Paint it red

June 16, 2017 6:39 AM

Tom Keating was a notorious art forger. A cockney, he claimed to have painted more than 2000 'Sexton Blakes'. He was a socialist and hated the gallery system, creating forgeries to undermine it. A couple of years before he died he made the television series Tom Keating on Painters, talking about painting and demonstrating his technique.

Tom Keating On Painters:
Turner
Titian
Constable
Rembrandt
Degas
Restoring Pictures
Beginnings of Impressionism
Manet
Cézanne
Renoir
Van Gogh
Monet

Compare and contrast with The Forger's Masterclass hosted by John Myatt

Hopper
Derain
Van Gogh
Monet
Hockney
Braque
Renoir
Singer Sargent
Modigliani
Cézanne

posted by fearfulsymmetry (2 comments total)

I love art forgers! Check out the Grift on Ken Preyini who specialized in faking well selling but not household name painters and is completely unrepentant anout it
posted by The Whelk at 6:50 AM on June 16, 2017 [5 favorites]

I love that he planted "time bombs" in his paintings - messages that would show up in x-rays; paint that would self-destruct when cleaned!
posted by moonmilk at 9:53 AM on June 16, 2017 [8 favorites]