Customer Reviews

Drawn to Trouble: Confessions of a Master Forger: A Memoir

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This memoir probably infuriates many in the art world. I'm sure Hebborn would have infuriated me, in person. But the guy could write! I come across hardly any art books, especially by artists, that are written in an engaging everyday style. Hebborn could have been a journalist, but he just happened to be poor-born, misfitted, delinquent, driven, selfish, witty, and a bloody genius with pencil and paintbrush. I think I have read it cover to cover five times, always with pleasure. I find myself agreeing 95% with Hebborn's pronouncements; the missing 5% concerns what seem to be excuses and evasions. It is also a terrific guide through art history, and through art education. You don't have to be schooled in art to enjoy and learn from this book. Hebborn had an adventurous, hilarious, hedonistic life, which ended violently and not, in his prescient comments, unexpectedly early.

Read it.

This is a great book for the art lover, art student, or anyone who is looking for a great read. Hebborn's writing is witty and charming. He really draws you into his life and his master craft. I also have his other book, The Art Forger's Handbook. I am an art student and these have been fabulous to have in my growing collection of art books and novels. I always am able to drop in little tid bits from this book.

"Drawn to Trouble" is an unapologetic, highly readable, entertaining story by a talented rogue. The tone is witty and cynical. The characters are straight out of Dickens. The technical details, at least for me, were interesting, not mind-numbing.

I don't have to buy into the author's rationalization of his forgeries (he calls them "new Old Masters")in order to realize that his criticism of art dealers and other players in the market contains more than a grain of truth. The book reminds me of Wilie Sutton's autobiography. One doesn't have to approve of bank robbery to enjoy a good story.)

(I haven't read Hebborn's other book, which is quite expensive (suggesting some unemployed artists may be considering a career change. So I have no idea about the extent of overlap between the two books.)

This is much of the same information as the earlier book by the same author. More a monologue of his life than a detailed account.

I read Hebborn's "The Art Forger's Handbook" first. This work, a memoir, could have been more incisive. It seemed that Hebborn was hedging his bets. Yet, he may well have been walking a legal tightrope, if he did indeed, place so much of his work on the art market and allow it to be attributed to old masters, even though he was not technically committing a crime. Just as there are lies by omission, surely there are thefts by the same tactic.