The Artifice of Art

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: What is as fragile as originality? It’s why we prize it, right? The idea that something–say a piece of art–is the only one of its kind that exists.

But since that “originality” is what makes it valuable, it also makes it tempting. I mean–all you have to do is make one exactly like it–and who would ever know?

Or create one that seems to be from the same mind and hand. Tempting, huh?

Until Interpol comes to the door.

The oh-so-talented Katherine Reay has tapped in to that temptation–not by copying, of course, but by exploring the devious and manipulative minds of people who do.

The Artifice of Art

By Katherine Reay

After writing three spy novels, I delved into the world of art forgery for The English Masterpiece. At first, I was nervous — could forgers be as compelling as spies? Could the stakes, the intrigue, and the tension be as high? I quickly discovered the answer is an unequivocal YES! Though spies and forgers play on different fields and wield dissimilar “weapons of the trade,” they are both skilled, secretive, duplicitous, and fascinating masters of illusion. What you see is never what you get. Spies have changed world events in ways we will never know.

And all those “masterpieces” we swoon over while touring the world’s most storied museums? Picassos, Vermeers, Monets, and more… Experts estimate at least twenty percent of that art is faked and forged, with some experts taking that number as high as forty percent.

Conducting research for any novel is always fascinating for me. I love digging into the details and the history. And for this one I delved deep into paint composition, canvas, undertone, underpainting, and all the details behind the creation, curation, and insurance of art. But it was the forger, the psychology and motivation behind forgery, that intrigued me the most.


Let’s look at two of the world's most famous forgers and you’ll see what I mean.

Han van Meegeren, a Dutch painter who specialized in forging Johannes Vermeer during WWII and had the audacity to sell his works to the Nazis (the art-voracious Hermann Goering in particular), is often considered the world’s greatest forger. Biographer Jonathan Lopez called him a “talented Mr. Ripley with a paintbrush,” a conman famous for selling paintings that he himself declared “perfect forgeries.” And perhaps he was right.

During his trial for selling national treasures to the Nazis, van Meegeren actually had to prove his paintings were fakes and claimed, instead, that by tricking the Nazis he was a national hero. He still went to prison for a year for forgery, but the public loved him.

A contemporary forger, Wolfgang Beltracchi recently finished serving his prison term and is back to painting today, though under his own name now. He provides another example of the forger’s hubris. In the 2014 documentary, Beltracchi: The Art of Forgery, he wonders aloud why his forgeries aren’t as acclaimed as true Campendonks or Ernsts — after all, they are as beautiful. He even goes on to imply he has improved upon their style and works.

But it’s not all about ego and hubris, it’s about money too. In this high-stakes world of art, deception, forgery, and greed, van Meegeren accrued about $30M in today’s terms and Beltracchi over $40M. That said, once a forger is caught collectors and insurance companies definitely work to claw back those gains. What they can’t rectify, however, is the permanent tainting of the world’s artistic archive — for most forgers won’t and don’t reveal the locations of their entire oeuvre.

My novel, The English Masterpiece, centers around a forged Picasso, as he was the twentieth century’s most famous artist and remains the world's most forged artist. I guess if your work spans five movements there is a huge scope for forgery. And forgers do have their favorite movements and artists.

A couple of genuine Picassos featured in The English Masterpiece — The Old Guitarist and Woman in a Red Armchair. You have probably seen them many times.

But here is also one “forgery” in honor of the story.

My daughter created the painting that comprises the novel’s focal point, the fictional Picasso’s Woman Laughing. It’s still work in progress and, as her mother, I promise she won’t dip into the dark side of the art world and try to sell it. But it was a fun project.

So the question is… Do you think you could make a painting or drawing that is”in the school of” a master? If we could wave a magic wand and let you do it perfectly, who would you like to emulate?


HANK: Wow, that is such a tricky question. I would like to emulate…ah, John Singer Sargent? I have no idea how he could paint fabric so gloriously that it seems real. Remember when I was in fifth grade–funny how this just came back to me!–I wrote an essay about how I would like to be able to paint like Rosa Bonheur. Aw. The Hank of the past emerges in art.

How about you, Reds and readers?



ABOUT THE AUTHOR


Katherine Reay is a national bestselling and award-winning author who has enjoyed a lifelong affair with books. She publishes both fiction and nonfiction, holds a BA and MS from Northwestern University, and currently lives outside Bozeman, MT, with her husband and three children.

Follow Katherine on Instagram, Facebook, X, and her personal website here.


ADVANCE BOOK PRAISE

“[A] fascinating look behind the scenes of art dealings and the workings of the museum.” —Booklist


“Crackling with tension from the very start, Reay’s latest is a twisty, smart read infused with the heady atmosphere of the 1970s London art world. The novel deftly explores the nature of artistic genius, the ethics of deception, and the cost of speaking up for what is true. A gem of a read!”
—Fiona Davis, New York Times bestselling author of The Stolen Queen


“Art… London… Seventies Glam… Yes, please. The English Masterpiece has ALL the goodies—especially for historical fiction lovers and art aficionados. Readers will relish Reay’s stylish prose and rich, unforgettable characters amid a propulsive cat and mouse chase into the opulent and obsessive world of multi-million-dollar art and deception.”
—Lisa Barr, New York Times bestselling author of The Goddess of Warsaw