The Forger's Spell: A True Story of Vermeer, Nazis, and the Greatest Art Hoax of the Twentieth...

The Forger's Spell: A True Story of Vermeer, Nazis, and the Greatest Art Hoax of the Twentieth Century | Edward Dolnick | I WAS TRANSFIXED...

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The Forger's Spell...

	The Forger's Spell: A True Story of Vermeer, Nazis, and the Greatest Art Hoax of the Twentieth Century Edward Dolnick Harper, 2008 - 368 pages average customer review:based on 23 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

A Question of Attribution and Identity

Han Van Meegeren was a mediocre artist with an enormous ego. Convinced that his talents were being maliciously ignored by the Dutch artistic community, he used considerable patience and ingenuity to develop a way of forging paintings by some of the greatest artists of Holland's Golden Age, especially those of Johannes Vermeer. His activities peaked during the Great Depression and the Nazi takeover of Holland during World War II, a time period when the Dutch were especially vulnerable as they looked for reminders of a more peaceful, prosperous, past.

When I first opened this book I looked at the illustrations first. Comparing the Van Meegeren "art" with the real Vermeers completely confused me. If someone like me with no art training could spot the differences between sublime works like "Girl With A Pearl Earring" and travesties like "Christ at Emmaus," why on earth couldn't experts and cognoscenti do the same? Edward Dolnick does a good job of explaining the role preconceptions and prejudices play in evaluating a suspect painting and the way the milieu of the period affects judgement. Therefore, in the 1930s the Van Meegeren forgeries could pass muster because they displayed generally accepted views on beauty. Ten years later they were very obviously fakes because by then they looked out of date, which a true masterpiece could never do.

I found Dolnick's discussions of the methods forgers use and the ways forgeries are detected the most interesting parts of this book. I disliked Van Meegeren at first, but he grew on me despite myself for the sheer brazenness of his gall and his obvious delight in fooling so many experts for so long. And it certainly didn't hurt that some of his most celebrated victims were among the nastiest and most horrible people of all time: Hitler and Goering and their ilk. I was very glad to know that while in prison Goering was told that he had been tricked into buying a Van Meejeren fake, and that that, at least, seemed to cause him real anguish in a way that his multitudinous crimes against humanity did not. Most importantly, this book causes its readers to ponder where the line between illusion and reality really lies at times.

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I WAS TRANSFIXED...

I love this book.

It was very hard to set it aside and tend the the daily issues of work and family.

The juxtaposition of the exquisite beauty and light of Vermeer and the grotesque darkness of Nazi evil really worked for me. I liked the relatively short chapters that focused on an element or detail that related to the grander theme.

For eclectic, curious readers like me, this terrific volume is truly spellbinding.

There's a great movie here in just the story of Goering (Gerard Depardieu) and Meegeren (John Hurt) -- the Nazi and the forger.

Especially fascinating is the author's riffs on perception of authenticity or fakery by learned scholars and the intuitive awareness of inferior art and fraud by the untrained eye of the ordinary observer.

Highly recommended.

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A professional "fine" artist review

As a professional "fine" artist for more than half a century I learned so much about the philosophy of forging and the forgers' mind - plus the technology of forging antique paintings. But this book isn't just for artists - it's for anyone who enjoys looking at any kind of art. It should not be missed!

Put it On Your Paperback List for Summer 09

Dolnick has a good story with a lot of hooks: big money, Vermeer, Nazi intrigue, etc. And, I think he delivers with an interesting core story and a lot of good side notes on Nazi personalities, art forgery and art history -- especially of the Dutch school in the 17th cent.

But, where his more frenetic style payed dividends in "The Rescue Artist," I think it takes something away from this subject. The book is composed of dozens of very short chapters and bounces around -- sometimes without real solid continuity.

Which is why I recommend the paperback. If you're looking for something to read in short bursts on the train or at the beach, this book is very manageable, tells a good story and brings you out of the Evanovich-level mass market fiction zone.

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reviews: 1, 2, 3, page 4, 5

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