Jacksonville Public Library

Con/artist, the life and crimes of the world's greatest art forger, Tony Tetro and Giampiero Ambrosi

eng

autobiography

platesillustrations

no index present

non fiction

Con/artist

1350746821

Tony Tetro and Giampiero Ambrosi

the life and crimes of the world's greatest art forger

"The world's most renowned art forger reveals the secrets behind his decades of painting like the masters -- exposing an art world that is far more corrupt than we ever knew while providing an art history lesson wrapped in sex, drugs, and Caravaggio. The art world is a much dirtier, nastier business than you might expect. Tony Tetro, one of the most renowned art forgers in history, will make you question every masterpiece you've ever seen in a museum, gallery, or private collection. Tetro's "Rembrandts," "Caravaggios," "Miros," and hundreds of other works now hang on walls around the globe. Throughout Tetro's career, his inimitable talent has been coupled with a reckless penchant for drugs, fast cars, and sleeping with other con artists. He was busted in 1989 and spent four years in court and one in prison. He's a former furniture store clerk who can walk around in Caravaggio's shoes, become Picasso or Monet, with an encyclopedic understanding of their paint, their canvases, their vision. For years, he hid it all in an unassuming California townhouse with a secret art room behind a full-length mirror. Pairing up with coauthor and investigative journalist Ambrosi, Tetro unveils the art world in an epic, alluring, at times unbelievable, but all-true narrative." -- Adapted from publisher's description

Prologue (April 18, 1989) -- "Now you're gonna sleep in it" (1950 to 1969) -- Fulton--with palm trees (1969 to 1972) -- Fake! (1972) -- My apprenticeship (1972 to 1975) -- The last laugh (1972 to 1975) -- Printing money (1977) -- The drug kingpin of upland (1979) -- The adventurers (1979)-- Provenance (1981) -- The wild west (1982) -- Over the top (1985) -- The Prince of Fugazi (1986) -- Actually printing money (1987) -- Schizophrenic life (1987) -- My Caravaggio (1987) -- Things go bad (1988) -- The bug detector (1988) -- Yamagata (1988) -- The bust (1989) -- Aftermath (1989) -- My trial (1989 to 1991) -- Back to square one (1993) -- Out and down (1994 to 1999) -- The birth of Tony Montana (the 2000s) -- The Prince's Fugazis (2014 to 2020) -- Finale

Con artist