Elmyr de Hory

Introduction

The illustrious 23-year career of Elmyr de Hory as an art forger started one day in April 1946 when his affluent friend Lady Malcolm Campbell, the widow of racing driver Sir Malcolm Campbell, paid a visit to his modest Parisian studio.
Campbell saw an unsigned, unframed abstract sketch of a little girl among de Hory's own post-impressionist works.
- She asked de Hory if he would sell it after mistaking it for a Pablo Picasso piece and he said yes for $100.
De Hory, a 40-year-old classically educated artist with modest sales of unremarkable paintings and portraits, was selling this bogus "Picasso" at the time.
- He had come to Paris in search of fame and money, but when he arrived he discovered that the current abstract expressionistic paintings of the time were more in favor than his postimpressionist style, which was now considered out of date.
After the phony "Picasso" artwork unexpectedly sold, de Hory created further copies and started concentrating on art galleries.
- He offered what was left of his family's collection of artwork on the pretense that he was a Hungarian nobleman who had been uprooted during the post-war exodus.
- A Parisian owner of an art gallery became De Hory's next victim after paying $200 for three "Picasso" sketches.

Partner in crime

Jacques Chamberlin, de Hory's art dealer, collaborator, and close friend, joined forces with him soon after.
Together, the two toured all of Europe in order to sell the fakes.
While they were intended to split the earnings evenly, Chamberlin ended up keeping the majority of the cash. De Hory broke up the partnership after he realized the fraud.
Shortly after coming to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, de Hory resumed his own painting while simultaneously subsisting off the sales of his forgeries.
He produced paintings in his own style, but they did not sell for the kind of money he had become used to from selling fake.
De Hory immigrated to the US in August 1947 and made friends with people in the American art community via his charisma.
He found himself suddenly in a position to market his forgeries to a huge number of galleries.
As part of his repertoire expansion, he included "works" by Matisse, Modigliani, and Renoir.

Safety first

To avoid drawing the notice of the authorities, De Hory took his own measures.
He kept his true occupation a secret while offering logical justifications for why he was giving dealers and art purchasers deals on his artwork.
Additionally, he took care to exclusively sell his forgeries to professionals in the art world.
But in 1955, art dealer Joseph Faulkner discovered one of de Hory's forgeries and denounced him to the FBI.
De Hory eluded capture and escaped to Mexico.
He was quickly detained, but not for fraud; rather, it was for a murder investigation when an Englishman was discovered dead.
De Hory mostly used his money to reward the cops.

Dark Days

Later that year, De Hory returned to the US, hiding out in Los Angeles and attempting to market his own creations, but he soon relocated to New York.
- He fell into melancholy when no one was interested in his artwork, and in 1959, when he was 52 years old, he made an attempt on his life.
De Hory was driven to Florida for recuperation by a new acquaintance named Fernand Legros who had been to de Hory's housewarming celebration in New York.
- The two quickly ran out of money, so de Hory created three lithographs and sent Legros out to try to sell them in one of de Hory's old suits.
- As a result of this arrangement's success, Legros quickly convinced de Hory to appoint him as his art dealer in exchange for a 40% fee on each sale.
- And thus an eight-year collaboration got started.
De Hory and Legros relocated to the Spanish island of Ibiza, where they made themselves at home in a lovely home with a view of the Mediterranean.
- They distributed fake artwork to merchants all around the globe out of Ibiza.

Doubts resurface

De Hory's forgeries started to become worse in quality around 1964.
A number of gallery owners who had bought de Hory's artworks informed Interpol and the FBI after many art experts and dealers had suspicions.
De Hory's forgery career abruptly came to an end in 1967 when more of his artworks were shown to be forgeries.
Algur Meadows, a Texas oil millionaire, purchased 46 of de Hory's phony masterpieces from Legros between 1964 and 1966.
Meadows alerted the authorities when he realized the paintings were fakes.
Legros was held in Switzerland after the issuance of an international arrest order for him.
De Hory fled, but in November 1967, he came back to Ibiza because he thought it would keep him safe.

Lasting legacy

De Hory was nevertheless subject to an investigation by the Spanish authorities who also accused him of a host of other offenses, including homosexuality.
Between August and October 1968, he was imprisoned in Ibiza.
- Despite this, he was given good care and was given access to a deck chair, literature, and his own clothing, among other amenities.
- De Hory was barred from returning to the island for a year after his release from jail.
- De Hory relocated to Portugal before finally coming home to Ibiza.
- While this was going on, the French police prepared an accusation against him and planned to deport him for selling phony artwork.
On December 11, 1976, de Hory overdosed on sleeping pills and committed himself knowing that he would soon be extradited.
- Legros was extradited to France the same year from Brazil, where he had been evading justice for violating the terms of a Swiss sentence that had been given to him on supervised release.
- Legros was accused of forging documents and engaging in fraud in France after cheating Meadows.
- He spent two years in jail before passing away in 1983 as a pauper.
In his career, De Hory produced more than 1,000 pieces, earning him the title of greatest art forger in history.
Clifford Irving, who authored the popular book Fake (1969), and Orson Welles, who produced the biography F for Fake (1973) on him and his career, were both drawn to his unique life story.
Numerous forgeries by de Hory may still be hanging in galleries across the globe, according to certain specialists in the field of art.

Identifying forgeries

The recorded history of the artwork's ownership is the most popular way to validate art.
Art professionals also use a variety of different ways since this may be faked.
An art historian may be consulted to evaluate the general style and brushwork to see if they are appropriate for the artist and the period.
Since not every paint color has been accessible throughout history, the painting's colors are also examined.
- Because it was discovered that a collar was painted with zinc oxide, which wasn't commercially accessible until 1728, this approach was notably used to uncover a purported Frans Hals painting as a fake.
To determine if a piece of art has been artificially aged, scientists look at the painted surface.
- The authenticity of the tiny fractures that develop naturally over time is checked using optical microscopes and ultraviolet light.
- If a canvas has been used more than once, which is often a sign of a true great artist, X-ray diffraction may be utilized to discover this.

Elmyr de Hory’s Life

1938: Being detained in Hungary as a political "undesirable" as its government partners with Nazi Germany and jails intellectuals and artists.
1946: Lady Malcolm Campbell, who purchases the artwork, thinks it is a Picasso.
1949: Sells his first fake Modigliani to the Niveau Gallery in New York.
1951: Sells two works of art: one "Matisse" to the Atkins Museum of Fine Arts in Kansas City and one "Picasso" to the William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art, both in Kansas City.
1952: Sells a "Matisse" together with five "Modiglianis" and a "Renoir" to the Fogg Art Museum at Harvard University. The assistant director questions them and sends them back.
1955: He is under FBI investigation and escapes to Mexico with a fake birth certificate; he is subsequently apprehended as a suspect in a homicide case.
1957: Discovers one of his "Matisse" paintings in the French collection at the Detroit Institute of Art.
1959: Flies to Florida with Fernand Legros to recover after attempting suicide.
1968: He is detained and held for two months in an Ibizan prison before being expelled and departing for Portugal.

Related Crimes

In 1932–45, Han van Meegeren, a Dutch portraitist, defrauds purchasers out of more than $30 million by fabricating hundreds of works of art by well-known painters.
In 1978–88, Eric Hebborn, a British art forger, sold hundreds of fake paintings, sculptures, and sketches before penning The Art Forger's Handbook, which was released just before his death in 1996.
In 1981–94, Geert Jan Jansen, a Dutch painter and art forger, creates more than 1,600 fake pieces of art.

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Elmyr de Hory

Introduction

The illustrious 23-year career of Elmyr de Hory as an art forger started one day in April 1946 when his affluent friend Lady Malcolm Campbell, the widow of racing driver Sir Malcolm Campbell, paid a visit to his modest Parisian studio.
Campbell saw an unsigned, unframed abstract sketch of a little girl among de Hory's own post-impressionist works.
- She asked de Hory if he would sell it after mistaking it for a Pablo Picasso piece and he said yes for $100.
De Hory, a 40-year-old classically educated artist with modest sales of unremarkable paintings and portraits, was selling this bogus "Picasso" at the time.
- He had come to Paris in search of fame and money, but when he arrived he discovered that the current abstract expressionistic paintings of the time were more in favor than his postimpressionist style, which was now considered out of date.
After the phony "Picasso" artwork unexpectedly sold, de Hory created further copies and started concentrating on art galleries.
- He offered what was left of his family's collection of artwork on the pretense that he was a Hungarian nobleman who had been uprooted during the post-war exodus.
- A Parisian owner of an art gallery became De Hory's next victim after paying $200 for three "Picasso" sketches.

Partner in crime

Jacques Chamberlin, de Hory's art dealer, collaborator, and close friend, joined forces with him soon after.
Together, the two toured all of Europe in order to sell the fakes.
While they were intended to split the earnings evenly, Chamberlin ended up keeping the majority of the cash. De Hory broke up the partnership after he realized the fraud.
Shortly after coming to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, de Hory resumed his own painting while simultaneously subsisting off the sales of his forgeries.
He produced paintings in his own style, but they did not sell for the kind of money he had become used to from selling fake.
De Hory immigrated to the US in August 1947 and made friends with people in the American art community via his charisma.
He found himself suddenly in a position to market his forgeries to a huge number of galleries.
As part of his repertoire expansion, he included "works" by Matisse, Modigliani, and Renoir.

Safety first

To avoid drawing the notice of the authorities, De Hory took his own measures.
He kept his true occupation a secret while offering logical justifications for why he was giving dealers and art purchasers deals on his artwork.
Additionally, he took care to exclusively sell his forgeries to professionals in the art world.
But in 1955, art dealer Joseph Faulkner discovered one of de Hory's forgeries and denounced him to the FBI.
De Hory eluded capture and escaped to Mexico.
He was quickly detained, but not for fraud; rather, it was for a murder investigation when an Englishman was discovered dead.
De Hory mostly used his money to reward the cops.

Dark Days

Later that year, De Hory returned to the US, hiding out in Los Angeles and attempting to market his own creations, but he soon relocated to New York.
- He fell into melancholy when no one was interested in his artwork, and in 1959, when he was 52 years old, he made an attempt on his life.
De Hory was driven to Florida for recuperation by a new acquaintance named Fernand Legros who had been to de Hory's housewarming celebration in New York.
- The two quickly ran out of money, so de Hory created three lithographs and sent Legros out to try to sell them in one of de Hory's old suits.
- As a result of this arrangement's success, Legros quickly convinced de Hory to appoint him as his art dealer in exchange for a 40% fee on each sale.
- And thus an eight-year collaboration got started.
De Hory and Legros relocated to the Spanish island of Ibiza, where they made themselves at home in a lovely home with a view of the Mediterranean.
- They distributed fake artwork to merchants all around the globe out of Ibiza.

Doubts resurface

De Hory's forgeries started to become worse in quality around 1964.
A number of gallery owners who had bought de Hory's artworks informed Interpol and the FBI after many art experts and dealers had suspicions.
De Hory's forgery career abruptly came to an end in 1967 when more of his artworks were shown to be forgeries.
Algur Meadows, a Texas oil millionaire, purchased 46 of de Hory's phony masterpieces from Legros between 1964 and 1966.
Meadows alerted the authorities when he realized the paintings were fakes.
Legros was held in Switzerland after the issuance of an international arrest order for him.
De Hory fled, but in November 1967, he came back to Ibiza because he thought it would keep him safe.

Lasting legacy

De Hory was nevertheless subject to an investigation by the Spanish authorities who also accused him of a host of other offenses, including homosexuality.
Between August and October 1968, he was imprisoned in Ibiza.
- Despite this, he was given good care and was given access to a deck chair, literature, and his own clothing, among other amenities.
- De Hory was barred from returning to the island for a year after his release from jail.
- De Hory relocated to Portugal before finally coming home to Ibiza.
- While this was going on, the French police prepared an accusation against him and planned to deport him for selling phony artwork.
On December 11, 1976, de Hory overdosed on sleeping pills and committed himself knowing that he would soon be extradited.
- Legros was extradited to France the same year from Brazil, where he had been evading justice for violating the terms of a Swiss sentence that had been given to him on supervised release.
- Legros was accused of forging documents and engaging in fraud in France after cheating Meadows.
- He spent two years in jail before passing away in 1983 as a pauper.
In his career, De Hory produced more than 1,000 pieces, earning him the title of greatest art forger in history.
Clifford Irving, who authored the popular book Fake (1969), and Orson Welles, who produced the biography F for Fake (1973) on him and his career, were both drawn to his unique life story.
Numerous forgeries by de Hory may still be hanging in galleries across the globe, according to certain specialists in the field of art.

Identifying forgeries

The recorded history of the artwork's ownership is the most popular way to validate art.
Art professionals also use a variety of different ways since this may be faked.
An art historian may be consulted to evaluate the general style and brushwork to see if they are appropriate for the artist and the period.
Since not every paint color has been accessible throughout history, the painting's colors are also examined.
- Because it was discovered that a collar was painted with zinc oxide, which wasn't commercially accessible until 1728, this approach was notably used to uncover a purported Frans Hals painting as a fake.
To determine if a piece of art has been artificially aged, scientists look at the painted surface.
- The authenticity of the tiny fractures that develop naturally over time is checked using optical microscopes and ultraviolet light.
- If a canvas has been used more than once, which is often a sign of a true great artist, X-ray diffraction may be utilized to discover this.

Elmyr de Hory’s Life

1938: Being detained in Hungary as a political "undesirable" as its government partners with Nazi Germany and jails intellectuals and artists.
1946: Lady Malcolm Campbell, who purchases the artwork, thinks it is a Picasso.
1949: Sells his first fake Modigliani to the Niveau Gallery in New York.
1951: Sells two works of art: one "Matisse" to the Atkins Museum of Fine Arts in Kansas City and one "Picasso" to the William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art, both in Kansas City.
1952: Sells a "Matisse" together with five "Modiglianis" and a "Renoir" to the Fogg Art Museum at Harvard University. The assistant director questions them and sends them back.
1955: He is under FBI investigation and escapes to Mexico with a fake birth certificate; he is subsequently apprehended as a suspect in a homicide case.
1957: Discovers one of his "Matisse" paintings in the French collection at the Detroit Institute of Art.
1959: Flies to Florida with Fernand Legros to recover after attempting suicide.
1968: He is detained and held for two months in an Ibizan prison before being expelled and departing for Portugal.

Related Crimes

In 1932–45, Han van Meegeren, a Dutch portraitist, defrauds purchasers out of more than $30 million by fabricating hundreds of works of art by well-known painters.
In 1978–88, Eric Hebborn, a British art forger, sold hundreds of fake paintings, sculptures, and sketches before penning The Art Forger's Handbook, which was released just before his death in 1996.
In 1981–94, Geert Jan Jansen, a Dutch painter and art forger, creates more than 1,600 fake pieces of art.