Book Description
Delving into one of the most sacrosanct areas of culture--fine art collecting--Thomas Hoving presents a gallery of art fakes, fakers, and the suckers who fell for the scams. From the shroud of Turin to pre-Colombian pottery, Hoving reveals the biggest, the best, the most embarrassing, and the most costly forgeries in history--many of them unknown until now. photos.
Customer Reviews:
Fakebuster.......2006-11-04
A narrow book for a wide-range art specialists. Needs to be supplemented with other Amazon 4-5 books concerning the problem of forgery.
A good step into art.......2005-11-15
This cat definately knows the ins and outs of the art world. If for no other reason, this book is worth the money.
Interesting, but falls a little short.......2004-01-15
Thomas Hoving seems to know his art, and doesn't have any qualms about sharing his knowledge. He may be a premier fakebuster, but as a writer, he could use a little more practice. While the subject matter was interesting, Hoving had a slightly difficult time keeping my attention. He seemed to jump around alot, and made a lot of assumptions regarding my knowledge of the art world. False Impressions is filled with all kinds of interesting tidbits about the world of art forgery and fakebusting. Unfortunately, it can be somewhat difficult to separate fact from opinion. As a novice to art appreciation, I found much of the material to be "above my head". Perhaps after a few years of study, I will be in a better position to fully benefit from all Hoving offers. Probably the simplest and most effective thing he could have done to improve the book would be to include more pictures, perhaps even some color photos, and have them more logically located in the chapters in which the pieces are discussed, as opposed to having a group of plates three-quarters of the way through the book. At the very least, the text could have referenced the plate section. Unfortunately, every time a new piece is mentioned, the curious reader has to flip to the plate section and hope that the piece is represented there. Overall, I would say that if you are really interested in fine art, you will find this book enlightening. But it's not something one would read just for fun.
Packed with information, but uninspired writing.......2003-05-12
This could have been a more interesting book, but often as not I found it a chore to read. The subject matter -- art fakery, the criminals who perpetrate it, and the curators and journalists who fall for it -- made for a fascinating glimpse into this other world. Hoving just can't write well, consistently.
Sometimes he gets into a mode, like when going over the medieval and renaissance works, where he would cover so many so quickly that it felt as if he were simply reciting names and dates, losing all the human charm it needs to keep your interest. Some of the text made no sense without the plates, and for some parts there were no plates to, I was never sure just what he was talking about. Other times he exhaustively goes over what everything means, sometimes well, but sometimes to the point of irritation. The biggest mistake I saw was that the ending was very rushed; one of the most interesting stories, about a prolific Mexican sculptor, was cut short and glossed over.
Hoving also has a reputation for... embellishing on his own accomplishments or criminals' cleverness. Some of the areas seem a little hazy and farfetched, so I don't know. He always claims his own explanation to be correct anytime there's room for many possible theories, rather than explaining each and giving the highs and lows of them. In tone he is quite full of himself and his accomplishments, always boasting of being a great fakebuster, often sneering at fellow curators and making snide remarks about journalists (who are really only expected to report whatever the curator says, after all, since most aren't trained in art). It washed off me but might irritate others.
Overall, the book does concentrate on the art and the people duped, and it will expand your fine art knowledge in many ways, covering many varied subjects. I'd still recommend it to art students or fanciers, but to most it would simply be too dense and uneven.
For as long as there has been art there has been fakery.......2001-12-19
For as long as there has been art there has been fakery. This book shows that fakery is an art form. This book also shows art through out history, from ancient Greece to the Roman Empire, from the middle ages to early Victorian Age. The New York bestselling author, Tomas Hoving, was the Director of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, if you want to see the thought process of a ¡§fake buster¡¨ or the inner workings of the Met, this book is for you. I liked it because he told the stories of fakers and fake busters throughout history. This man shows that anyone, even the best can be taken by a truly masterful fake. It is such a good read open it to any page and you will get hooked. He also shows that even well-known Artists like Renoir and Monet were known to fake there own pieces just to keep food on the table. He even has a picture section that allows you to see for your self. He will take you step by step on how to uncover a fake. Also this book shows how to prevent from being suckered by giving real life examples of when Hoving has been taken in by the charade.
Average customer rating:
- Perfect story!
- False Impressions
- Deadline Writing?
- Good story line using 9/11 NYC
- Just Okay
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False Impression
Jeffrey Archer
Manufacturer: St. Martin's Paperbacks
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
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A Matter of Honor
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The Fourth Estate
ASIN: 0312939779
Release Date: 2006-11-28 |
Book Description
Why was an elegant lady BRUTALLY MURDERED the night before 9/11?
Why was a successful New York banker not surprised to receive A WOMAN’S LEFT EAR in the mail?
Why did a young woman with a brilliant career steal an IMPRESSIONIST PAINTING?
Why was an honors graduate working as a temporary secretary after INHERITING A FORTUNE?
Why was a SENIOR FBI AGENT trying to work out the connection between these four apparently innocent individuals?
A breathtaking journey of twists and turns from New York to London, from Bucharest and on to Tokyo ends up in a sleepy English village where the mystery surrounding Van Gogh’s last painting will finally be resolved.
Customer Reviews:
Perfect story!.......2007-09-22
This is one of the best written books I have ever read. I couldn't put it down! Then, half way through the book I found out that the author lives in the same town that I work while stationed in the UK with my hubby! Which intrigued me even more to know that I could run into him anywhere. Being both to New York and London plus knowing a little background into the other places this book takes you, it is with such accuracy that I was amazed that this was written by only one man. Highly recommended!
False Impressions.......2007-08-29
Do you think you know how the art world works? Well, think again and then read False Impressions. You'll find a banker with a new way of building his collection.
A famous Van Gogh painting is up for grabs after the North Tower is destroyed in the 9/ll attack. The offices and papers of the bank that had a lien against it were destroyed but the banker was still determined to establish ownership.
But Anna Petrescu who had acted on the banker's behalf suddenly found herself without a job and wasn't sure why. Her firing made her suspicious of her ex-boss's intentions regarding the painting and she decided to take matters into her own hands.
At the same time, FBI agent Jack Delaney has been assigned the case being build against Anna's ex-boss and she comes under his watchful eye. He wonders whether she's acting for her ex-boss or herself when she takes flight for England to visit the owner of the painting.
A well-told, complicated tale of people moving in one direction, but each with his or her own purpose. The plot thickens when a new player begins to also follow Anna on her rather involed trip to Europe.
Anna is aware she is being followed, and takes steps to frustrate the person behind her, without realizing who he is or that another person has joined the chse.
Author Jeffrey Archer has used his vast imagination in creating complex characters and plots that meld together in a tale that will keep you reading. Plenty of action without the usual shoot-'em-ups, set in a series of well-drawn backgrounds with lifelike characters who live the story.
At times, the hair on the back of your neck will seem to rise when the villains you will love to hate come on the scene while you will will be hoping all the good characters come through the story with a whole skin.
Highly recommended as a story filled with all the things that make a fun read. You're sure to enjoy this book. I really did.
Deadline Writing?.......2007-08-20
When I first saw "False Impression" in the bookstores, I was thrilled, as I like Jeffrey Archer's writing style. Even though this was a fast read, I was somewhat disappointed. This was not the same Archer I was used to.
Though Archer's master way of writing hasn't changed, "False Impression" has a weak and predictable plot, fuelled by sensationalistic fillers. The cover of the novel would have us believe that "False Impression" is on par with "The Da Vinci Code", whereas unfortunately it doesn't even have the "The" of "The Da Vinci Code." Similarly patterned, "False Impression" has us follow a Romanian living in New York, running through Romania, England and other places, followed by a merciless assassin. Oh yes, the Romanian is a survivor of 9/11, for good measure.
The book gets three stars for readability and Archer's reputation only. Save your money, and buy an older Archer.
Good story line using 9/11 NYC.......2007-05-26
Set against the backdrop of New York City on 9/11 this is a good story and would make a good movie.
Just Okay.......2007-05-26
I am a great fan of Jeffrey Archer. I've read many of his books and generally find them spellbinding. But "False Impression" is just okay.
Like most Archer novels, the story moves along at a good clip. The "twists," however, are obvious. I was disappointed that there was never a surprise -- some shocking turn of events. I expected more given the other Archer books I've read.
If you're in an airport looking for something to pass the time on the plane, this will certainly do. But if you're looking for a thriller with masterful plot twists, then move on to something else. This book will only disappoint you.
Average customer rating:
- Nonsense
- Wow - is this book awful or what?
- A Weak Effort by Archer
- Couldn't Put it Down
- Sit and read
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False Impression
Jeffrey Archer
Manufacturer: St. Martin's Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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The Collectors
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Dead Watch
ASIN: 0312353723
Release Date: 2006-03-07 |
Book Description
When an aristocratic old lady is brutally murdered in her English country home on the night before September 11, 2001, it will take all the resources of the FBI and Interpol to work out the connection between her death and a stolen priceless Van Gogh, which is stolen that night. But in the end, it is a courageous young woman who escapes from the North Tower of the World Trade Center after the first plane crashes into the building who has the foresight and determination to take on both sides of the law and avenge the old lady's death. The young woman, Anna Petrescu, takes advantage of being missing and presumed dead in the days after 9/11 to escape from New York City, only to be pursued by both the FBI and a ruthless assassin across the globe, from Toronto to London, to Hong Kong, Tokyo and Bucharest. But it is only when she finally returns to New York that the mystery unravels. In his first thriller since The Eleventh Commandment, international bestselling author Jeffrey Archer takes the reader on a breathtaking journey, full of twists and turns, all leading back to the question of why so many people are willing to risk their lives to own Van Gogh's Self Portrait with Bandaged Ear. And it's not just because it could be worth one hundred million dollars.
Customer Reviews:
Nonsense.......2007-08-25
Mr Archer would have us believe that one day after the mass attacks on the US homeland, when no one knew what the goodness was going to happen next, the FBI still had a full surveillance team (6? 20? special agents) parked on Anna's apartment. Got steadily worse from then on.
Wow - is this book awful or what?.......2007-04-15
Add Jeffery Archer to the list of successful authors who have sullied their once good names. This novel is so bad it's embarrassing.
The use of the 9/11 terrorist attack on the World Trade Centre is frankly bizarre. Archer uses the 9/11 incident as a plot device to create the false impression that our heroine, Anna, perished in the attack and in order to re-route the delivery of a Van Gogh portrait that is pivotal to the plot. There is a significant disconnect between the gravity of the 9/11 attack and the art scam plot. After escaping from the WTC with her life Anna finds refuge with a friend. The two women briefly discuss how awful the attack was, and then proceed to devise plans to stop their boss from swindling an old lady (at the time they don't know she has been murdered). The two women's conversation and behavior is completely unnatural (after all, everyone they work with is now dead, the City is in chaos and the Nation is in mourning). The actions they take are inconceivable but are necessary to advance Archer's weak plot.
The dialogue in this novel is painfully bad, the characters are 2 dimensional, and Archer's prose is filled with some of the cheesiest similes ever put to paper. The plot itself has gaping holes in logic, is predictable, and tedious (chase scenes are reasonably entertaining on the big screen, but much less so on the written page).
With False Impressions Archer joins the ranks of authors like James Patterson (London Bridges) and Thomas Harris (Hannibal Rising) who would rather make a buck off their reputations, than write a decent novel.
A Weak Effort by Archer.......2007-04-04
FALSE IMPRESSION is, unfortunately, a pretty bad book. I've read hundreds of thrillers, and this is the weakest I've read in a while.
Archer spends little time developing his characters, all of whom little more than cardboard cutouts. The art theft plot is highly predictable, and seems to consist of an endless series of boring car and airport chases. Most of the dialogue in FALSE IMPRESSION is flat and unnatural, especially the painfully awkward romantic exchanges between two of the main characters.
There's some interesting information about art in FALSE IMPRESSION, but Archer makes no effort to integrate any of this data into the plot. Although this novel openly compares itself to THE DA VINCI CODE, it's nowhere near as informative or tightly plotted as Dan Brown's novel. In the end, I found this novel an uninteresting, unsatisfying experience.
You can do much better than this. Try thriller authors like Lee Child, Michael Connelly, Tess Gerritsen, and Greg Iles. They write stories that are far more absorbing and suspenseful than FALSE IMPRESSION.
Couldn't Put it Down.......2007-03-15
This is the first book I read by Archer, but I'm now hooked. I'm a huge fan of John Grisham books and, despite my disagreement with his convictions, I also enjoy Dan Brown. If you liked Davinci, you'll love this book as well. Characters are great, plot is unpredictable and the assassin is like none previous. Enjoy!
Sit and read.......2007-02-11
Albeit the book is very good and you won't be able to close it till you finish, it has some glitches e.g. how can any person cross the busiest Tokyo's street and suddenly goes down and take a grip under a limo and no one the wiser? How Feston knew where Anna was if the killer couldn't call him? Fenston is a fancy art collector and he doesn't know which ear was bandaged in Van Gogh's self portrait? And many more.
Of course these "mistakes" made the book a fast paced thriller. So watch for the errors and have a good read.
Average customer rating:
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False Impression
Jeffrey Archer
Manufacturer: Pan Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
General
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ASIN: 0330418823 |
Product Description
"False Impressions" by Archer
"At First Sight" by Sparks
"Sun at Midnight" by Thomas
"Cover Your Assets" by Smiley
Average customer rating:
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False Impressions
G. K. Kruszka
Manufacturer: Lbf Books Llc
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Contemporary
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ASIN: 0975453343 |
Book Description
Nineteen years ago, the Walker family home spawned a grotesque murder scene of deadly beatings, throat slashing, rape and sodomy. A five-year-old daughter disappeared that night, never to be found. An eleven-year-old son, rendered catatonic from the horror witnessed and unable to defend his subsequently professed innocence, was blamed and sent to a group home. Now, Michael Walker has returned to confront old community suspicions, and hires private detective Brianna Taylor to investigate the evil that still haunts his family home.
Customer Reviews:
Outstanding read!!.......2004-11-08
G.K. Kruszka may well become one of my new favorite authors if I can find another title by him/her. This is a great story and I ended up staying up into the wee hours of the morning to finish it. The writing is tight, the dialogue is believable and Kruszka is a great story teller. Give me more!!!
Michael Graves
Author of The Complete Guide to Networking and Network+
Average customer rating:
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False Impression (Center Point Platinum Fiction (Large Print))
Jeffrey Archer
Manufacturer: Center Point Large Print
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
Contemporary
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Women Sleuths
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ASIN: 1585477311 |
Product Description
False Impression
This is a page-turner about a stolen painting, and who's doing the stealing!
At First Sight
What happens after love at first sight?
Sun at Midnight
On an Antarctic expedition, Alice Peel took a secret along with her to this lonely place . . .
Cover Your Assets
Meet a fiesty L.A. business consultant who agrees to help an old friend in trouble and gets mixed up in a baffling murder . .
Average customer rating:
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Painting on Wood for Beginners (Fine Arts for Beginners)
Magda Guinovart
Manufacturer: Konemann
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
History & Criticism
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| Women in Art
Study & Teaching
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ASIN: 382906098X |
Book Description
Full-color photos. From baseball and football to archery and squash, "ancient and modern equipment, rules, and history are highlighted in Sports, an all-star winner for enthusiasts of the two dozen varieties covered through the sophisticated photo essay format. Featuring spectacular close-up photographs, this is an ideal attention grabber for reluctant readers and young teens."--(starred) Booklist.
Customer Reviews:
Sports Explained.......2005-10-22
Tim Hammond has organized the world of sports into sections for Soccer, Football, Rugby, Field Hockey, Ice Hockey, Basketball, Baseball, Cricket, Tennis, Table Tennis, Badminton, Squash, Racketball, Athletics, Gymnastics, Weightlifting, Boxing, Martial Arts, Fencing, Archery, Shooting, Bowling, Golf, Pool and Snooker. There is truly a sport for everyone.
We are not only introduced to how the games are played today, but there is a theme of the sport through the ages. You can see how leather studs were tacked onto the sole in early 20th-century shoes for playing soccer and then they show the interchangeable studs used in shoes today. If you are a soccer fan, then you can read about how soccer balls are made. They even have detailed pictures of how cricket bats are made and a full range of tennis rackets from the 1880s to today.
Each section gives you a vocabulary for the sport and there is a special section of "who's who" in sports. The glossary explains names like nunchaku. The index is useful for looking up specific sports fast.
~TheRebeccaReview.com
Great Book for Sports Nuts of all ages.......2000-04-23
I highly recommend this book for both readerly and non-readerly sport nuts.
Eyewitness Sports has provided both my sons, ages 5 and 2, with hours of reading pleasure. It provides pictures of "old" and "new" pieces of sports equipment along with photos of people playing the sports. The text gives enough information that it's interesting to read from the adult point of view, and the pix provide plenty of interest from the non-reader viewpoint.
This book is one of very few decent sports picture encyclopedia-type book that I've found for kids. Most of the other sports books, in my experience, focus only on one sport. Eyewitness Sports, however, provides readers (and non-readers) with info and pictures about a wide variety of sports from the vastly popular (basketball, baseball etc) to the vastly not (curling for example). :)
My kids love the Eyewitness series of books, and this edition is no exception. I highly recommend it for sports nuts of all ages.
Average customer rating:
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Outdoor Sports Photography Book
Robert McQuilkin
Manufacturer: Macmillan Pub Co
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
General
| Photography
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Photo Essays
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Photography
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ASIN: 0890372438 |
Product Description
Includes glossary and index.
Average customer rating:
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WANNA BE SMILED AT
Bil Keane
Manufacturer: Fawcett
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: 044913332X
Release Date: 1975-06-12 |
Average customer rating:
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Wanna Be Smiled At?
Bil Keane
Manufacturer: Gold Medal/Fawcett
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000Q55BQM |
Average customer rating:
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Wanna Be Smiled At?
Manufacturer: Fawcett Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000HF7TDY |
Average customer rating:
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Wanna Be Smiled at
Manufacturer: Fawcett Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Humor
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| Business
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| Cats, Dogs & Animals
| Comedy
| Computers & Internet
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ASIN: 9991955933 |
Books:
- Frank Stella: Paintings 1958 to 1965 : A Catalogue Raisonne
- Gordon Matta-Clark: "You Are the Measure" (Whitney Museum of American Art)
- Growing Old Is Not for Sissies II: Portraits of Senior Athletes
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
- Holy Image, Hallowed Ground (Getty Trust Publications: J. Paul Getty Museum)
- How I Paint: Secrets of a Sunday Painter
- How to Draw Heads and Portraits (Watson-Guptill Artists Library)
- How to Draw Manga Compiling Application and Practice, Vol. 3
- Image on the Edge: The Margins of Medieval Art (Reaktion Books - Essays in Art and Culture)
Books Index
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Making the Mummies Dance : Inside the Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Art Forgers Handbook
Master Pieces: The Curator's Game
The Expert versus the Object: Judging Fakes and False Attributions in the Visual Arts
The Rescue Artist : A True Story of Art, Thieves, and the Hunt for a Missing Masterpiece
