
Provenance
How a Con Man and a Forger Rewrote the History of Modern Art
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Narrated by:
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Marty Peterson
Here is a tautly paced investigation of one the 20th century's most audacious art frauds, which generated hundreds of forgeries - many of them still hanging in prominent museums and private collections today. Provenance is the extraordinary narrative of one of the most far-reaching and elaborate deceptions in art history. Investigative reporters Laney Salisbury and Aly Sujo brilliantly recount the tale of a great con man and unforgettable villain, John Drewe, and his sometimes unwitting accomplices. Chief among those was the struggling artist John Myatt, a vulnerable single father who was manipulated by Drewe into becoming a prolific art forger. Once Myatt had painted the pieces, the real fraud began. Drewe managed to infiltrate the archives of the upper echelons of the British art world in order to fake the provenance of Myatt's forged pieces, hoping to irrevocably legitimize the fakes while effectively rewriting art history.
The story stretches from London to Paris to New York, from tony Manhattan art galleries to the esteemed Giacometti and Dubuffet associations, to the archives at the Tate Gallery. This enormous swindle resulted in the introduction of at least 200 forged paintings, some of them breathtakingly good and most of them selling for hundreds of thousands of dollars. Many of these fakes are still out in the world, considered genuine and hung prominently in private houses, large galleries, and prestigious museums. And the sacred archives, undermined by John Drewe, remain tainted to this day.
Provenance reads like a well-plotted thriller, filled with unforgettable characters and told at a breakneck pace. But this is most certainly not fiction; Provenance is the meticulously researched and captivating account of one of the greatest cons in the history of art forgery.
©2009 Laney Salisbury (P)2009 Audible, Inc.Listeners also enjoyed...




















Critic reviews
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Most of the time non-fiction tends to be pretty dull, emotionless and little more than a long boring litany of: Fact. Fact. Date. Date. Fact. Date. Fact. You read it because you are interested in the information, but the presentation dulls your curiosity.
That’s not the case for this book, thanks to the story-style-set-up, it held my attention the entire way though... I never once got bored, or felt lost, or was mired down in a well of names and dates. I was captivated from the beginning to the end.
Kudos!
It reads like fiction – GREAT!
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The more money the easier to fool
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fascinating listen
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I enjoyed this book immensely
art thieving is like art imitating life
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Interesting book, not a great audio production
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Narrator Miscast
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Would you consider the audio edition of Provenance to be better than the print version?
Not really, Marty speaks too fastWho was your favorite character and why?
John Myatt, he is very naiveWhat about Marty Peterson’s performance did you like?
I did not like her performance, maybe she needs to slow down a bitIf you could give Provenance a new subtitle, what would it be?
How an art forger deceived the high end art galleriesGood listening
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I felt like the story was similar to ones I've heard before and then suddenly the book ended. I guess in retrospect the story was complete, but it felt abrupt and incomplete.
meh, I've heard it before
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Any additional comments?
I enjoyed the insight into the mind of a sociopathic liar and the interesting history and inner workings of the art world. The extent to which humans can deceive others and themselves is fascinating and scary.Great story with fascinating characters
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It took me SO long to get through it because the narrator made it sound SO boring, but the writing was very good.
Great book, terrible narration!
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