John Myatt

John Myatt ( born 1945 ) is a British artist and art forger.

Life

Myatt, the son of a farmer, discovered at the art school his ability to imitate the personal style of famous artists. As a songwriter, he wrote the number " Silly Games", a British Top 40 hit by Janet Kay in 1979. Later he worked as a teacher in Staffordshire.

1985 gave Myatt on the teaching profession and tried to live by his hobby. He gave up an ad in the magazine " Private Eye " and offered "Genuine fakes" so "real fakes " of paintings from the 19th and 20th centuries from £ 150 at. Myatt initially joined without fraudulent intent on, one of his clients, the art dealer John Drewe, but brought some of Myatts works as originals at auctions worldwide under and finally persuaded Myatt to forge a grand scale. Myatt painted primarily in the sequence in the style of Roger Bissiere, Marc Chagall, Le Corbusier, Jean Dubuffet, Alberto Giacometti, Henri Matisse, Ben Nicholson, Nicolas de Staël and Graham Sutherland. According to police estimates, these were about 200 forgeries total - 60 were identified.

Drewe presented at fake Echtheitszertikate and sold at auction houses such as Christie's, Sotheby's and Phillips and art dealer in London, Paris and New York.

In September 1995, Myatt was arrested by detectives from Scotland Yard and made ​​a full confession. On 16 April 1996, the police raided in Drewes London gallery and found substantial evidence. The process began in September 1998 On February 13, 1999 John Myatt was sentenced to one year in prison -. Instigator Drewe be received 6 years of which he had to serve two.

In June 2000, Myatt was dismissed. He has established itself as a portrait painter and copyist, making his works were sold at up to £ 45,000. In addition, Myatt also joined for Sky Arts on in TV shows, in which he portrayed celebrities.