Ken Perenyi puts the 'Art' in Con-Artist

Greetings Folks!

We are very excited to present our next book for book club, Caveat Emptor: The Secret Life of an American Art Forger. Ken Perenyi started off as a delinquent with no goals, barely an education, and an apathetic attitude. But through a lucky series of events he fell in with some young, wealthy, hip artists who helped him shape his future. This book acts as a detailed confession written by the master, self-taught, art forger himself. He made a small fortune forging works by popular 18th and 19th century American Artists for nearly three decades and was thrilled by the sport of "fooling the experts." He sold his work at major auction houses like Sotheby's and Christie's, but the FBI eventually caught up with him and the pressure of the authorities caused him to sell his work as reproductions, which he still does today. This is going to be a captivating story and we hope that you will read it and join us at our next book club meeting! The meeting will be held at the Moses Myers Historical House on Wednesday, January 30th, 2013, light refreshments will be served.

 

Here is his website!

And here is a short interview with him!

 

 

 

 

Gone but not forgotten! October was American Archives Month at the JOCL

Happy (belated) American Archives Month! Our Library has several archival collections containing everything from personal letters between Moses Myers and his loved ones to pictures of Walter Chrysler Jr. at his parents' estate. It is important to preserve primary sources like this to better understand our history and be able to provide first-hand facts about certain situations. Archivist Lisa Lewis provides us with a short and sweet explanation of what archivists do for a living:

"Archivists bring the past to the present. They're records collectors and protectors, keepers of memory. They organize unique, historical materials, making them available for current and future research."

Here at the JOCL we make sure the Museum's history lives on by carefully preserving our own institutional archves. Here are some fun pictures from the Walter P. Chrysler Jr. collection:

Walter Chrysler Jr. at his parent's estate

Jean in her 'basement' Library

Walter and Jean's drawing room at the North Wales Estate