Elmyr de Hory

Explicit content warning

04/21/20 • 44 min

A fraud and liar of epic proportions: a dashing art forger whose difficulties selling his naturalistic work in the Modernist-dominated 20th century art market, and experience of persecution as a gay Jew in Central Europe during World War II, fueled the creation and sale of millions' worth of fake Picassos, Matisses, and other masterpieces: some of which are still hidden in major collections and museums.

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SOURCES:

Forgy, Mark. The Forger's Apprentice: Life With the World's Most Notorious Artist. Scott's Valley, CA: CreateSpace, 2012.

Keats, Jonathon. Forged: Why Fakes are the Great Art of our Age. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2013.

Martinique, Elena. 'Elmyr de Hory - The Story of the Most Famous Forger in Art History.' Widewall.Ch, June 19, 2019. https://www.widewalls.ch/elmyr-de-hory-art-forger/

Our intro music is Arpeggia Colorix by Yann Terrien, downloaded from WFMU's Free Music Archive and distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Our outro music is by DJ Michaeloswell Graphicsdesigner.

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SOURCES:

Forgy, Mark. The Forger's Apprentice: Life With the World's Most Notorious Artist. Scott's Valley, CA: CreateSpace, 2012.

Keats, Jonathon. Forged: Why Fakes are the Great Art of our Age. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2013.

Martinique, Elena. 'Elmyr de Hory - The Story of the Most Famous Forger in Art History.' Widewall.Ch, June 19, 2019. https://www.widewalls.ch/elmyr-de-hory-art-forger/

Previous Episode

Barney Frank

On the "complicated" side of "evil and complicated" that makes up our show's motto, we present the story of the gravely-voiced Congressman who blazed trails for gay political involvement at the highest levels of power in Washington, only to spend the latter part of his career selling out the left to finance capital and excluding trans people from fights for non-discrimination legislation. Whip-smart, funny, and always ready with a biting comeback, Barney Frank came to embody the transformation of the Democratic Party away from the working class and towards a suburban party preoccupied with shallow diversity rather than true racial and economic justice.

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SOURCES:

Aloisi, James. “Louise Day Hicks: ‘You Know Where I Stand.’” CommonWealth Magazine, October 16, 2013. https://commonwealthmagazine.org/politics/012-louise-day-hicks-you-know-where-i-stand/. Battenfeld, Joe. “Barney Frank Resurfaces, to the Dismay of Bernie Sanders.” Boston Herald, January 29, 2020. https://www.bostonherald.com/2020/01/28/barney-frank-resurfaces-to-the-dismay-of-bernie-sanders/. Chotiner, Isaac. “Barney Frank Is Not Impressed By Bernie Sanders.” Slate Magazine, March 30, 2016. https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2016/03/barney-frank-is-not-impressed-by-bernie-sanders.html. Cottle, Michelle. “Bailout.” The New Republic, December 3, 2008. https://newrepublic.com/article/62857/bailout.
Dayen, David. Chain of Title: How Three Ordinary Americans Uncovered Wall Street’s Great Foreclosure Fraud. New York, NY: The New Press, 2016. ———. “Bank Deregulation 2.0 Is Here.” The American Prospect, July 18, 2018. https://prospect.org/api/content/eaadfd42-4d07-5e1f-b580-4b75f1860cc4/. ———. “Dismantling Dodd-Frank -- And More.” The American Prospect, February 6, 2017. https://prospect.org/api/content/da53d9a4-10ff-57f6-97d0-a09f91c8cbd4/. Dedman, Bill. “TV Movie Led to Prostitute’s Disclosures.” The Washington Post, August 27, 1989. https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/local/longterm/tours/scandal/gobie2.htm. Frank, Barney. “My Life as a Gay Congressman.” Politico Magazone. Accessed April 13, 2020. http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/03/barney-frank-life-as-gay-congressman-116027.html. Geismer, Lily. Don’t Blame Us: Suburban Liberals and the Transformation of the Democratic Party. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2014. Henwood, Doug. “Radio Commentary, July 15, 2010.” LBO News from Doug Henwood (blog), July 16, 2010. https://lbo-news.com/2010/07/16/radio-commentary-july-15-2010/. Molloy, Parker. “What Barney Frank Still Gets Wrong on ENDA.” The Advocate, October 1, 2014. http://www.advocate.com/commentary/2014/10/01/op-ed-what-barney-frank-still-gets-wrong-enda. Schleier, Curt. “Barney Frank on Being Barney, Not Bernie.” Times of Israel. Accessed April 13, 2020. http://www.timesofisrael.com/barney-frank-on-being-barney-not-bernie/. Sirota, David. “A ‘Grand Bargain’...For K Street.” HuffPost (blog), December 8, 2006. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/a-grand-bargainfor-k-stre_b_35853. ———. “Four Reasons to Oppose the Bush-Obama Request for Another $350 Billion Bailout.” Common Dreams. Accessed April 13, 2020. https://www.commondreams.org/views/2009/01/13/four-reasons-oppose-bush-obama-request-another-350-billion-bailout. Toobin, Jeffrey. “Barney’s Great Adventure.” The New Yorker, January 5, 2009. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2009/01/12/barneys-great-adventure. Our intro music is

Next Episode

Philip Johnson

Philip Cortelyou Johnson may be more responsible than anyone for the shift from Modernism as a new way of living to Modernism as an elite bauble. Born into immense power and privilege, he was a deeply committed elitist, and dilettante fascist, who used his money and connections to whitewash his youthful (and ongoing) embrace of Hitler in specific and far-right politics in general. As a key curator and preacher of the Modernist gospel in the United States, he was central in divorcing the style from its egalitarian political aspirations. In response to criticism, he said: “I am a whore. Very well paid.”

Visit our website for T-shirts, an episode archive, and more information about the show.

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SOURCES:

Fixsen, Anna. “The Power and Paradox of Philip Johnson.” Metropolis, December 3, 2018. https://www.metropolismag.com/architecture/philip-johnson-biography-mark-lamster-interview/. Goldberger, Paul. “A New Biography of the Architect Philip Johnson, the ‘Man in the Glass House.’” The New York Times, December 20, 2018, sec. Books. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/20/books/review/mark-lamster-philip-johnson-man-in-the-glass-house.html. Johnson, Philip, Robert A. M. Stern, and Kazys Varnelis. The Philip Johnson Tapes: Interviews by Robert A.M. Stern. 1st ed. New York: Monacelli Press, 2008. Kaiser, Charles. The Gay Metropolis: The Landmark History of Gay Life in America. 1. Grove Press ed. New York: Grove Press, 2007. Lamster, Mark. The Man in the Glass House: Philip Johnson, Architect of the Modern Century. First edition. New York, NY: Little, Brown and Company, 2018. Ravenscroft, Tom. “Bjarke Ingels Meets Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro to ‘Change the Face of Tourism in Brazil.’” Dezeen, January 17, 2020. https://www.dezeen.com/2020/01/17/bjarke-ingels-jair-bolsonaro-brazil-president/. ———. “Criticism of Jair Bolsonaro Meeting Is ‘an Oversimplification of a Complex World’ Says Bjarke Ingels.” Dezeen, January 23, 2020. https://www.dezeen.com/2020/01/23/jair-bolsonaro-bjarke-ingels/. Schulze, Franz. Philip Johnson: Life and Work. Chicago, Ill.: University of Chicago Press, 1996. Stern, Mark J. “‘The Glass House’ as Gay Space: Exploring the Intersection of Homosexuality and Architecture.” Inquiries Journal 4, no. 06 (2012). http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/651/the-glass-house-as-gay-space-exploring-the-intersection-of-homosexuality-and-architecture. Wainwright, Oliver. “‘Norman Said the President Wants a Pyramid’: How Starchitects Built Astana.” The Guardian, October 17, 2017, sec. Cities. https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2017/oct/17/norman-foster-president-pyramid-architects-built-astana. ———. “The Despot Dilemma: Should Architects Work for Repressive Regimes?” The Guardian, January 27, 2020, sec. Art and design. https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2020/jan/27/despot-dilemma-should-architects-work-for-repressive-regimes-bjarke-ingels. Wortman, Marc. 1941: Fighting the Shadow War: A Divided America in a World at War. First edition. New York, NY: Atlantic Monthly Press, 2016. ———. “Famed Architect Philip Johnson’s Hidden Nazi Past.” Vanity Fair. Accessed April 27, 2020. https://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2016/04/philip-johnson-nazi-architect-marc-wortman.