Savvy Collector » Elmyr de Hory

About the Artist

(1906-1976, Hungarian "Elmyr De Hory was born in Budapest, Hungary. De Hory studied at Akademie Heinmann art school in Munich under Fernand Léger. A Jew and homosexual, he was imprisoned in Germany where his health declined. He escaped from a prison hospital and slipped back into Hungary. Later he moved to Paris and, unable to make a living as an artist, found that he had an uncanny ability to copy the works of noted painters such as Picasso, Matisse, Modigliani, and Renoir.

During his art career, he claimed to have sold over a thousand forgeries to art galleries all over the world. His forgeries gained much fame from a Clifford Irving book, "Fake!" and from a documentary film by Orson Welles called "F for Fake." About 1947 he came to the U.S. and divided his time between New York and Los Angeles. In 1962 he moved to the Spanish island of Ibiza where he remained until his suicide on December 11, 1976.Elmyr De Hory was born in Budapest, Hungary. De Hory studied at Akademie Heinmann art school in Munich under Fernand Léger. A Jew and homosexual, he was imprisoned in Germany where his health declined. He escaped from a prison hospital and slipped back into Hungary. Later he moved to Paris and, unable to make a living as an artist, found that he had an uncanny ability to copy the works of noted painters such as Picasso, Matisse, Modigliani, and Renoir.

During his art career, he claimed to have sold over a thousand forgeries to art galleries all over the world. His forgeries gained much fame from a Clifford Irving book, "Fake!" and from a documentary film by Orson Welles called "F for Fake." About 1947 he came to the U.S. and divided his time between New York and Los Angeles. In 1962 he moved to the Spanish island of Ibiza where he remained until his suicide on December 11, 1976." taken from AskArt.com based on Edan Hughes' book Artists in California 1786-1940

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Artwork by Elmyr de Hory

About the Artist