The Crime Book

74

E

lmyr de Hory’s legendary

23-year career as an art

forger began one afternoon

in April 1946, when his wealthy

friend Lady Malcolm Campbell, the

widow of racing driver Sir Malcolm

Campbell, visited his small art

studio in Paris. Among de Hory’s

own postimpressionist paintings,

Campbell noticed an unsigned,

unframed, abstract drawing of a

young girl. Incorrectly identifying

it as a work by Pablo Picasso, she

asked if de Hory would sell it, and

for $100 (around £52), he agreed.

At the time of the sale of this

fake “Picasso”, de Hory was a

40-year-old classically trained artist

who had found limited success

IN CONTEXT

LOCATION

Europe and North and

South America

THEME

Art forgery

BEFORE

1932–45 Dutch portraitist

Han van Meegeren forges

hundreds of paintings by

famous artists, duping buyers

out of more than $30 million

(about £225 million today).

AFTER

1978–88 British art forger Eric

Hebborn sells hundreds of

paintings, drawings, and

sculptures; he later writes

The Art Forger’s Handbook,

published shortly before his

death in 1996.

1981–94 Dutch painter and

art forger Geert Jan Jansen

produces more than 1,600

forged artworks.

IF MY WORK

HANGS IN A

MUSEUM LONG

ENOUGH, IT

BECOMES REAL

ELMYR DE HORY, 1946–68

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75

See also: Clifford Irving 88–89 ■ Konrad Kujau 90–93 Identifying forgeries

The most common method

of verifying art is through

the documented history of the

artwork’s ownership. This

can be forged, however, so

art experts also deploy a

range of other techniques.

An art historian may be

called upon to assess the

overall style and brushwork

to see if they match the artist

and time period. The colours

in the painting are also

analyzed, since not all paint

colours have been available

throughout history. This

technique was famously

used to expose a supposed

17th-century painting by

Frans Hals as a fake, because

it revealed that a collar was

painted with zinc oxide, which

was not available until 1728.

Scientists examine the

surface the work is painted

on to check if it has been

artificially aged. Ultraviolet

light and optical microscopes

are used to determine if the

fine cracks that naturally

appear over time are genuine.

A technique called X-ray

diffraction can detect

whether a canvas has been

used multiple times, which is

often a hallmark of a genuine

master artist.

selling nondescript paintings

and portraits. He had travelled to

Paris hoping to gain fame and

fortune, but he found that his

postimpressionist style was

regarded as passé compared to the

fashionable abstract expressionistic

paintings then in vogue.

Following the unexpected sale

of the bogus “Picasso” drawing,

de Hory produced other “Picassos”

and began to target art galleries. He

claimed to be a Hungarian aristocrat

displaced in the post-war diaspora,

offering what remained from his

family’s art collection. De Hory’s next

victim – a Paris art gallery owner –

bought three “Picasso” drawings for

$200 (about £1,400 today).

Partner in crime

Soon, de Hory joined forces with a

man named Jacques Chamberlin,

who became his art dealer,

accomplice, and close friend.

Together, the pair travelled all

over Europe selling the forgeries.

Although they were supposed to

share the profits equally,

Chamberlin actually kept most

of the money. When de Hory

discovered the deception, he ended

the partnership. ❯❯

CON ARTISTS

Even after de Hory was exposed as

a forger, his paintings were still highly

sought after, because of the quality of

his work. This imitation Picasso was

sold at Phillips auction house in 2000.

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