Caveat Emptor: The Secret Life of an American Art Forger

By Ken Perenyi

The astonishing true story of America’s most accomplished art forger: a kid from New Jersey who became a master, fooling experts and eluding the FBI for thirty years. Ten years ago, an FBI investigation in conjunction with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of New York was about to expose a scandal in the art world that would have been front-page news in New York and London. After a trail of fake paintings of astonishing quality led federal agents to art dealers, renowned experts, and the major auction houses, the investigation inexplicably ended, despite an abundance of evidence collected. The case was closed and the FBI file was marked “exempt from public disclosure.” Now that the statute of limitations on these crimes has expired and the case appears hermetically sealed shut by the FBI, this book, Caveat Emptor, is Ken Perenyi’s confession. It is the story, in detail, of how he pulled it all off. Glamorous stories of art-world scandal have always captured the public imagination. However, not since Clifford Irving’s 1969 bestselling Fake has there been a story at all like this one. Caveat Emptor is unique in that it is the first and only book by and about America’s first and only great art forger. And unlike other forgers, Perenyi produced no paper trail, no fake provenance whatsoever; he let the paintings speak for themselves. And that they did, routinely mesmerizing the experts in mere seconds. In the tradition of Frank Abagnale’s Catch Me If You Can, and certain to be a bombshell for the major international auction houses and galleries, here is the story of America’s greatest art forger.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Pegasus Books
• Release date: Aug 15, 2012
• ISBN: 9781453265291

Ken Perenyi

Born in 1949 in Hoboken, New Jersey, Ken Perenyi is a self-taught artist who painted his first pictures during the Summer of Love in 1967, having discovered an uncanny ability to intuitively grasp the aesthetic and technical aspects of the Old Masters. A series of fateful events resulted in what was to become a thirty-year career as a professional art forger. Today he operates his own studio in Madeira Beach, Florida.

Reviews for Caveat Emptor

[wbwilburn5 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Fascinating read.

[knfmn · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This was a really fantastic book that seemed to have been written especially for me. The writing is straight forward and interesting. The author threw in enough tidbits about antique paintings and the process of imitating them to keep me turning the pages. I highly recommend this book for anyone who is interested in fine art and the people who imitate it.

[formerenglishteacher · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I had to consciously resist the urge to allow my review of this book to be tainted by my feelings for the scumbag who wrote it. That’s why I gave it three stars. It was a pretty decent story, but the guy who lived it is truly a low life. My first hint of that was when he revealed that one of his attorneys was another scumbag, Roy Cohn, lawyer to other deplorables including Donald Trump. I won’t reveal how the story ends, but I will say, if you decide to read this book, you have to try hard not to lose your latest meal as the author drops name after name in the New York social scene. I’ve always assumed that people who drop names probably didn’t know the people they are talking about. For example, for no apparent reason Perenyi mentions seeing Andy Warhol at a distance in his neighborhood. Finally, after several Warhol sightings, the author thinks he sees the famous artist smile at him. And that’s pretty much it! No other reason to mention Warhol. No interactions with him. No cocktails with him. No Warhol evaluations of his work. But he did think he saw that ever so slight smile from Andy one day when they passed each other on the street. The book is not badly written, but the publisher, Pegasus, might want to consider editing a little tighter. I ran across two typos in the first half of the book. I can’t recall actually seeing typographical errors in a book published by a reputable publisher. If you enjoy reading about the immoral activities of an amoral “artist,” this book might be for you.

[dandiercks · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I had to consciously resist the urge to allow my review of this book to be tainted by my feelings for the scumbag who wrote it. That’s why I gave it three stars. It was a pretty decent story, but the guy who lived it is truly a low life. My first hint of that was when he revealed that one of his attorneys was another scumbag, Roy Cohn, lawyer to other deplorables including Donald Trump. I won’t reveal how the story ends, but I will say, if you decide to read this book, you have to try hard not to lose your latest meal as the author drops name after name in the New York social scene. I’ve always assumed that people who drop names probably didn’t know the people they are talking about. For example, for no apparent reason Perenyi mentions seeing Andy Warhol at a distance in his neighborhood. Finally, after several Warhol sightings, the author thinks he sees the famous artist smile at him. And that’s pretty much it! No other reason to mention Warhol. No interactions with him. No cocktails with him. No Warhol evaluations of his work. But he did think he saw that ever so slight smile from Andy one day when they passed each other on the street. The book is not badly written, but the publisher, Pegasus, might want to consider editing a little tighter. I ran across two typos in the first half of the book. I can’t recall actually seeing typographical errors in a book published by a reputable publisher. If you enjoy reading about the immoral activities of an amoral “artist,” this book might be for you.

[K Powell · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Good story with detailed descriptions on how he painted the pictures which was very telling and good. All the risks that he involved himself in were incredible. It was a shame he never got a chance to really do his own artwork until the end. If he had been given the chance this might not have gone the way it did. Interesting characters and places ..... enjoyed

[michigantrumpet_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Ken Perenyi relates his many years as an art forger, providing many details as to how exactly he was able to fool many of the top collectors and auction houses in the world. The passing of applicable statutes of limitations has freed him up to tell his tales of derring-do. Not so certain the same methods work now in the light of better chemical and forensic analysis. Perenyi has little compunction or regret over having bamboozled so many for so long. In his eyes, it is largely the auction houses who were hurt, against whom he carries a particularly strong grudge. If one is able to set aside ethical and moral considerations, this is a pretty engaging story. Perenyi does not detail in the least his subsequent efforts to bring and abused child out of Africa and provide a safe and stable home. This raises him somewhat in my estimation. A little internet research will give you the full story.

[pattylee-621744 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Wow. Cool. Groovy. This is a very poorly written (noun, verb, predicate) expose by a guy who thinks he is too sophisticated for words. In reality he is a lying, cheating sleaze bag of a forger. Admittedly I am fascinated with forgery and restoration/conservation, but the smug, too cool for words, name-dropping non-style of this tell-all annoyed me. (Can you tell?) This is just a catalog of petty scams interspersed with lots of drugs and alcohol. At any rate, the discussions of actual forgery techniques are decent, but the whole thing leaves you with a bad taste and a need for a bath. One can't help but wonder why such a "talented" artist didn't just paint...Oh, I know, because he made a fortune cheating and lying (not that I am all that sympathetic to private collectors or auction houses). The author explains that when he once tried to paint on his own, "it just didn't feel right." In fact, the more interesting part of the book dealt with the deceit and manipulation of the famous auction houses.

[cjordan916 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

How much is “America’s first and only great art forger,” as the jacket copy describes the author, willing to reveal? Quite a lot, it seems. Perenyi, a graduate of a New Jersey technical school and a Vietnam draft dodger, fell in with a band of artistic New Yorkers and began imitating long-gone masters such as James E. Buttersworth and Martin Johnson Heade. The trick, he learned, was the peripheral details: the materials to which the canvas was fixed, the frame, a faux-aged stain. Perenyi took his canvases to New York antiques shops and specialty galleries, told a tale about a deceased uncle with treasures in his attic, and, more often than not, sold his wares. Some of his paintings reached the upper echelons of the art world and were brokered or bought by famous auction houses.

[christineellei · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

What led me to this book was the book description itself … “Ten years ago, an FBI investigation in conjunction with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of New York was about to expose a scandal in the art world that would have been front–page news in New York and London. After a trail of fake paintings of astonishing quality led federal agents to art dealers, renowned experts, and the major auction houses, the investigation inexplicably ended, despite an abundance of evidence collected. The case was closed and the FBI file was marked “exempt from public disclosure.” Now that the statute of limitations on these crimes has expired and the case appears hermetically sealed shut by the FBI, Caveat Emptor is Ken Perenyi’s confession. It is the story, in detail, of how he pulled it all off.”

This sounded like something I would enjoy … and I did for the most part. It’s difficult for me to pick apart an autobiographical book, because let’s face it; it is the story of someone’s life. This book deals with some interesting facts about art forgery and the methods Mr. Perenyi developed for his craft (some methods mentioned in other books on the subject of art forgery as well … so as he points out in this book … he was indeed very good at what he did). Although Mr. Perenyi is very forthcoming about his forgeries and the subsequent FBI investigations I was left wanting a little bit more. Simply a matter of too many unanswered questions at the end of the tale … like the FBI file about the investigation the ending of this book also seems to be marked “exempt from public disclosure”.

My burning question probably has no place in a book review, but I’m throwing it out there anyway – If a painter is so talented that he can convincingly recreate masterpieces, why is he not making a name for himself in the art world? Is the money truly the root of all evil? Is it laziness? Is it the challenge? Or is it, as Mr. Perenyi states, simply a matter of being born in the wrong century to create the art you love?