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| "Caveat Emptor" by Ken Perenyi |
"Caveat Emptor" by Ken Perenyi
Brief Review by Travis Simpkins
Before picking up a copy of Caveat Emptor by Ken Perenyi, it would greatly benefit readers to view several of the interviews with Mr. Perenyi on YouTube. He comes across much better in video than he does in written word. A talented artist, copyist and conservator, Ken Perenyi made a long career out of deception and introduced hundreds of fake paintings into the marketplace, an act for which he offers no remorse. He created fake works by Buttersworth, Heade and many others that are still circulating. In the book, Caveat Emptor (which was likely ghost-written), readers are presented with 300 pages of boasting and deliberate lies. Perenyi doesn't come across as a likable person in those pages. However, when viewing the videos it is not only apparent exactly how greatly talented Ken Perenyi is artistically, but also how (in his own mind) he feels that he did nothing wrong.
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| "Caveat Emptor" by Ken Perenyi |
Ken Perenyi News feature (video)
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| "Caveat Emptor" by Ken Perenyi |
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| "Caveat Emptor" by Ken Perenyi |
Ken Perenyi interview (video)
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| "Caveat Emptor" by Ken Perenyi |
"It is said that the greatest art forger in the world is the one who has never been caught—the astonishing story of America’s most accomplished art forger.
Ten years ago, an FBI investigation in conjunction with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of New York 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 book, Caveat Emptor, is Ken Perenyi’s confession. It is the story, in detail, of how he pulled it all off.
Glamorous stories of art-world scandal have always captured the public imagination. However, not since Clifford Irving’s 1969 bestselling Fake has there been a story at all like this one. Caveat Emptoris unique in that it is the first and only book by and about America’s first and only great art forger. And 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.
In the tradition of Frank Abagnale’s Catch Me If You Can, and certain to be a bombshell for the major international auction houses and galleries, here is the story of America’s greatest art forger." -amazon.com
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| "Caveat Emptor" by Ken Perenyi |
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| "Caveat Emptor" by Ken Perenyi |
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| "Caveat Emptor" by Ken Perenyi |
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| "Caveat Emptor" by Ken Perenyi |
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| "Caveat Emptor" by Ken Perenyi |
