The Art of Forgery: The Minds, Motives and Methods of Master Forgers

I first learned about Noah Charney from a New York Times article about him in December 2006 when I was writing a book about creativity and the value of bridging and blending ideas. As a doctoral student, Charney melded several disciplines to create a new field of study and practice. He combined art history, criminology, psychology, and statistics and then applied that knowledge to help find and thwart art thieves. He has continued to break ground in new ways and in new books. The Art of Forgery considers the psychology of “deceivers,” whether they do it because of pride, revenge, or sometimes just because the opportunity presents itself. While this gets to the “why they do it,” understanding how they may be caught, including the scientific methods of authentication in the final notes is equally fascinating.

The author seems to have gotten a great deal of his material from other authors

The layout of the book is unconventional, but the material itself is fascinating. This, like the recent movie "Big Eyes" and the works of contemporary artists like Banksy and Koons stimulates the age-old debate of what art "is". Aristotle's definition (pg. 108) seems amazingly accurate over 2,000 years later. Because so much is covered in such a brief manner, it certainly will lead me to more detailed books and primary sources amply provided in Charney's "Selected Bibliography." I find the effects of mass psychology (the willingness to be fooled that greed begets), institutional jealousies, the arrogance of the "connoisseur" class, and the exclusivity of gallerists - all fascinating - and all ample motivation for the revenge of the forgers.

Fun read an eye opener!!

Well-written, thorough, and illuminating - a riveting read.

Order arrived before date expected and in perfect condition.Would order again from this seller

Beautifully Illustrated with comparisons of forged and real art.Not long on the physics of how the forgers forge, rather grouped into why they forged.A good start to the world & members of the art of forgery.

This was a fascinating yarn, told well. If you are interested in dramatic finely tuned crime and art, you'll enjoy this story.

Extremely well written and interesting book about the many different faces of art forgery. The book is divided into chapters based on the different aims of the forgers, be it pride, revenge, fame, money, power etc. Each chapter treats different historical crimes - both old and new, and details the methods used by the forgers, and how they were discovered. The book is beautifully illustrated with numerous color photographs of the described Works, and generally of an extremely good quality, thich paper and no typos. Each chapter is relatively short, so it never becomes tedious. If you look for in-depth litterature, this is probably not for you, but it is a great introduction to the history of art forgery.

Fascinating stories of forgery

Lovely édition and mesmerising topic. I read it in one go during a single weekend. Totally recommend it as the perfect present for art lovers

Anyone interested in antique or vintage are would find this book interesting

Written by an art historian this tells the history of forgery through the ages. It is well written and of interest to anybody interested in art, art history or even detective stories.