77
a beautiful house overlooking the
Mediterranean. From Ibiza, they
sold forged art to dealers around
the world.Doubts resurface
In 1964, the quality of de Hory’s
forgeries began to deteriorate.
Art dealers and experts became
suspicious and several gallery
owners who had purchased de
Hory’s paintings alerted Interpol
and the FBI.
By 1967, as more of de Hory’s
paintings were exposed as fakes,
his forgery career came to an
abrupt end. Legros sold 46 of de
Hory’s bogus masterpieces to
Texas oil tycoon Algur Meadows
between 1964 and 1966, but after
discovering that the paintings
were forgeries, Meadows contacted
the police.
An international warrant was
issued for Legros’s arrest and he
was detained in Switzerland.De Hory went on the run, but
returned to Ibiza in November 1967,
in the belief that he was safe there.Lasting legacy
However, the Spanish authorities
began to investigate de Hory and
charged him with a number of
crimes, including homosexuality.
He was imprisoned in Ibiza
between August and October 1968,
although he was treated well, and
was permitted to have books, a
deck chair, and wear his own
clothes, among various other
comforts. On his release from
prison, de Hory was expelled from
the island for a period of one year.
De Hory moved to Portugal but
eventually returned to Ibiza.
Meanwhile, the French police
built a case against him and
intended to extradite him for
dealing in fake art. Aware that
extradition was imminent, on 11
December 1976 de Hory took hisCON ARTISTS
own life with an overdose of
sleeping pills. The same year,
Legros was extradited to France
from Brazil, where he was hiding
after failing to honour the
conditions of a suspended sentence
in Switzerland. In France, Legros
was charged with forgery and fraud
for defrauding Meadows. He was
imprisoned for two years and died
a pauper in 1983.
De Hory is renowned as
history’s greatest art forger,
creating more than 1,000 works
during his career. His remarkable
story caught both the attention of
author Clifford Irving, who wrote
the successful biography Fake
(1969), and Orson Welles, who made
the documentary F for Fake (1973)
about his life and work.
There are some art experts who
believe that many of de Hory’s
forgeries have not yet been
discovered and still hang in
galleries around the world. ■1959
Attempts suicide
and travels to
Florida with
Fernand Legros
to convalesce.1968
Arrested and
imprisoned for two
months in an Ibizan
jail; he is banished and
leaves for Portugal.1955
Investigated by the
FBI and flees to Mexico
with a falsified birth
certificate; he is later
arrested as a suspect in
a murder investigation.1969
Capitalizes on his celebrity
status and tells his story to
novelist Clifford Irving, who
writes the biography Fake!1957
Visits the Detroit
Institute of Art and
finds one of his
“Matisse” paintings in
the French collection.074-077_Elmyr_de_Hory.indd 77 02/12/2016 14:41