John Myatt

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John Myatt (* 1945 ) is a British artist and art forger .

Life

Myatt, the son of a farmer, discovered his ability to imitate the style of well-known artists at art school. As a songwriter, he wrote Silly Games, a UK Top 40 hit by Janet Kay in 1979. He later worked as an art teacher in Staffordshire.

In 1985, Myatt gave up teaching and tried to make a living from his hobby. He placed an ad in Private Eye magazine selling “genuine fakes” of 19th and 20th century paintings from £ 150. Myatt initially appeared with no fraudulent intent. One of his customers, the art collector John Drewe, brought some of Myatt's works as originals to auction houses and finally persuaded Myatt to forge on a large scale. Myatt subsequently painted primarily in the style of Roger Bissière , Marc Chagall , Le Corbusier , Jean Dubuffet , Alberto Giacometti , Henri Matisse , Ben Nicholson , Nicolas de Staël and Graham Sutherland . According to police estimates, this was around 200 fakes in total - 60 were identified.

Drewe provided forged certificates of authenticity, forged exhibition catalogs and sold to auction houses such as Christie’s , Phillips and Sotheby’s and to art dealers in London, Paris and New York.

In September 1995, Myatt was arrested by Scotland Yard officials and made a full confession. On April 16, 1996, police raided Drewes' London gallery and found essential evidence. The trial began in September 1998. On February 13, 1999, John Myatt was sentenced to one year in prison - his instigator Drewe received 6 years, two of which were served.

In June 2000, Myatt was released. He established himself as a portrait painter and copyist, with his works fetching prices of up to £ 45,000. Myatt also appeared on TV shows for Sky Arts where he portrayed celebrities. In 2010 the television series “Virgin Virtuosos” started, in which Myatt teaches celebrities to paint and explains the different styles of individual painters to them. In the same year the book The Conman: How One Man Fooled Britain's Modern-Art Establishment was published by the authors Laney Salisbury and Ajo Sujo through the forger Myatt .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Ferguson, Euan (July 16, 2006). "Making Monet". The Guardian. ( Memento from July 20, 2006 in the Internet Archive )
  2. ^ Gentleman, Amelia (February 13, 1999). "Fakes leave art world in chaos". The Guardian . Retrieved August 31
  3. ↑ "Faker who flooded art world jailed for six years". February 16, 1999. The Guardian . Retrieved August 31, 2007.
  4. ↑ Deacon, Michael. "John Myatt on how his forgeries have become worth thousands" January 29, 2010 The Telegraph. Retrieved September 15, 2015

Other sources

  • Bennett, Will (September 7, 2002). "After brush with law, artist puts his fakes on show". The Daily Telegraph. [1] . Retrieved August 31, 2007.
  • "Faker who flooded art world jailed for 6 years". The Guardian. February 16, 1999. [2] . Retrieved August 31, 2007.
  • "Art fraudster to hold fake exhibition". BBC News. July 7, 2002. [3] Retrieved August 31, 2007.
  • Thorpe, Vanessa (July 15, 2007). "Art forger finds Hollywood fame". The Observer. [4] . Retrieved August 31, 2007.
personal data
SURNAME Myatt, John
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British artist and art forger
DATE OF BIRTH 1945