Eric Hebborn

Hello My Favorite Princesses!

 

I hope this finds you well!  Auntie Paula is not amused today, as it is almost her birthday – and springtime! – and they are predicting ANOTHER six inches of snow tomorrow.  I am thinking about convincing your uncle to take me for one last snow tubing trip this Saturday, though, so at least that’s something good to come out of more snow!

 

Regardless, in honor of my birthday (I LOVE birthdays – YAY CAKE!), I decided I would look today for an artist who was also born on March 20…and as I looked, I saw a note that said “Eric Hebborn – artist/faker” was born on March 20, 1934.  And that seemed interesting enough to be worth taking a look –after all, we’re all fakers about something or another at some point in our lives, so I wanted to see what he faked that was significant enough that it got permanently attached to his name!

 

So Eric had a pretty tough childhood (that’s a bit of an understatement), but was lucky enough to realize he had some talent for art.  He actually started exhibiting art seriously when he was just 15 years old!  He was getting to be a bit known for his work when he went to work for an art restorer…someone who fixes old paintings that had faded or gotten dirty to make them look again how they looked in the first place…but this art restorer told Eric to maybe “improve” them a bit…and then eventually he would give him blank canvases and have him “restore” pieces that weren’t there at all!   And that was really what Eric did best – he didn’t just copy old art like most forgers, he made new pieces of art that were in the same style as someone famous, and then the experts would say it was the other person that created them!

 

After a bit, Eric started working on his own, and would buy pieces of really old paper to create forgeries on (because if he did it on new paper, you’d be able to tell!)…and that was actually how he got caught – someone noticed the paper was the same on two works from supposedly different old masters who lived in different places!

 

It might have worked out ok for Eric if he hadn’t been such a jerk about things.  He started telling everyone how great he was and identifying all kinds of things that were maybe his, maybe not, as his work, and challenging the “experts” to identify which things he had done (basically calling them idiots); he even wrote two books called “The Art Forgers Handbook” and “Drawn to Trouble” (love that title!)…and then, he was MURDERED! So maybe it was not such a good plan to brag about being the worlds best faker.

 

But all that makes him a fairly interesting man!  Plus he was born on my birthday, so he rules. J

Below is a picture of him working, and the cover of his book, which I think is a hoot.

 

In any case, know that I love you and think that you’re awesome!

Hugs and kisses,

Auntie Paula

XOXOXOXOXO