A pathological liar and a desperate father (2nd part)

The biggest fraud in Art History 

(If you couldn't read the 1st part, click here) 

Myatt/Braque (fake)
(Image: museum-security.org)

In 1986, Myatt’s wife abandons him for another man and leaves him alone with 2 babys. He had studied art, he was skilled, but his style was not pretty much appreciated. He had won a good amount of money with a single he composed (You can hear it here), but he was getting as desperate as short of money. He would give drawing classes at a school twice weekly, but it was not enough. He decided to start doing small copies of XIX and XX century paintings and offered them to a magazine called Privat Eye as “genuine fakes”. Artists, we tend to copy the masters, and it’s not a crime… as long as you clarify it’s a copy.

One day, Prof. Drewe phones him to ask him for “a nice Matisse”.[1] Afterwards he orders one in a Klee-style... and he soon turns out to be Myatt’s best client. He would even take him to eat to exquisite venues, they would have art talks: Myatt found himself with a way to escape from his routine, he felt important. He was taken aback for the number of commissions, but he thought Drewe gave them away or used them to decorate his house. 

Myatt/Giacometti (fake)
(Image: museum-security.org)

One day in 1988, Drewe tells him he had shown one of his copies at Christie’s and that they could get a lot of money from it: that’s when Myatt figures out that Drewe was selling his copies as genuine paintings. He told himself off for falling in such a trick, but he now couldn’t do anything else and he needed the money. He also reproached himself for not taking more care when picking the materials: he used house paint to get the copy to dry faster and lubricant jelly to give it more consistency. Drewe would make them seem older in “his laboratory” with dust of the vacuum cleaner and coffee stains. They’d get busted as soon as anybody analyzed the paintings chemically.

Drewe sold the paintings with the help of Berger and Belman, but in most cases he would act alone with different alias.

The buyers started giving the paintings back: when they were asked authenticity certificates, the paintings were rejected. And Drewe could not justify their provenance. He needed to make up a chain of past events, with fake documents, to get the paintings to be considered genuine. He donates the Institute of Contemporary Art a “Giacometti” and a “Le Corbusier”, which were sold at Christie’s, just to get access to the records. He did the same with Victoria & Albert and the British Library. He added pictures of the copies in catalogues and books, using old papers, typewriters and Tate’s stamp, scanning signatures, mentioning fake collectors… He reinvented the history from the inside.

Myatt/Nicholson (fake)
(Image: hubpages.com)

But Myatt did not feel okay with all of it. He already got enough money. Drewe started to find it hard to pay him, and uses the recession as excuse. He was a weapon owner (he would usually claim to be agent of Mossad and M15) and Myatt was afraid of him paying back by hurting his children. On 17^th January 1995, Drewe tells him he had a “smoky experience”.[2]  Another night, he calls him again, and Myatt tells him to go to hell. Myatt feels free, now he can paint only for pleasure. Some days after, Searle knocks his door.

Myatt collaborates and Drewe is arrested by Ellis and his people in the Organised Crime Unit. He was a compulsive liar, nothing in his life was real, not even his name: his real name was John Cockett. Myatt had painted for him around 240 paintings, from which only 73 were recovered nowadays. It’s not known how much money Drewe got; Myatt earned around 165000 pounds, from which he gave back 30000. It is supposed that there must be some another forger and that approximately 12 intermediaries took part.The worst part, though, was the damage created to the archives: they would not be reliable anymore.

John Myatt
(Image: museum-security.org)

They had to put off the interrogation to Drewe because he acts sick more than once (faking medical reports, obviously). Finally, the trial “Regina” (for damage against the patrimony) “vs. Drewe, Myatt and Stoakes” began. Stoakes was exonerated immediately. Drewe fired his own lawyer and decided to defend himself (in a sublime performance). Myatt is condemned to a 1 year in jail, from which he only serves 4 months for good behavior. Drewe is condemned for conspiracy, fraud and robbery, with 6 years of jail. When he gets free, he reoffends, by swindling an old woman. He will be set out again in 2020.

Myatt is nowadays a famous painter of “genuine fakes” and even had a TV program.  

 http://www.johnmyatt.com/

You can also watch his classes on YouTube.

This is a short summary of

Salisbury, L.-A.Sujo. The Conman, s.l, Gibson Square, 2010

I’d have loved to tell you more details... to get to know more, I surely suggest reading this book.

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[1] Op.cit, pág. 13

[2] Op.cit. pág. 169

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