After Stint of Crime Art Forger Sells Genuine Fakes
Myatt
Mr. Myatt  used  his  knack for forgery and knowledge of art history to produce fake after fake  more than 200 in all. Fake Giacomettis. Fake Paul Klees. Fake Chagalls. Some sold for well over $150 000. (Only 80 or so have been recovered by the police; the rest are still at large  although  Mr. Myatt  said  he  did not know where.) But while  he  provided the art  it was the smooth-talking Mr. Drewe who drove the operation  cooking up the ersatz provenances and handling the sales. In 1999  Mr. Drewe was sentenced to six years in prison.  Mr. Myatt  who pleaded guilty to fraud and testified for the prosecution   served 4 months of a 12-month sentence.
 He  makes an unlikely ex-convict.
 He  is so well regarded in this Staffordshire community  where  he  is the organist and choir director at the local church  that when  he  was in jail   his  neighbors banded together and refurbished  his  kitchen. Visitors to a recent London exhibit of  his  work -- new works in the style of famous artists with the words "Genuine Fake" written in indelible ink on the back -- included the foreman of the jury that convicted  him ;  his  defense lawyer; and Jonathan Searle  the Scotland Yard detective who arrested  him  and who  when  Mr. Myatt  got out of prison  commissioned a portrait from  him  (as did a prosecutor in the case).
 Mr. Myatt  now gives lectures on art forgery alongside officers from Scotland Yard. At  his  London exhibit   he  sold everything  he  displayed -- 68 fake Miros  Picassos  Giacomettis and the like -- at prices from $875 to more than $8 000. (The cheapest picture was a  Myatt  original  titled "Ceci N'est Pas Une Magritte.") Besides the Van Gogh  Mr. Myatt's house is chock-full of other fake great works -- Matisses  Ben Nicholsons  Braques. His studio is filled with half-finished Monets. Now 60  trim  with thinning gray hair and a very dry sense of humor  he talks forthrightly  but with a residue of shellshock  about his life of crime.
AFTER studying art in college   Mr. Myatt  discovered  his  talent for forgery when  oddly enough   he  was working as a songwriter in the 1970's. ( His  song "Silly Games" hit No. 1 on the British charts  but that is another story.)  His  boss mentioned that  he  wanted to buy some Raoul Dufy paintings  then worth more than $100 000 each.
But  he  didn't need to. "I painted a couple of Dufys for  him   " Mr. Myatt  said.  His  boss paid Â£250 apiece  slapped them in Â£600-pound frames  and hung them up. "We all thought it was very funny  " Mr. Myatt  said.
The get-solvent-quick potential of the enterprise appealed to  him  later  when  he  was broke and wondering how to raise two children under the age of 3.  He  placed an advertisement in the satirical magazine Private Eye  offering legal forgeries for Â£250.
Everything was above board at first. Someone commissioned  Mr. Myatt  to paint his father  a retired navy commander  in the style of Joshua Reynolds. "We took a painting of some fabulous old guy gazing out with lots of medals  and just changed the face  " Mr. Myatt  said. " He  thought it was brilliant."
Then  Mr. Drewe  called  identifying  himself  as a physics professor who wanted to dazzle  his  girlfriend with  his  new art collection.  Mr. Myatt  painted more than a dozen pictures for  him   at Â£250 each. The enterprise crossed into illegality when  Mr. Myatt  painted the fake Albert Gleizes that  Mr. Drewe   without a word to  Mr. Myatt   passed off to Christie's as a family heirloom. From then on   Mr. Myatt  supplied the pictures and  Mr. Drewe  did everything else.  He  tipped cups of black coffee on the works to make them look old.  He  put them in period frames.  He  concocted false provenances and false explanations for how  he  came to have them.
 Mr. Myatt  stayed willfully ignorant  unquestioningly accepting whatever  Mr. Drewe  paid  him .
Meanwhile   Mr. Drewe  was getting weirder and weirder   Mr. Myatt  said  spinning stories about the royal family and Mossad. "And I thought  this is the stupidest thing I've ever done." Having made about Â£90 000 in all ( Mr. Drewe  made about Â£1.5 million  prosecutors said)   he  told  Mr. Drewe   he  had had enough.
Scotland Yard came calling a year later as part of its larger investigation into  Mr. Drewe   whose by then ex-girlfriend had turned him in.
MR.  MYATT  passed  his  jail time drawing portraits of inmates and guards. When  he  got out   he  married  his  second wife  Rosemary  who sings with  him  in the church choir and runs the increasingly successful Genuine Fakes business. Michael Douglas has bought the rights to his story.
Until then  there is a new wrinkle to contend with  he said: an unidentified forger who has been selling fake Myatts.
[TGT] used   [TGT]   knack for forgery and knowledge of art history to produce fake after fake  more than 200 in all. Fake Giacomettis. Fake Paul Klees. Fake Chagalls. Some sold for well over $150 000. (Only 80 or so have been recovered by the police; the rest are still at large  although   [TGT] said   [TGT]   did not know where.) But while   [TGT]   provided the art  it was the smooth-talking Mr. Drewe who drove the operation  cooking up the ersatz provenances and handling the sales. In 1999  Mr. Drewe was sentenced to six years in prison.  Mr. Myatt  who pleaded guilty to fraud and testified for the prosecution   served 4 months of a 12-month sentence.
 He  makes an unlikely ex-convict.
 He  is so well regarded in this Staffordshire community  where  he  is the organist and choir director at the local church  that when  he  was in jail   his  neighbors banded together and refurbished  his  kitchen. Visitors to a recent London exhibit of  his  work -- new works in the style of famous artists with the words "Genuine Fake" written in indelible ink on the back -- included the foreman of the jury that convicted  him ;  his  defense lawyer; and Jonathan Searle  the Scotland Yard detective who arrested  him  and who  when   [TGT] got out of prison  commissioned a portrait from  him  (as did a prosecutor in the case).
  [TGT] now gives lectures on art forgery alongside officers from Scotland Yard. At   [TGT]   London exhibit    [TGT]   sold everything   [TGT]   displayed -- 68 fake Miros  Picassos  Giacomettis and the like -- at prices from $875 to more than $8 000. (The cheapest picture was a   [TGT] original  titled "Ceci N'est Pas Une Magritte.") Besides the Van Gogh  Mr. Myatt's house is chock-full of other fake great works -- Matisses  Ben Nicholsons  Braques. His studio is filled with half-finished Monets. Now 60  trim  with thinning gray hair and a very dry sense of humor  he talks forthrightly  but with a residue of shellshock  about his life of crime.
AFTER studying art in college    [TGT] discovered   [TGT]   talent for forgery when  oddly enough    [TGT]   was working as a songwriter in the 1970's. (  [TGT]   song "Silly Games" hit No. 1 on the British charts  but that is another story.)  His  boss mentioned that  he  wanted to buy some Raoul Dufy paintings  then worth more than $100 000 each.
But  he  didn't need to. "I painted a couple of Dufys for  him    [TGT] said.  His  boss paid Â£250 apiece  slapped them in Â£600-pound frames  and hung them up. "We all thought it was very funny   [TGT] said.
The get-solvent-quick potential of the enterprise appealed to  him  later  when  he  was broke and wondering how to raise two children under the age of 3.  He  placed an advertisement in the satirical magazine Private Eye  offering legal forgeries for Â£250.
Everything was above board at first. Someone commissioned  Mr. Myatt  to paint his father  a retired navy commander  in the style of Joshua Reynolds. "We took a painting of some fabulous old guy gazing out with lots of medals  and just changed the face   [TGT] said. "  [TGT]   thought it was brilliant."
Then  Mr. Drewe  called  identifying  himself  as a physics professor who wanted to dazzle  his  girlfriend with  his  new art collection.   [TGT] painted more than a dozen pictures for   [TGT]    at Â£250 each. The enterprise crossed into illegality when   [TGT] painted the fake Albert Gleizes that  Mr. Drewe   without a word to   [TGT] passed off to Christie's as a family heirloom. From then on    [TGT] supplied the pictures and  Mr. Drewe  did everything else.   [TGT]   tipped cups of black coffee on the works to make them look old.   [TGT]   put them in period frames.   [TGT]   concocted false provenances and false explanations for how   [TGT]   came to have them.
  [TGT] stayed willfully ignorant  unquestioningly accepting whatever  Mr. Drewe  paid  him .
Meanwhile   Mr. Drewe  was getting weirder and weirder    [TGT] said  spinning stories about the royal family and Mossad. "And I thought  this is the stupidest thing I've ever done." Having made about Â£90 000 in all ( Mr. Drewe  made about Â£1.5 million  prosecutors said)   he  told  Mr. Drewe   he  had had enough.
Scotland Yard came calling a year later as part of its larger investigation into  Mr. Drewe   whose by then ex-girlfriend had turned him in.
MR.   [TGT] passed  his  jail time drawing portraits of inmates and guards. When  he  got out   he  married  his  second wife  Rosemary  who sings with  him  in the church choir and runs the increasingly successful Genuine Fakes business. Michael Douglas has bought the rights to his story.
Until then  there is a new wrinkle to contend with  he said: an unidentified forger who has been selling fake Myatts.