kapilavastu report should be abandoned. The Province's Architectural Surveyor, Edmund Smith, was made acting Archaeological Surveyor and officiating Curator of the Lucknow Museum.

-- The Buddha and Dr. Fuhrer: An Archaeological Scandal, by Charles Allen

[NEWSPAPER OBITUARY: ELMYR: 11 DE DICIEMBRE DE 1978: AYER, MISA DE REQUIEM POR ELMYR (DECEMBER 11, 1978 YESTERDAY, REQUIEM MASS BY ELMYR]

[Roger de Cabrol, Interior Designer & Friend of Elmyr, New York City] I think after many years of running
away from the law, and the lawyers,
and people who wanted to hurt him,
I think he had just a moment of panic.
And I just...


[NEWSPAPER OBITUARY: FALLECIO AYER EN IBIZA EL FAMOSPINTOR ELMYR DE HORY (DIED YESTERDAY IN IBIZA THE FAMOUS ELMYR DE HORY]


[NEWSPAPER OBITUARY: AL PARECER, LAMUERTELE SOBREVINO TRAS INGER UN EXCESS DE BARBITRICOS (APPARENTLY, DEATH OCCURRED AFTER INGESTING AN EXCESS OF BARBITRICOS)]


[NEWSPAPER OBITUARY: LOS RESTOSMORTALES DE ELMYR DE HORY FUERON INHUMAOS EL DOMING EN EL CEMENTERIOR CIUDAD (THE REMAINS OF ELMYR DE HORY WERE BURIED ON DOMING IN THE CITY CEMETERY)]

[Mariano Llobet, Elmyr's Lawyer & Friend, Ibiza] [Speaking Spanish] All of this, coupled with Elmyr's depressive nature,



sometimes being very optimistic, sometimes very pessimistic,



caused him to take the fatal combination that killed him.

Charles W. Lewis, Esq.
December 13, 1976
Page Two

I just learned today that De Hory took an overdose of sleeping pills and died yesterday. He was apparently afraid of being extradited to France. The Spanish court was to render its decision this week on the extradition proceedings.

Yours sincerely,
Jean-Pierre Duclos

[Roger de Cabrol, Interior Designer & Friend of Elmyr, New York City] It's a shame because,
I mean, he was not going to be
jailed or extradited.

It's a shame because, I mean, he was not going to be jailed or extradited. -- Roger de Cabrol, Interior Designer & Friend of Elmyr, New York City

Or might he once again be deemed "limited compos mentis" if he attempted suicide, but failed.

[Carlos Martorell, Author/Publicist, Ibiza] Or, even some people say,
Elmyr did not die, and he escaped.
The rumor is he was trying
not to go to jail,
and pretend a suicide.


[NOTARIO AUTORIZANTE GINIO PI BANUS TESTAMENTO OTORGADO POR: DON JOSEPH ELEMENTER DORY-BOUTIN (NOTARY LICENSEUR GINIO PI BANUS WILL GRANTED BY: MR JOSEPH ELEMENTER DORY-BOUTIN) (Don Joseph Elementer Dory-Boutin, Death Certificate & Last Will. Lists age of death incorrectly as 65 years.)]

And then the ambulance will arrive,
then he will be okay.



[Mariano Llobet, Elmyr's Lawyer & Friend, Ibiza] I had him buried in one of our family plots.


[Even in death, Elmyr's name lays hidden within Llobet's family tomb. "A la maniere de ..." ("in the manner of...")


[The 44 fakes of Meadows were transported to France by the infamous Wildenstein Gallery to serve as evidence in the case.]


[The Wildenstein Gallery alleges that it handed the evidence over to the Syndicat de la Propriete Artistique (long since defunct).


[The French courts could not produce any record of receipt of the art from the Syndicat de la Propriete Artistique.]

The 44 fakes of Meadows were transported to France by the infamous Wildenstein Gallery to serve as evidence in the case. The Wildenstein Gallery alleges that it handed the evidence over to the Syndicat de la Propriete Artistique (long since defunct). The French courts could not produce any record of receipt of the art from the Syndicat de la Propriete Artistique.

[Jean-Pierre Duclos, Attorney for Mr. Meadows, Paris] They have to be somewhere.
Normally, the 44 works that
were fake should have been destroyed.







[Sabine Cordesse, Attorney, Paris] This means that there are a few fakes
on the market.
That's incredible.
Incredible.

This means that there are a few fakes on the market. That's incredible. Incredible. -- Sabine Cordesse, Attorney, Paris

[The Meadows Case was discontinued when Mr. Meadows was killed in a car crash in the summer of 1978.]

[William Charron, Esq., Partner, Pryor Cashman LLP, New York City] I don't think Elmyr gets
any great pass just by saying,
"You know, what I did was really good,
and therefore it's beautiful, so it's art."
If he really believed that,
he could have signed everything "de Hory."

I don't think Elmyr gets any great pass just by saying, "You know, what I did was really good, and therefore it's beautiful, so it's art." If he really believed that, he could have signed everything "de Hory." -- William Charron, Esq., Partner, Pryor Cashman LLP, New York City

[Elmyr de Hory, Art Forger] I feel that you should burn it.
We burn everything,
but myself.

[Jeff Oppenheim] It's been said that beauty is truth,
and truth beauty.
But doesn't Elmyr's work blur that line?
His works were his own creation,
executed brilliantly "in the style of."
At the very least,
doesn't his life demonstrate
him to be undeniably a true original?





But perhaps what is most troubling
is that we are left to judge,
exercising our own moral compass,
empowering our own aesthetic,
to offer opinion on beauty,
truth, value.
We may never know how many works he created
during his career,
nor how deeply they have penetrated
galleries, museums, private collections.
And we have no way of truly anticipating
his continued impact on the art market.
But one thing is certain,
Elmyr de Hory will forever
influence how we look upon art.
And in that, he has ensured
himself a page in art history
as an accomplished, celebrated real fake.

- ♪ What you think now? ♪
- ♪ I think I love you ♪
♪ What you feel now? ♪
♪ I feel I need you ♪
♪ What you know ♪
♪ To be real? ♪
♪ Ooh ♪
♪ Your love's for real now ♪
♪ You know, it's your love and my love ♪
♪ My love and your love ♪
♪ Our love is here to stay ♪
♪ What you think now? ♪
♪ I think I love you ♪
♪ What you feel now? ♪
♪ I feel I need you ♪
♪ What you know ♪
♪ To be real? ♪
♪ Ooh ♪
♪ Your love is for real now ♪
♪ You know, it's your love and my love ♪
♪ And my love is your love ♪
♪ Our love is here to stay ♪
♪ What you think now? ♪
♪ I think I love you ♪
♪ What you feel now? ♪
♪ I feel I need you ♪
♪ What you know ♪
♪ To be real? ♪
♪ What you think now? ♪
♪ I think I love you now ♪
♪ What you feel now? ♪
♪ I feel I need you ♪
♪ What you know ♪
♪ To be real? ♪
♪ It's gotta be real ♪
♪ To be real ♪
♪ It's gotta be real ♪
♪ To be real ♪