Re: FREDA BEDI CONT'D (#4)
Posted: Wed Nov 09, 2022 5:14 am
Part 1 of 6
Inside Criminal Minds ... Con Men
[The Cunning Genius Who Fooled The Art World: John Myatt]
Narration by Anthony Wilson
by Real Crime
Apr 5, 2022
The first episode investigates the story of John Myatt, a painter who produced forged works of art for dealer John Drew. Lifting the lid on one of the 20th-century's biggest contemporary art frauds, it reveals that Myatt painted around 200 forgeries while Drewe managed to con esteemed experts in some of Britain's prestigious art auction establishments.
Transcript
[Narrator] Con men, the most devious of all criminals. Charming, cool, and calculating, they betray trust and devastate lives, yet remain a complete enigma. We are about to explore the mysterious world of these master criminals, giving an unprecedented insight into the workings of the complex minds of some of the world's most cunning con men. We will reveal the detail and the intricacies of their elaborate crimes, and uncover how they were brought dramatically to justice. In this show, we tell the startling and incredible truth behind the Twentieth century's biggest art fraud.
A struggling artist was drawn into a con, would make millions, with the artist and con man secretly working together for almost a decade, creating fake paintings that would sell as recently discovered works by master artists,
fooling the international art world, and leaving them devastated and utterly humiliated.
[Jonathan Searle, Fraud Squad, New Scotland Yard] In terms of 20th century art fraud, John Drewe and the John Myatt case, must rank right at the top.
[Peter Nahum, Art Dealer] But the problem is, we were being scammed by a very intelligent person on multi levels.
[John Myatt] Unbelievable that, uh, people would be looking at paintings painted in the same kind of stuff that you put on your walls basically, and authenticating them.
[Jonathan Searle, Fraud Squad, New Scotland Yard] If I had been a dealer, I'd have most certainly been fooled.
[Narrator] The sophistication and intricacy of this incredible scam saw forgeries of famous artists such as Ben Nicholson, and Albert Giacometti, painted in emulsion, and covered in tea, coffee, and hoover dust, audaciously passed off as original oil paintings under the art world's noses.
The con was masterminded by a cool and calculating criminal, with an IQ of One-Hundred Sixty-Five, whose name was John Drewe. He enticed struggling, cash-strapped, single-parent John Myatt into his intricate, and almost foolproof scam.
[Jonathan Searle, Fraud Squad, New Scotland Yard]John Drewe has got a huge amount of, um, for want of another word, "front."
[Peter Nahum, Art Dealer] But he's very, very dangerous, because he's a fantasist. He's quite happy to scam money out of anybody.
[Jonathan Searle, Fraud Squad, New Scotland Yard] But there must be an element of intellectual one-up-manship.
[Joel Levy, Con Expert] And putting one over on people who probably thought themselves to be very smart, and he probably thought, you know, that he'd made them look like idiots. And that made him feel great.
[Narrator] Mastermind John Drewe took the artcon to a whole new level. His master stroke was the infiltration of the British art archives. He secured access, then simply rewrote history to authenticate his bogus paintings. This shocked the art world to its core.
[Jonathan Searle, Fraud Squad, New Scotland Yard] Basically, it's art historical revisionism. So he's changing history. He's changing art history.
[Jacqui Hames, Metropolitan Police Detective] He went to enormous lengths to authenticate the pictures, and to change the authenticity of them, and the invoice that goes around with them, in order to make those paintings believable. And the idea of taking on the art world, and of all these superior intellects, and to actually get the better of them, must have been irresistible to him.
[John Myatt] How the hell we ever got away with it, I just don't know.
Sugnall, Staffordshire, England
[Narrator] The story of what has been dubbed, "The Greatest Contemporary Art Forgery of the Twentieth Century begins in the unlikeliest of places: here in leafy Stafford England back in the mid-1980s. Over Two Hundred paintings will be forged by a cash-strapped, single parent, called John Myatt.
Myatt's intentions began honorably enough: a single parent, raising his family, he decided to try to earn money to support his two young children while working at home.
He placed an advertisement in the UK magazine, "Private Eye," offering his services as an artist who reproduced copies of famous paintings.
[John Myatt] The advert said, "Genuine Fakes, Nineteenth and Twentieth Century paintings from One-Hundred Fifty pounds," the first time I put it in.
And the second time I put it in it said, "Nineteenth and Twentieth Century paintings from Two-Hundred Fifty pounds," what with prices up a bit.
I think it was about a year-and-a-half into it when I got a phone call from Mr. Drewe. And the only difference between any other customer, and Mr. Drewe, was that he just kept on coming back.
[Narrator] John Drewe, a man with a brilliant mind, and an IQ of One-Hundred-Sixty-Five, was born John Cockett.
Throughout his life, he worked in jobs he wasn't legitimately qualified for, but always convinced his employers otherwise.
[Jacqui Hames, Metropolitan Police Detective] Drewe did have all the hallmarks of a really good con man. He was utterly believable, and plausible. He could tell extremely complicated lies, and keep those lies going, remembering everything he told.
[Jonathan Searle, Fraud Squad, New Scotland Yard] He taught Physics "A" level at a school in north London, and I don't think he has -- I think he's got Physics "O" level. And the irony of this is that he actually taught it quite well.
[Jacqui Hames, Metropolitan Police Detective] John Drewe showed very clearly, from early on, that he disliked authority. He didn't like working for anybody else. He wanted to work for himself. He was clearly arrogant in that respect.
[Joel Levy, Con Expert] I mean it sounds as though, um, Drewe was so sure of himself, and so convinced of his own superiority, which was backed up, I suppose, if you like, by the fact that he was successful. For him, that was evidence that he was a cut above everyone else. That he was a few steps ahead.
[Narrator] When he contacted John Myatt, Drewe, now in his thirties, was masquerading as a professor of nuclear physics, who needed paintings to decorate his home. In reality, he was a master con man, preparing the ground to lure in the man who would be the key to the next scam he was planning.
[John Myatt] He was one of the most exciting people I'd ever met. He was so interesting. It was a bit like going to the movies, really. You're going to see him, John Drewe, every three weeks or so. As time went by, I got to know him better. I stopped meeting him in Houston Station, and I used to meet him in Golders Green Station. And then he'd take me to his house. And we'd have a meal, I'd meet his children; I'd meet his wife. And the only thing, I think, I remember him saying was -- this is a long time ago, of course, "Don't tell my wife that you painted these, will you? I'm just telling her that you're an art expert who's come to look over the paintings, and stuff." When you bear in mind that most customers were good for about two paintings, this was really quite exceptional.
And in the end, he seemed to just run out of ideas . And, uh, he said, "Well, what would you like to do next, John?" So I looked through, and found some drawings -- cubist drawings. and It struck me that I could turn these into paintings. Not just copying something, which is just stupid, you know, but actually creating something new from a drawing.
And I remember it was in a little oval thing -- about that big, maybe. I painted this -- it was by a German cubist, that very few people had heard of, called Albert Gleizes.
[Narrator] It was after this -- the ninth commission -- the painting in the style of the little known cubist artist Albert Gleizes, that John Myatt received a phone call from his best customer -- a phone call from John Drewe that would change Myatt's life forever, and turn an innocent hobby into a devious, and criminal life of dishonesty.
[John Myatt] The phone rang, and he said, "You know that Albert Gleizes painting that I bought off you? Well, I've taken it into Christie's, and they say it's a very interesting work, and they'll sell it for , pounds. So, you know, would you rather have Two-Hundred-and-Fifty, or would you like Twelve-and-a-half-thousand?" You know, with hindsight, that was where I made my mistake.
Inside Criminal Minds ... Con Men
[The Cunning Genius Who Fooled The Art World: John Myatt]
Narration by Anthony Wilson
by Real Crime
Apr 5, 2022
The first episode investigates the story of John Myatt, a painter who produced forged works of art for dealer John Drew. Lifting the lid on one of the 20th-century's biggest contemporary art frauds, it reveals that Myatt painted around 200 forgeries while Drewe managed to con esteemed experts in some of Britain's prestigious art auction establishments.
Transcript
[Narrator] Con men, the most devious of all criminals. Charming, cool, and calculating, they betray trust and devastate lives, yet remain a complete enigma. We are about to explore the mysterious world of these master criminals, giving an unprecedented insight into the workings of the complex minds of some of the world's most cunning con men. We will reveal the detail and the intricacies of their elaborate crimes, and uncover how they were brought dramatically to justice. In this show, we tell the startling and incredible truth behind the Twentieth century's biggest art fraud.
A struggling artist was drawn into a con, would make millions, with the artist and con man secretly working together for almost a decade, creating fake paintings that would sell as recently discovered works by master artists,
fooling the international art world, and leaving them devastated and utterly humiliated.
[Jonathan Searle, Fraud Squad, New Scotland Yard] In terms of 20th century art fraud, John Drewe and the John Myatt case, must rank right at the top.
[Peter Nahum, Art Dealer] But the problem is, we were being scammed by a very intelligent person on multi levels.
[John Myatt] Unbelievable that, uh, people would be looking at paintings painted in the same kind of stuff that you put on your walls basically, and authenticating them.
[Jonathan Searle, Fraud Squad, New Scotland Yard] If I had been a dealer, I'd have most certainly been fooled.
[Narrator] The sophistication and intricacy of this incredible scam saw forgeries of famous artists such as Ben Nicholson, and Albert Giacometti, painted in emulsion, and covered in tea, coffee, and hoover dust, audaciously passed off as original oil paintings under the art world's noses.
The con was masterminded by a cool and calculating criminal, with an IQ of One-Hundred Sixty-Five, whose name was John Drewe. He enticed struggling, cash-strapped, single-parent John Myatt into his intricate, and almost foolproof scam.
[Jonathan Searle, Fraud Squad, New Scotland Yard]John Drewe has got a huge amount of, um, for want of another word, "front."
[Peter Nahum, Art Dealer] But he's very, very dangerous, because he's a fantasist. He's quite happy to scam money out of anybody.
[Jonathan Searle, Fraud Squad, New Scotland Yard] But there must be an element of intellectual one-up-manship.
[Joel Levy, Con Expert] And putting one over on people who probably thought themselves to be very smart, and he probably thought, you know, that he'd made them look like idiots. And that made him feel great.
[Narrator] Mastermind John Drewe took the artcon to a whole new level. His master stroke was the infiltration of the British art archives. He secured access, then simply rewrote history to authenticate his bogus paintings. This shocked the art world to its core.
[Jonathan Searle, Fraud Squad, New Scotland Yard] Basically, it's art historical revisionism. So he's changing history. He's changing art history.
[Jacqui Hames, Metropolitan Police Detective] He went to enormous lengths to authenticate the pictures, and to change the authenticity of them, and the invoice that goes around with them, in order to make those paintings believable. And the idea of taking on the art world, and of all these superior intellects, and to actually get the better of them, must have been irresistible to him.
[John Myatt] How the hell we ever got away with it, I just don't know.
Sugnall, Staffordshire, England
[Narrator] The story of what has been dubbed, "The Greatest Contemporary Art Forgery of the Twentieth Century begins in the unlikeliest of places: here in leafy Stafford England back in the mid-1980s. Over Two Hundred paintings will be forged by a cash-strapped, single parent, called John Myatt.
Myatt's intentions began honorably enough: a single parent, raising his family, he decided to try to earn money to support his two young children while working at home.
He placed an advertisement in the UK magazine, "Private Eye," offering his services as an artist who reproduced copies of famous paintings.
[John Myatt] The advert said, "Genuine Fakes, Nineteenth and Twentieth Century paintings from One-Hundred Fifty pounds," the first time I put it in.
And the second time I put it in it said, "Nineteenth and Twentieth Century paintings from Two-Hundred Fifty pounds," what with prices up a bit.
I think it was about a year-and-a-half into it when I got a phone call from Mr. Drewe. And the only difference between any other customer, and Mr. Drewe, was that he just kept on coming back.
[Narrator] John Drewe, a man with a brilliant mind, and an IQ of One-Hundred-Sixty-Five, was born John Cockett.
Throughout his life, he worked in jobs he wasn't legitimately qualified for, but always convinced his employers otherwise.
[Jacqui Hames, Metropolitan Police Detective] Drewe did have all the hallmarks of a really good con man. He was utterly believable, and plausible. He could tell extremely complicated lies, and keep those lies going, remembering everything he told.
[Jonathan Searle, Fraud Squad, New Scotland Yard] He taught Physics "A" level at a school in north London, and I don't think he has -- I think he's got Physics "O" level. And the irony of this is that he actually taught it quite well.
[Jacqui Hames, Metropolitan Police Detective] John Drewe showed very clearly, from early on, that he disliked authority. He didn't like working for anybody else. He wanted to work for himself. He was clearly arrogant in that respect.
[Joel Levy, Con Expert] I mean it sounds as though, um, Drewe was so sure of himself, and so convinced of his own superiority, which was backed up, I suppose, if you like, by the fact that he was successful. For him, that was evidence that he was a cut above everyone else. That he was a few steps ahead.
[Narrator] When he contacted John Myatt, Drewe, now in his thirties, was masquerading as a professor of nuclear physics, who needed paintings to decorate his home. In reality, he was a master con man, preparing the ground to lure in the man who would be the key to the next scam he was planning.
[John Myatt] He was one of the most exciting people I'd ever met. He was so interesting. It was a bit like going to the movies, really. You're going to see him, John Drewe, every three weeks or so. As time went by, I got to know him better. I stopped meeting him in Houston Station, and I used to meet him in Golders Green Station. And then he'd take me to his house. And we'd have a meal, I'd meet his children; I'd meet his wife. And the only thing, I think, I remember him saying was -- this is a long time ago, of course, "Don't tell my wife that you painted these, will you? I'm just telling her that you're an art expert who's come to look over the paintings, and stuff." When you bear in mind that most customers were good for about two paintings, this was really quite exceptional.
And in the end, he seemed to just run out of ideas . And, uh, he said, "Well, what would you like to do next, John?" So I looked through, and found some drawings -- cubist drawings. and It struck me that I could turn these into paintings. Not just copying something, which is just stupid, you know, but actually creating something new from a drawing.
And I remember it was in a little oval thing -- about that big, maybe. I painted this -- it was by a German cubist, that very few people had heard of, called Albert Gleizes.
[Narrator] It was after this -- the ninth commission -- the painting in the style of the little known cubist artist Albert Gleizes, that John Myatt received a phone call from his best customer -- a phone call from John Drewe that would change Myatt's life forever, and turn an innocent hobby into a devious, and criminal life of dishonesty.
[John Myatt] The phone rang, and he said, "You know that Albert Gleizes painting that I bought off you? Well, I've taken it into Christie's, and they say it's a very interesting work, and they'll sell it for , pounds. So, you know, would you rather have Two-Hundred-and-Fifty, or would you like Twelve-and-a-half-thousand?" You know, with hindsight, that was where I made my mistake.