Elmyr de Hory

Birth : 1906-04-16, Budapest, Austria-Hungary [now Hungary]

Death : 1976-12-11

History

Elmyr de Hory (1905 – December 11, 1976) was a Hungarian-born painter and art forger who claimed to have sold over a thousand forgeries to reputable art galleries all over the world. His forgeries garnered much celebrity from a Clifford Irving book, Fake!, and from F for Fake (1974), a documentary essay film by Orson Welles. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Profile

Movies

Masterpiece or Forgery? The Story of Elmyr De Hory

Himself

Elmyr de Hory was called "The Myth of our Century" when he was revealed as a master forger in 1968. Born in 1905, he made an estimated 1000 fake paintings, primarily in the style of the post-impressionists before he died - or disappeared - in 1976. In addition to faking paintings, Elmyr de Hory often faked his own identity, and traveled easily throughout Europe's high society.

Almost True: The Noble Art of Forgery

Self (archive footage)

Film about art forger Elmyr de Hory. He was also one of the subjects of Orson Welles' documentary F for Fake (1974). A Norwegian production directed by Knut W. Jorfald, spoken in English.

'F for Fake' Trailer

Self

An unreleased 9 minute trailer for F for Fake directed by Orson Welles as promotional reel for the film's American release.

F for Fake

Self

Documents the lives of infamous fakers Elmyr de Hory and Clifford Irving. De Hory, who later committed suicide to avoid more prison time, made his name by selling forged works of art by painters like Picasso and Matisse. Irving was infamous for writing a fake autobiography of Howard Hughes. Welles moves between documentary and fiction as he examines the fundamental elements of fraud and the people who commit fraud at the expense of others.