The Mind Creative March 2014
After World War II, Keating
worked as a painting
restorer and even a house
painter to make ends meet.
He failed to break into the
art market and ultimately
became a forger ‘with a
cause’. He found the artistic
world to be rotten and
corrupt; a system where
those in the know plotted
“to line their own pockets at the expense both of naive collectors
and impoverished artists.” Strangely enough, he even implanted
what he called “time bombs” or clues in his paintings to show they
were not authentic. After his arrest in 1977, he claimed that he
had created 200 forgeries but refused to identify them. Stricken
down by cancer, he passed away in 1984.
Eric Hebborn preferred to
create his own paintings in
the style of the masters
rather than copy existing
works. A brilliant artist,
Hebborn was driven to
forgery when the art world
refused to recognise his
talents. His forgeries, running
into the hundreds, escaped
notice from experts of the art
world. In 1984 Hebborn
confessed to the forgeries but
expressed no remorse for his
crimes. In fact he used his
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