The Devil Wears Rothko - by Barry Avrich (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

The Devil Wears Rothko charts the explosive demise of Knoedler Gallery, one of New York's oldest and most prestigious art galleries, with detailed and salacious insight into the art fraud scandal of the century.

The Devil Wears Rothko charts the explosive demise of Knoedler Gallery, one of New York's oldest and most prestigious art galleries, with detailed and salacious insight into the art fraud scandal of the century.

From the moment an eccentric woman walked into the Knoedler Gallery with a Mark Rothko painting, everyone was fooled. For the next ten years, she ran an $80 million forgery ring, selling or consigning forty expertly crafted counterfeits claimed to be the works of Robert Motherwell, Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, and others.

Director of the acclaimed documentary Made You Look (2020) streamed on Netflix, Barry Avrich reveals new information, evidence, and inside stories about how a quixotic art dealer, master forger, and two cunning con artists managed to fool billionaire art collectors, journalists, and esteemed art appraisers. By the time the house of cards finally fell, the Knoedler Gallery and a dozen collectors had been tricked into buying over $80 million in fake art.

Could it happen again? The Devil Wears Rothko exposes the art world as a fragile system of relationships vulnerable to manipulation by the most captivating artists of our time: con artists.

Review Quotes

"The Devil Wears Rothko is a breezy, gossipy tale about greed and gullibility in the world of great art, a world as shadowed by fraud as the canyons of Wall Street--and a world that documentary maestro Barry Avrich knows as well as an artist knows a favorite canvas. The vivid characters who sashay through this story lend a new dimension to the term "rogue's gallery."--Diana B. Henriques, New York Times journalist and author of The Wizard of Lies: Bernie Madoff and the Death of Trust

"The Devil Wears Rothko is a deep dive into a fascinating story of greed and duplicity in the art. A must-read for those interested in true crime, art forgery and the lines people will cross to get what they want."--B.A. Shapiro, New York Times best-selling author of The Art Forger

"Hold your breath! This is a story about chaos. Avrich nails it.
The players are clever, ruthless charlatans hell-bent on deception and profit.
Start reading this book, and you will not put it down until you are finished, at which point you might just read it again."--Jon S. Dellandrea, author of The Great Canadian Art Fraud Case, The Group of Seven, and Tom Thomson Forgeries

"The underside of the art world with a cast of characters worthy of a B-movie. A riveting true crime scandal."--Don Thompson, author of The $12 Million Stuffed Shark and The Orange Balloon Dog

"This book is both a scholarly and deliciously gossipy companion to Avrich's fascinating movie on the biggest art fraud of the 20th century. It chronicles a riveting cast of scoundrels, dupes, and billionaires through the scandal that shook the art market and shuttered the venerable Knoedler Gallery after more than a century. It is a fascinating history wrapped around a great con--essential reading to understand not only the crazy art market but the true nature of greed and gullibility. A great read."--Jane Stanton Hitchcock, New York Times bestselling author, playwright, and screenwriter

"With The Devil Wears Rothko, Barry Avrich has produced yet another terrific examination of the truly historic art crime that brought down the country's oldest art galleries. He gets to the root of the crime and, in doing so, serves up the ultimate caveat emptor."--Anthony Amore, best-selling author of The Art of The Con and The Rembrandt Heist

About the Author

Barry Avrich is a veteran documentary filmmaker and producer that has directed and produced over fifty films including Made You Look, Born Hungry, Prosecuting Evil, Blurred Lines, and David Foster: Off The Record. Avrich has authored five books including Moguls, Monsters and Madmen (2017) and built the world's first movie theater in a hospital.