Elmyr De Hory

ELMYR DE HORY (Budapest, 1906 - Ibiza, 1976).
"Landscape".
Mixed media on paper.
Signed in the lower left corner.
Measurements: 45 x 54 cm; 62 x 71 cm (frame).
Elmyr de Hory, born Elémer Albert Hoffmann, was a famous Hungarian painter and forger, author of more than a thousand false works and protagonist of the book "Fake", by Clifford Irving. He also appeared in the documentary "F for Fake" (1974) by Orson Welles. More than a forger, De Hory was a master at imitating the styles of famous painters. In fact, he painted the pictures but did not sign them, his dealer being the one who imitated the signatures of the masters. He would begin to sign his own name when his fame as a forger was already quoted. His biography is confusing, since he himself falsified it, adding fantastic data such as an alleged aristocratic origin. He trained at the Heinmann Academy in Munich and in 1926 he moved to Paris, where he entered the Académie de la Grande Chaumière, having Fernand Léger as his teacher. He later returned to his native Hungary, where he ended up in prison for political reasons. Released during World War II, he was imprisoned again in just one year. He managed to escape and return to Paris, where he discovered his ability to imitate the style of notable artists. He then began to sell Picasso reproductions as originals, and soon began to create original work following the style of different authors, rather than reproducing existing works. In 1946 De Hory travels with a dealer to South America, selling his fake works, and later settles in the United States, first between Los Angeles and New York and later in Miami. During these years he tries to make a living with his own original work, but finds no market for it and is forced to focus on the fake pieces. In 1959 he returned to Paris and resumed his association with Fernand Legros, a dealer with whom he had already worked in America. In 1962 he moved definitively to Ibiza, from where he continued to send his works to Legros, in exchange for a monthly salary. Some dealers and experts then began to detect his forgeries, which led to an investigation by Interpol. Eventually his dealers, Legros and Lessard, were imprisoned for fraud, while De Hory was on the run in Australia. Finally, tired, he returned to Spain, where he was convicted in 1968. However, he was never charged with forgery, mainly for lack of evidence.