The genius of John Myatt comes from his combination of his own creative skill with his in-depth study of the artists whose work he recreates.“It’s hugely important for me to understand them well.You can sit and stare at Monet’s work for two or three hours and suddenly notice something you’ve never seen before. “You are always learning from working in the style of Monet, because he lived for such a long time and went to so many different places as an artist.The Giverny pieces show him as man who was totally at the top of his game, and the pieces are timeless – the Avenue of Flowers could have been painted only yesterday”. Although Myatt now emulates the masters while adding his own panache, that luxury wasn’t always afforded to him.To support his family as a single father, Genuine Fakes began on the wrong side of the law, when Scotland Yard detectives called his immaculate imitations of work by art world heavyweights like Marc Chagall,Vincent Van Gogh and Henri Matisse “the biggest art fraud of the 20th century”.
After a short stint behind bars, the detective who arrested him became the first person to commission a legitimate Myatt, followed by the barristers who wanted mementos of the case. Over 20 years later, Myatt’s work is prized by private collectors and he works with law enforcement to help expose would-be fraudsters. Myatt has managed to perfectly capture the styles and techniques of countless celebrated artists, and hugely enjoys the dialogue he has with past masters through his work.“Using another artist’s work is a great opportunity to not just look passively at their art, but engage with it too,” he explains,“I was successful because I wasn’t creating copies; it was new work in the style of a particular artist, which is much more fun. You study the work of other artists, which you then transpose into your own way of painting.There must always be something of you as an artist in the work you are creating.” Monet in Giverny is the perfect result of Myatt’s philosophy, allowing the viewer the benefit of appreciating two great artists through one breathtaking collection.
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