Provenance- a book report- part 1

The book that I read for the purpose of this book report was Provenance by Laney Salisbury and Aly Sujo. The basic premise of the book is to retell the story of one of the greatest art forgery scams in recent memory. The events in the book took place between 1986 and 1995, during which time it is estimated the con men pocketed over a million pounds.

The book itself is pretty well split into thirds. The first describes the two main perpetrators, John Myatt and John Drewe and their relationship. The second introduces the police and art investigators, including private citizens who work on the behalf of artists’ foundation, like Mary Palmer who managed the foundation dedicated to the works of Alberto Giacometti. The third section is all about the capture and conviction of all people’s involved.

As mentioned previously the first section is dedicated to the introduction and relationship of John Myatt and John Drewe. John Myatt is a 40-something single parent with two children who is a life long artist. As a child he went to art school and pursued it with passion until he realized that he would never make it big. From here he moved into music and had a hit pop song. After this his life pretty much fell apart, the royalties from his music career stopped, his marriage fell apart, and he was reduced to teaching art classes to survive. It is at this point that John Drewe comes into the story. In order to make some extra money Myatt takes out an ad in the paper selling his services as an artist. One of the people that call him happens to be Drewe. The author goes on to say how when Myatt and Drewe met Myatt was enthralled with Drewe and mesmerized by his charm and intelligence. The author paints Myatt as a down and out guy who clung to Drewe as a lifeline. Throughout the whole of the book Myatt is a very sympathetic character, he is portrayed as a victim of circumstance and as an honest man who made a bad choice. These points are emphasized by the side stories of Myatt’s adventure to the auction house to watch his forgeries being sold, the author tells how bad Myatt felt afterwards and how he took no satisfaction from watching his paintings being sold. In addition, Myatt does eventually quit the forging business and cooperates fully with police when they eventually come knocking at his door. One thing that I found interesting while reading the book is that the author does mention how Myatt is the main artist that Drewe has under his sphere of control but at the time only briefly mentions the possibility of other artists that may have been working for Drewe with no clue as to whether they were ever found or not. Nevertheless, the author never once loses focus on who the bad guy is in the story and attacks him mercilessly.

Drewe is a very interesting fellow, as most of his acquaintances acknowledge themselves. He is a rare breed of person who seemingly has no moral compass and is willing to do anything or say anything to get his way. Drewe is depicted as a man who preys on the weak and vulnerable, he manipulates not only Myatt but others who are down on their luck like his neighbour and numerous local salesman. Drewe appeals to their sense of need and promises large rewards for their work, which is only occasionally delivers. Not only is Drewe a manipulator or people but he is a pathological liar. The man is nothing that he claims to be, which is often varied and outrageous; like a nuclear physicist, a member of the Mossad, a professor, a government agent, a director of military operations at MI5, the chairman of Norseland industries (actually a shell company), etc. He consistently lies, even when not necessary, to gain attention. Throughout the book Drewe is often said to go to a dinner party or have a conversation with something and totally dominate the conversation with his phony stories, many of which he stole from other people at a bar or from the spy novels he reads. While Drewe is no doubt outrageous in the extreme, he is also said to be highly intelligent and a master of reading people. However, one thing that I found odd is that for all of his intelligence and apparent abilities to communicate with others and manipulate people he is consistently said to have no success with women. Numerous times in the book he is said to be a shameless flirt but never once do the women take any interest in him. One would think that an individual who specializes in manipulating people would be able to charm almost any women off their feet. The thought also occurred to me that this might just be one of the author’s attacks on Drewe’s character; his inability to attract women may be used to somehow emasculate him. The reason for this speculation is that there is a definite trend in the book where Drewe’s deeds become progressively more illegal and vile. He starts out as a simple con man, he sells forged paintings and uses people, not really much of a big deal. As the book progresses he becomes a gun nut, a psychotic ex-husband, and finally a murderer. While the first two claims are backed by the testimony of other people the third claim is highly speculative. There is no real evidence that links him with the crime, although the circumstantial evidence the author presents is fairly strong.