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Caveat Emptor: The Secret Life of an American Art Forger

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Caveat Emptor: The Secret Life of an American Art Forger

By: Ken Perenyi
Narrated by: Dan Butler
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About this listen

The true story of America's greatest art forger!

Ten years ago, an FBI investigation was about to expose a scandal in the art world that would have been front-page news in New York and London. After a trail of fake paintings of astonishing quality led federal agents to art dealers, renowned experts, and the major auction houses, the investigation inexplicably ended, despite an abundance of evidence collected. The case was closed and the FBI file was marked “exempt from public disclosure”.

Now that the statute of limitations on these crimes has expired and the case appears hermetically sealed shut by the FBI, this audiobook, Caveat Emptor, is that artist, Ken Perenyi’s, confession. It is the story, in detail, of how he pulled it all off. Unlike other forgers, Perenyi produced no paper trail, no fake provenance whatsoever; he let the paintings speak for themselves. And that they did, routinely mesmerizing the experts in mere seconds.

©2012 Ken Perenyi; 2012 AudioGO Art & Literature Artists, Architects & Photographers True Crime Exciting

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All stars
Most relevant  
Also interesting information on restoration, famous artists, background of art movements, how art auction houses work and also the 60s lifestyle.

really interesting insight into art

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Definitely not a tale that palls and one worth hearing especially if you are interested in the bent side of New York in the 20th C. The text is quite well read too.
At the end it is a little unsatisfying because the author comes over as somewhat smug. It would have been closer to ideal if there had been more self-reflection on what the author spent a life-time doing. And he appears to have been totally unaware of social upheavals around e.g., Vietnam War, Civil Rights & various US Liberation movements (LGBT, Womens' etc). He was great pals with Roy Cohn BTW.
ENDNOTE (on p.94)
The author gets his history VERY wrong on occasion e.g. he claims that he had a Hieronymous-style picture on the front cover of 'Oz' (London) magazine prior to that magazine's (in)famous trial in 1971. He did an OZ cover for the 1-2/1973 issue, and not in Bosch style. Nevertheless, although that Bosch picture never appeared on the front cover, & AFAIK isn't archived in Google, it definitely rings bells with me: a double page spread at the centre of the magazine c. 1970. An error that's no big deal.
But Mr Perenyi's claim that there were riots after the verdict of 15 years jail were announced is wrong on two counts: there were no riots and the sentence was 15 MONTHS: a slight difference.
So doesn't that give readers a clue to the rest of the book? I.e. that the author tends to gild the lily & his own... er...centrality?

Entertaining picaresque tale by (smug) u/g artist

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An enjoyable story of talent and duplicity from a true con artist. Very interesting to hear things from one with little conscience. I grew to quite like him and almost admire his resilience and resourcefulness.

It was set at a good pace and the narrator was excellent.

An interesting read

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It was an entertaining read and I was very impressed that this person from a very humble background managed to claw his way out of predictable poverty.
Very little was told about his discovering his incredible talent for painting. He had no training and suddenly he was producing these superb reproductions that fooled the most cynical experts.
I would have given this book five stars if it wasn’t that I could not come to terms with the fact that he was a fraudster and (before he earned oodles of money) a thief. Nothing could give glamour to these facts.

Bad man

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What an incredible life story! I’d recommend to anyone interested in art, history, money, adventure, crime? As an artist myself I’ve enjoyed technical details and how the art process was reverse engineered and altered to achieve desirable effects. Very well written and narrated.

A page turner 12/10

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My interest in this book was centered on the techniques used to fool experts and how they are applied. One must listen closely as the reveal is not all at once. Key ingredients are mostly shared from chapter 9 thru to final chapters. I listened patiently throughout as the technique I was most anxious to hear about was the substance of the paint used. This didn’t seem of interest to the author as it was almost a given to be oil based paintings entirely. Anyway the author’s focus started with the surface painted on, the frame, the construction of the stretched canvas, and the patina substance over the finished painting. This was a recipe for fooling experts with tools of examination. In the end the author had to be
an expert copyist of each artists technique regarding very subtle things like brush stroke and paint application. Which requires deep knowledge of each artist and history surrounding each. Restoration and preservation knowledge gave the author many benefits in his quest to deceive professionals within the art world. An enjoyable book for the most part.

Art forgery 101

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I was really enjoying this. In case you hadn’t noticed, the guy narrating actually plays Bulldog in Frasier. The story was good and I was enjoying it - Then, suddenly it just ends. It’s like the author got bored with writing it and finished up. Ironically, it was similar to his art forging career…. So, a bit of a disappointment.

Great, until the end….

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