Elmyr de Hory is a tragic and elusive character. His story is as much fiction as it is fact. He denies ever signing his paintings with the names of those so famous. His partners, Legros and Lessard undertook that unseemly task, or apparently so. To Elmyr he was simply working in the style of those who had gone before. Was it so wrong to ride on their coattails and profit a little from the established market value of their work?
Indeed comparatively, Elmyr profited very little from his work. His partners lived lavish lifestyles in high society Paris. Elmyr was provided with a home in Ibiza and $400 a month (which he often did not receive). Dealers too made incredible money at his expense. Initially Elmyr sold his wares for between $100 and $400. The dealers knew the asking price was too low. Turning a blind eye to a classic warning bell they bought cheap and sold high. His Matisse Figure with Flowers, for which he never received payment, was sold at an auction in 1956 for more than $60,000 and appeared in the Art News Journal. Later his partners Legros and Lessard would go to elaborate lengths to obtain authentications of Elmyr’s work from the aging artists themselves or members of their family or pay experts for a certificate. If all else failed they forged the documents themselves.
Much of this detail is not to be found on the internet. Online information about the case of Elmyr and the issues it raises in relation to the art market is generally very limited and sheds relatively little light on this elusive individual. Much of the information is highly summary in nature and draws directly from the book Fake! By Clifford Irving, the movie F for Fake staring Orson Welles or documentaries which are easily accessible. While intriguing, even the original sources are wanting when it comes to an in depth exploration of the issues posed by fakes in relation to aesthetic and market value.
One site that offers a good starting point for more general investigations on fakes is a History of Art Forgery. The site is helpful because it provides an overview of art forgery and outlines how it has been defined through the centuries. The site covers a broad range of factors that relate to forgery and fakery including what they are, how they have been executed and perceived, techniques used to create and detect fakes, issues of restoration and profiles of famous forgers. It contains many images to complement the text. Through providing a range of examples in both time and space, the discussion outlined in this site – albeit summary – highlights various issues relating to authenticity, expert verification, and aesthetic value which arise as a result of fakery. Much of the information is also sourced and bibliographic details are listed for each.
There are twenty pages to the presentation which can make it long. Although each page is generally well laid out with a good balance of text and images, there are no titles to indicate the focus or intent behind each page. The presentation flows from one topic to the next and the information has been clearly delineated and organised. However without clear markers or headings one is compelled to read everything to find what one might be looking for. Elmyr for example, does not feature until page 19 where his profile appears along with some examples of his paintings.
An exploration of the case study of Elmyr de Hory through resources on the internet is confined by limited, repetitive and summary level information. He continues evade us. To explore this case study and what it may reveal about the art market and the aesthetic and economic value of fakes it is necessary to search more broadly and consider sites, articles and information of a more general, thematic or issue based nature.