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"How a Con Man and a Forger Rewrote the History of Modern Art"

By Rich Fisher

http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kwgs/local-kwgs-904896.mp3

Tulsa, Oklahoma – On this edition of our show, we speak with author Laney Salisbury. Along with Aly Sujo, her late husband and writing partner, Salisbury is responsible for the remarkable book, "Provenance: How a Con Man and a Forger Rewrote the History of Modern Art." This book --- a highly engrossing real-life detective story set amid the international art world --- is just out in paperback from Penguin, and Salisbury actually appeared last night (Thursday the 27th) at a Book Smart Tulsa event at Philbrook. She's our guest today on StudioTulsa. As Steven Levingston has noted of this volume in The Washington Post: "If you've ever been had by a con man, as I once was at a cash machine in Salem, Massachusetts, you know the odd aftermath of emotion. First, you're befuddled, then enraged, and finally consumed by visions of revenge. But there's another sentiment that can sneak up on you. I was reminded of it while reading Laney Salisbury and Aly Sujo's well-crafted tale of British con artist John Drewe. I'd expected to despise the psychopath at the center of what Scotland Yard called the biggest art fraud of the 20th century. But somehow, from the first page, he got me to drop my guard. Drewe, for all his odious ambitions, is ingenious, persuasive, even brilliant. As I was pulled deeper into his deceptions, I couldn't help admiring this creep."