John Drewe
Encyclopedia
John Drewe is a British
purveyor of art forgeries
who commissioned artist
John Myatt
to paint them. Drewe earned about £1.8 million executing these art crimes.
, England
. His childhood friend later said that he told tall tales about himself even in school. At the age of 17 he dropped out of school and changed his surname to Drewe. He worked briefly with the British Atomic Energy Authority, having initially convinced his superiors that he had a Ph.D. in physics. He resigned two years later, after this was found to be false. After that, there is a 15-year gap in official records about him - no employment or tax records.
According to himself, Drewe joined the student protests in Paris
in 1968, moved to Germany and studied physics in the Kiel University. When he moved back to the UK, he taught experimental physics at the University of Sussex
for a year and received a second degree in physics in SUNY Buffalo. None of those educational institutions have his name on their records.
In 1970 Drewe, claiming a PhD in physics, worked for a year as head of the Physics Department of Bexhill Grammar School in East Sussex.
In 1980, Drewe met wealthy Israeli expatriate
Bat-Sheva Goudsmid and soon moved in to her house, having charmed her with claims that he was an advisor to the Atomic Energy Authority, a British Aerospace
board member, and worked for the Ministry of Defence
. In fact, he was teaching physics in a Jewish private school in Highgate until he was apparently pressured to leave in 1985.
, who was in dire need of money. First Drewe presented himself as a nuclear physicist who wanted art copies for his own home and hinted at links to British intelligence. Eventually he persuaded Myatt to paint forgeries for him. He used mud and vacuum cleaner dust to "age" them. Drewe contacted auction houses like Christie's
and Sotheby's
through intermediaries and sold about 200 of Myatt's paintings for £1.8 million. In the course of their many year relationship he gave Myatt a total of only £100,000 while he lived lavishly off the proceeds.
Drewe did not try to sell paintings in a vacuum but created false backgrounds for them. He forged certificates of authenticity and even invoices of previous sales to establish false provenance
and paper trail
s for the paintings. He wrote to relatives of the artist to fool them into authenticating the forgeries. He tricked a small Catholic religious order in a village to sign a contract which would verify some of the paintings.
He also forged documents about previous owners so that the painting did not just suddenly seem to appear from nowhere. For this he used records of dead people, some of them his old acquaintances. He also convinced some of his living friends to sign documents as though they were previous owners of the paintings - most of them were broke or otherwise in trouble and accepted the money he offered them. To an old childhood friend, Daniel Stokes, he concocted a story about a drinking wife and needy children and convinced him to pretend to be an owner of a fake Ben Nicholson
painting. Clive Bellman, another acquaintance, was told that the paintings were sold to provide money for purchases of archive materials from the Soviet Union
about the Holocaust. When he could not find anyone to bribe, he just invented nonexistent people.
In 1989, Drewe gained access to the letter archives of the Institute of Contemporary Arts
in London by claiming to be an interested collector. He also donated two paintings - Myatt's forgeries - for a fundraising auction. Later he used the institute's stationery in his fake documents. The Tate Gallery
received a donation of two Roger Bissière
paintings but Bissière's son did not accept them. Drewe withdrew the paintings but he made a donation of £20,000 (about US$32,000) to the gallery, so the gallery opened archives to him. To become accepted by the Victoria and Albert Museum
he needed a false reference - he provided one himself.
Drewe used the opportunity to introduce false records to the archives. He replaced old pages and inserted numerous new ones into old art catalogues to include Myatt's forgeries. The institutions have said that it will take years to purge the archives of all the false information. Through a middleman, Drewe also created a company called Art Research Associates and again used himself as a reference.
In 1995, Drewe left Goudsmid to marry Helen Sussman, a doctor
. Goudsmid studied papers that Drewe had left behind and found a number of incriminating letters. She decided to tell the police and the Tate Gallery.
quietly arrested Myatt. He had fallen out with Drewe and agreed to cooperate. On April 16, 1996, police raided Drewe's house in Reigate
, Surrey
, and found materials he had used to forge certificates of authenticity. They also found two catalogues Drewe had stolen from the Victoria and Albert Museum. Police also found evidence that another artist in addition to Myatt might have supplied some of the forgeries.
During the interrogation, Drewe continuously protested his innocence against all evidence. He was released on bail
and disappeared. Two months later police found him by following his mother.
This time, Drewe had concocted a conspiracy theory of frame-up. He claimed that he was an arms dealer and a fall guy for a conspiracy including British law enforcement and governments of seven countries and that there had been a total of 4,000 forgeries that had been used to finance arms deals between the UK arms industry and Iran
, Iraq
and Sierra Leone
. He also claimed that he was a British intelligence agent, that Myatt was a neo-Nazi operative and that Robert Harris, a name mentioned in many forged certificates, was a South Africa
n arms dealer. He could not prove any of these stories, of course.
If he had intended to scare police to drop the case, he failed. The prosecution declared his story pure fantasy and charged him.
The trial against Drewe and Myatt began in September 1998. Drewe fired his lawyer because he refused to use Drewe's story as a defence and decided to defend himself. Again he failed; Myatt called him a liar to his face and the jury declared him guilty in six hours.
On February 13, 1999, Drewe was sentenced to six years for conspiracy
to defraud, two counts of forgery
, one of theft
, and one of using a false instrument with intent. He served two years in prison.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
purveyor of art forgeries
Art forgery
Art forgery is the creation of works of art which are falsely attributed to other, usually more famous, artists. Art forgery can be extremely lucrative, but modern dating and analysis techniques have made the identification of forged artwork much simpler....
who commissioned artist
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
John Myatt
John Myatt
John Myatt, , is a British artist and convicted forger who, with John Drewe, perpetrated what has been described as "the biggest art fraud of the 20th century".-Early life:...
to paint them. Drewe earned about £1.8 million executing these art crimes.
Early life
Drewe was born John Cockett in 1948 in SussexSussex
Sussex , from the Old English Sūþsēaxe , is an historic county in South East England corresponding roughly in area to the ancient Kingdom of Sussex. It is bounded on the north by Surrey, east by Kent, south by the English Channel, and west by Hampshire, and is divided for local government into West...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. His childhood friend later said that he told tall tales about himself even in school. At the age of 17 he dropped out of school and changed his surname to Drewe. He worked briefly with the British Atomic Energy Authority, having initially convinced his superiors that he had a Ph.D. in physics. He resigned two years later, after this was found to be false. After that, there is a 15-year gap in official records about him - no employment or tax records.
According to himself, Drewe joined the student protests in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
in 1968, moved to Germany and studied physics in the Kiel University. When he moved back to the UK, he taught experimental physics at the University of Sussex
University of Sussex
The University of Sussex is an English public research university situated next to the East Sussex village of Falmer, within the city of Brighton and Hove. The University received its Royal Charter in August 1961....
for a year and received a second degree in physics in SUNY Buffalo. None of those educational institutions have his name on their records.
In 1970 Drewe, claiming a PhD in physics, worked for a year as head of the Physics Department of Bexhill Grammar School in East Sussex.
In 1980, Drewe met wealthy Israeli expatriate
Expatriate
An expatriate is a person temporarily or permanently residing in a country and culture other than that of the person's upbringing...
Bat-Sheva Goudsmid and soon moved in to her house, having charmed her with claims that he was an advisor to the Atomic Energy Authority, a British Aerospace
British Aerospace
British Aerospace plc was a UK aircraft, munitions and defence-systems manufacturer. Its head office was in the Warwick House in the Farnborough Aerospace Centre in Farnborough, Hampshire...
board member, and worked for the Ministry of Defence
Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom)
The Ministry of Defence is the United Kingdom government department responsible for implementation of government defence policy and is the headquarters of the British Armed Forces....
. In fact, he was teaching physics in a Jewish private school in Highgate until he was apparently pressured to leave in 1985.
Career as a forger
Also in 1985, Drewe met John MyattJohn Myatt
John Myatt, , is a British artist and convicted forger who, with John Drewe, perpetrated what has been described as "the biggest art fraud of the 20th century".-Early life:...
, who was in dire need of money. First Drewe presented himself as a nuclear physicist who wanted art copies for his own home and hinted at links to British intelligence. Eventually he persuaded Myatt to paint forgeries for him. He used mud and vacuum cleaner dust to "age" them. Drewe contacted auction houses like Christie's
Christie's
Christie's is an art business and a fine arts auction house.- History :The official company literature states that founder James Christie conducted the first sale in London, England, on 5 December 1766, and the earliest auction catalogue the company retains is from December 1766...
and Sotheby's
Sotheby's
Sotheby's is the world's fourth oldest auction house in continuous operation.-History:The oldest auction house in operation is the Stockholms Auktionsverk founded in 1674, the second oldest is Göteborgs Auktionsverk founded in 1681 and third oldest being founded in 1731, all Swedish...
through intermediaries and sold about 200 of Myatt's paintings for £1.8 million. In the course of their many year relationship he gave Myatt a total of only £100,000 while he lived lavishly off the proceeds.
Drewe did not try to sell paintings in a vacuum but created false backgrounds for them. He forged certificates of authenticity and even invoices of previous sales to establish false provenance
Provenance
Provenance, from the French provenir, "to come from", refers to the chronology of the ownership or location of an historical object. The term was originally mostly used for works of art, but is now used in similar senses in a wide range of fields, including science and computing...
and paper trail
Paper Trail
Paper Trail is the sixth studio album by American hip hop artist T.I., released September 30, 2008 on Grand Hustle Records and Atlantic Records. He began to write songs for the album as he awaited trial for federal weapons and possession charges...
s for the paintings. He wrote to relatives of the artist to fool them into authenticating the forgeries. He tricked a small Catholic religious order in a village to sign a contract which would verify some of the paintings.
He also forged documents about previous owners so that the painting did not just suddenly seem to appear from nowhere. For this he used records of dead people, some of them his old acquaintances. He also convinced some of his living friends to sign documents as though they were previous owners of the paintings - most of them were broke or otherwise in trouble and accepted the money he offered them. To an old childhood friend, Daniel Stokes, he concocted a story about a drinking wife and needy children and convinced him to pretend to be an owner of a fake Ben Nicholson
Ben Nicholson
Benjamin Lauder "Ben" Nicholson, OM was a British painter of abstract compositions , landscape and still-life.-Background and Training:...
painting. Clive Bellman, another acquaintance, was told that the paintings were sold to provide money for purchases of archive materials from the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
about the Holocaust. When he could not find anyone to bribe, he just invented nonexistent people.
In 1989, Drewe gained access to the letter archives of the Institute of Contemporary Arts
Institute of Contemporary Arts
The Institute of Contemporary Arts is an artistic and cultural centre on The Mall in London, just off Trafalgar Square. It is located within Nash House, part of Carlton House Terrace, near the Duke of York Steps and Admiralty Arch...
in London by claiming to be an interested collector. He also donated two paintings - Myatt's forgeries - for a fundraising auction. Later he used the institute's stationery in his fake documents. The Tate Gallery
Tate Gallery
The Tate is an institution that houses the United Kingdom's national collection of British Art, and International Modern and Contemporary Art...
received a donation of two Roger Bissière
Roger Bissière
Roger Bissière was a French artist who painted in the abstract Tachisme style. He was born in Villeréal, Lot-et-Garonne, and died in Boissièrettes...
paintings but Bissière's son did not accept them. Drewe withdrew the paintings but he made a donation of £20,000 (about US$32,000) to the gallery, so the gallery opened archives to him. To become accepted by the Victoria and Albert Museum
Victoria and Albert Museum
The Victoria and Albert Museum , set in the Brompton district of The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London, England, is the world's largest museum of decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 4.5 million objects...
he needed a false reference - he provided one himself.
Drewe used the opportunity to introduce false records to the archives. He replaced old pages and inserted numerous new ones into old art catalogues to include Myatt's forgeries. The institutions have said that it will take years to purge the archives of all the false information. Through a middleman, Drewe also created a company called Art Research Associates and again used himself as a reference.
In 1995, Drewe left Goudsmid to marry Helen Sussman, a doctor
Physician
A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...
. Goudsmid studied papers that Drewe had left behind and found a number of incriminating letters. She decided to tell the police and the Tate Gallery.
Arrest and prosecution
In September 1995, Scotland YardScotland Yard
Scotland Yard is a metonym for the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police Service of London, UK. It derives from the location of the original Metropolitan Police headquarters at 4 Whitehall Place, which had a rear entrance on a street called Great Scotland Yard. The Scotland Yard entrance became...
quietly arrested Myatt. He had fallen out with Drewe and agreed to cooperate. On April 16, 1996, police raided Drewe's house in Reigate
Reigate
Reigate is a historic market town in Surrey, England, at the foot of the North Downs, and in the London commuter belt. It is one of the main constituents of the Borough of Reigate and Banstead...
, Surrey
Surrey
Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...
, and found materials he had used to forge certificates of authenticity. They also found two catalogues Drewe had stolen from the Victoria and Albert Museum. Police also found evidence that another artist in addition to Myatt might have supplied some of the forgeries.
During the interrogation, Drewe continuously protested his innocence against all evidence. He was released on bail
Bail
Traditionally, bail is some form of property deposited or pledged to a court to persuade it to release a suspect from jail, on the understanding that the suspect will return for trial or forfeit the bail...
and disappeared. Two months later police found him by following his mother.
This time, Drewe had concocted a conspiracy theory of frame-up. He claimed that he was an arms dealer and a fall guy for a conspiracy including British law enforcement and governments of seven countries and that there had been a total of 4,000 forgeries that had been used to finance arms deals between the UK arms industry and Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
, Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
and Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone , officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Guinea to the north and east, Liberia to the southeast, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west and southwest. Sierra Leone covers a total area of and has an estimated population between 5.4 and 6.4...
. He also claimed that he was a British intelligence agent, that Myatt was a neo-Nazi operative and that Robert Harris, a name mentioned in many forged certificates, was a South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
n arms dealer. He could not prove any of these stories, of course.
If he had intended to scare police to drop the case, he failed. The prosecution declared his story pure fantasy and charged him.
The trial against Drewe and Myatt began in September 1998. Drewe fired his lawyer because he refused to use Drewe's story as a defence and decided to defend himself. Again he failed; Myatt called him a liar to his face and the jury declared him guilty in six hours.
On February 13, 1999, Drewe was sentenced to six years for conspiracy
Conspiracy (crime)
In the criminal law, a conspiracy is an agreement between two or more persons to break the law at some time in the future, and, in some cases, with at least one overt act in furtherance of that agreement...
to defraud, two counts of forgery
Forgery
Forgery is the process of making, adapting, or imitating objects, statistics, or documents with the intent to deceive. Copies, studio replicas, and reproductions are not considered forgeries, though they may later become forgeries through knowing and willful misrepresentations. Forging money or...
, one of theft
Theft
In common usage, theft is the illegal taking of another person's property without that person's permission or consent. The word is also used as an informal shorthand term for some crimes against property, such as burglary, embezzlement, larceny, looting, robbery, shoplifting and fraud...
, and one of using a false instrument with intent. He served two years in prison.