Customer Reviews

The Art Forgers Handbook

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Hebborn certainlly knew his stuff and succeeded in selling many of his "creations" through dealers such as London's Colnagi. If you are interested in the nuts and bolts of forging old masters, this will certainly get you started. Other good, though more technical, books to look at are Gettens and Stout (and don't overlook the bibliography) and the immortal Max Doerner. There are some errors in the book, e.g., bistre and orpiment are easily found, if you know where to look. Still, Hebborn writes with rare wit and, quite often, with more humor than you will find in most deliberately humorous books. Well, are ya gonna do it? Assuming, of course, you have the skill.... That's up to you and if this book has a weak spot, it is in its cloying self-justification for doing this.

Be warned, this book contains a lot of recipes for art materials - so if you are reading just for the anecdotes you might be a bit lost in some of the process descriptions. However, Eric has done a wonderful job of weaving wit and humor into the text; it is never dry or technical. A painter looking for recipes to create decorative fakes will find this book useful, altho I think it is far too vague to provide any information to the serious forger. It excells in the anecdotes about Erics own forgeries, the art establishment, and the nature of collectors. I found myself laughing out loud at many points - a rare accomplishment for a book.

Considering the topic of the book and the inherent controversial nature of the topic, Eric Hebborn delves deeply into the art and nature of art forgery. I paint reproductions of artworks for my own personal use but, from a technical aspect, I prefer for them to be as accurate to the original artwork as possible. I can't tell you how many times I've run into problems trying to figure out some process or pigment and have gone back to use this book as a reference manual. It covers probably 85% of what you'd probably want to know regarding this field, and I'd say the other 15% is simply up to the artist's (you) skill set and determintation.

The art forgers handbook is an intriguing confession. While having reference worthy material I would advise against
believing the book is the bible on the subject. Forgery involves a talent for broad and bizarre logic that involves not
only the crafting but also a mental empathy inside the universal mind of the collector, the dealer, and the expert.

As far as I'm concerned there are more valuable resources how ever there can be no complete source that one book
could provide and Hebborns books makes a decent edition. The real success in a forgers ability would be in there
logic and this is something that Hebborn can't teach. Hebborn never the less seems to be a master and his
confessions add light on how one might tackle the subject.

I do hold the book in high regards but in fact I have learned very little from it. A study in the history of artist
materials and techniques, conservation, authentication, and a study of how these have been flawed, artistic
competence in craft, creative logic, and ones own trial and error will be the only all inclusive bible into successful
forgeries.

The book has a catchy title, is informative and intriguing just don't be misled that the book will give you the ability
to turn Degas and Rembrants. In my opinion there is only an illusion when it comes to success in forgery. The real
success of the book is a demonstration that history is flawed and art; mystical and intriguing art is indeed a
commodity illusion and nobody in the field is safe if fakes are indeed fakes in what ever context a fake is regarded
in. If you are interested in the subject read the book it may after all have cost the artist his own life. Oh yeah, look for
my own book in two-three years!

Good luck

Interesting to read and covers a wide area of the forgers requirements, however its like swimming.

You can read about it all day long but unless you do it the books pretty much useless.