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The Man Who Made Vermeers: Unvarnishing the Legend of Master Forger Han van Meegeren
written by Jonathan Lopez
Studio : Harcourt
by Harcourt
Publisher : Harcourt
Released : 2008-08-15
Availability : Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Number of Items : 1
EAN : 9780151013418
Avg. Customer Rating: (based on 14 reviews)
List Price : $26.00
Our Price : $16.74
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Product Description |
It's a story that made Dutch painter Han van Meegeren famous worldwide when it broke at the end of World War II: A lifetime of disappointment drove him to forge Vermeers, one of which he sold to Hermann Goering, making a mockery of the Nazis. And it's a story that's been believed ever since. Too bad it isn't true. Jonathan Lopez has drawn on never-before-seen documents from dozens of archives to write a revelatory new biography of the world’s most famous forger. Neither unappreciated artist nor antifascist hero, Van Meegeren emerges as an ingenious, dyed-in-the-wool crook who plied the forger's trade far longer than he ever admitted—a talented Mr. Ripley armed with a paintbrush. Lopez also explores a network of illicit commerce that operated across Europe: Not only was Van Meegeren a key player in that high-stakes game in the 1920s and '30s, landing fakes with powerful dealers and famous collectors such as Andrew Mellon, but he and his associates later offered a case study in wartime opportunism as they cashed in on the Nazi occupation. The Man Who Made Vermeers is a long-overdue unvarnishing of Van Meegeren’s legend and a deliciously detailed story of deceit in the art world. |
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The Essential faux-Vermeer |
Aside from being the most finely researched and best written study on the spectacular forgery case of Vermeer paintings by Han van Meegeren, "The Man Who Made Vermeers" holds a gem. Perhaps its most far-reaching accomplishment is that for the first time Lopez provides the answer to the central question which has either been tactfully avoided or inadequately addressed by those who has taken up the subject: how could have the most renowned museum curators, art dealers and private collectors been taken by fakes which appear almost laughable today?
Lopez reveals, with unusual perspicacity, that Van Meegeren discovered "first and foremost, that a fake doesn't necessarily succeed or fail according to the fidelity with which it replicates the distant past but on the basis of its power to sway the contemporary mind." Armed with this knowledge Van Meegeren ruthlessly exploited the vanity, greed and visual vulnerability of his time cynically turning them into immense profit.
Time will tell if we have learned more from art history studies and scientific progress than Van Meegeren did from the foibles of his time. Until then, we have been adequately warned.
"The Man who Made Vermeers" is a striking book in most every respect even for someone like myself, who loves Vermeer but has been coldly immune to the case at hand.
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Super pleasure reading |
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Nicely told, and the story's completely new to me. Gives very nice historical background details and good observations and comments on paintings. Excellent historical photos illustrating the text. Fun book. |
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Good story, great read. |
I like to read widely in non-fiction, especially in art history and history, but I'm no expert; so I often consult the reviews of other readers. In that spirit, I want to recommend this book I recently finished.
The Man Who Made Vermeers tells the story of an ingenious art forger working in Holland prior to, during and just after World War II. I bought this book because I enjoy reading historical biographies, particularly of "unknown" people living during times of momentous upheaval.
Van Meegeren's life is fascinating and the author of the book gives his readers keen insight on the artist-forger's motivation, mindset and aesthetic savviness. But, reading this book has left me with not only with an interesting biography to consider but also with a far greater appreciation for the political context of life in 1930's-1940's Europe.
For me, it's Lopez's ideas about how forgeries generate their own appeal to their contemporary audiences and how an individual's political ideology pervades his actions and words, regardless of what might seem to be an apolitical activity - painting forgeries for money. The author's analysis provides a lot of meaty food for thought about politics and societies more generally and I look forward to any other books Lopez might write.
Finally, I want to add that the author's congenial writing style made this book a genuine pleasure to read, so even if you aren't sure you are interested in Dutch art history, you will definitely enjoy the experience of reading this book - and come away wiser for it. |
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Insightful, Enjoyable Read |
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Jonathan Lopez presents an insightful look at the mind of Han van Meegeren, as explores his Nazi sympathies, manipulative tendencies, and general deceitfulness. Lopez seamlessly weaves the story of Nazi rule in the Netherlands, and the tale of World War II, into van Meegeren's biography. While Lopez's work is certainly scholarly, I did not find it to be "above my head" (as an individual without a strong background on Vermeer and Dutch painting in general) nor, frankly, was it "dumbed down" for uneducated readers. In short, I highly recommend this book; it is a page turner from beginning to end! |
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The Man Who Made Vermeers |
What's really terrific about this book is the way that it sets the story of Van Meegeren's forgeries within the personal biography of the forger and the history of the period. In fact, I'm starting to think that this is the way that art should always be looked at, because I suddenly saw these fake Vermeers in a completely new light. I've heard people ask how anyone could have been fooled by these pictures, but through really simple side-by-side comparisons, the author makes it totally clear that the paintings really looked like the pictures that people of the time saw around them. So Van Meegeren's early forgeries (which look a LOT like real Vermeers) also resemble movie posters from the 1930s, and his late forgeries (like the famous one he sold to Hermann Goering) resemble Nazi propaganda pictures.
As a side note, I also just want to say how impressed I was with the way that the author clearly did a huge amount of research, but made the book a really engrossing one to read. None of that academic stuff that you find in a lot of books about art. But at the same time, treating the subject in a very serious way. And it's a very serious topic. Van Meegeren held truly despicable fascist beliefs, and his forgeries expressed them.
I found the book totally eye-opening. I definitely recommend it! |
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