Copycat Trivia Quiz

Answer: Irving was later involved in a hoax autobiography of Howard Hughes

In 1970, Clifford Irving contacted a publisher claiming that, based on Irving's 1969 biography of Elmyr de Hory, Howard Hughes had agreed to interviews that would lead to an authorized autobiography of the famous recluse. He produced forged letters agreeing to the arrangement, and wangled an advance of $750,000. The hoax was eventually exposed; Irving spent 17 months in prison for the fraud.

Given that both the author and the subject of the book "Fake!" are known for their prowess in deception, its information must be taken with a large grain of salt. For what it's worth, based on that book and other unauthoritative sources, he was apparently born in 1905 or 1906 in Hungary, and studied art in Budapest, Munich and Paris. A friendship with a suspected spy landed him in a Transylvanian jail, from which he was released during World War II, only to be sent to a concentration camp from which he escaped. He eventually returned to Paris, where he attempted to make a living as an artist.

Answer: Rumplestiltskin

Whether from choice or by necessity, the man usually referred to as Elmyr de Hory also used many pseudonyms, possibly as many as a hundred, according to Francois Reichenbach, the producer of a film on Elmyr's career. Some of these include minor variants such as Elmyr von Houry, Baron Elmyr Hoffman and Elemér Hoffmann, as well as such distinct names as L. E. Raynal, Louis Cassou, Joseph Dory, Joseph (or Elmyr) Dory-Boutin, and Elmyr Herzog.

The name 'Elmyr' is pronounced El-mere, with the stress on the second syllable.

Answer: Pablo Picasso

Discouraged by his lack of success in selling his own work, and having realized that he had an uncanny ability to reproduce the drawing style of Picasso, Elmyr started selling sketches that purported to be by the Spanish master. This provided a steady source of income for him. In the economic climate of post-World War II Europe, when many people were selling off possessions to gain some financial security, there was little suspicion aroused by these sales.

El Greco was a Spanish Renaissance artist whose work is often considered as a precursor to Cubism and Expressionism, but he was not directly involved in either of these movements which developed well after his death in 1614. Dali and Miro are both most commonly associated with Surrealism. Pablo Picasso and the French artist Georges Braque are considered the founders of Cubism.

Answer: Oil painting

The first stage of expansion was to add more artists to his repertoire, including Matisse, Modigliani and Renoir. Unlike most forgers, Elmyr did not copy known works, he created new works in the style of those he was imitating. Had they borne his own signature, they would not have been forgeries.

However, with his own signature they didn't sell. Adding oil paintings in the style of these artists (and others such as Braque, Bonnard and Degas) allowed him to reap larger profits for his work.

Answer: New Orleans

As well as this recognition of his work by the mayor of New Orleans, Elmyr was so well established as a dealer that he could ask for increasingly large prices for his works. He was hired by several museums to assist in restoration of their paintings, and even started to sell some of his own original work.

The first half of the 1950s was probably the most settled and successful phase of his career.

Answer: Harvard University

While pre-purchase checks had not revealed the fraud, authorities at the museum soon became suspicious about the painting's authenticity, and started an investigation that would snowball as other forgeries came to light. His greatest success was about to become the source of his ultimate downfall.

All of the universities listed have international reputations for excellence, but Harvard is the only one located in the United States, where all members of the Ivy League are found.

Answer: They were produced by another artist

This was one of the only recorded instances of Elmyr selling forgeries that were not of his own creation. Selling some reproductions he had discovered in an earlier visit to Budapest proved to be a big mistake. The fraud was soon detected, and Elmyr fled to Mexico to avoid prosecution on charges that included mail and telephone fraud.

While there he got entangled in a murder case, fled back to Miami, and kept a fairly low profile. For a while, anyway.

Answer: Klaus Perls

These forgeries were actually sold to Meadows by Fernand Legros, who had become Elmyr's business partner, undertaking the negotiations with prospective clients while Elmyr stayed at home in Ibiza. The resulting charges effectively put an end to the partnership and to Elmyr's career in counterfeiting. At around the same time Ibizan authorities arrested Elmyr on a range of charges that did not include forgery or fraud, since there was no evidence that he had done any of that work while resident in Spain. He spent two months in jail during the autumn of 1968.

None of the other options was known as an art dealer, although each may well have purchased some of Elmyr's work.

Answer: Orson Welles

The Orson Welles movie "F for Fake" (released with the French title of "Vérités et Mensonges", or "Truths and Lies") is not so much a biography as a cinematic exploration of the nature of reality. It includes documentary footage along with other inserted material. Clifford Irving was included, initially in his role as Elmyr's biographer. During production, however, the scandal of his hoax Hughes autobiography broke, and the film was adjusted to include this hightened blurring of the lines between reality and illusion. The film was initially poorly received, but is now seen as highly significant for its innovative editing style.

In this film, Elmyr stated the case that his work was appreciated as brilliant when it was thought to have come from the brush of a recognized master, and should still be considered as such when it was known to have been painted by him. He has also claimed that he never signed another artist's name to any work, simply imitated their style. It is possible that the signatures were in fact added by one of his business associates to increase the sale value of the works.

Answer: 2 per cent

Most critics agree that there is around a 2% counterfeit rate remaining undetected. It could be more, as his work was so close in style to that of those he imitated that experts are divided on a number of works. If his claim to have produced well over a thousand fakes is true, then the percentage of exhibited works in post-impressionist, fauvist and early cubist collections could be as high as 25-50%.

During the 1970s, Elmyr achieved some success with his own paintings. In 1976, facing extradition to France and a possible long jail sentence, Elmyr died from an overdose of sleeping pills. Or perhaps he only staged his suicide to escape and live in oblivion elsewhere. Following his death or disappearance, his works (both those he produced as the work of others and those he sold as his own) became significantly more valuable, to the point that forgeries of his counterfeits have appeared on the market. Now that's blurring the lines between life and art!