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1970: Ex-wife Margaret Keane, goaded by a radio host, reveals that Walter's been selling her work as his own for more than a decade. She repeats this to a reporter, who arranges a paint-off for the two. Walter never shows. Remarkably, not much comes of ithttps://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2014/12/25/Margaret-Keane-says-she-told-Big-Eyes-truth-on-spur-of-the-moment/9581419269643/ …
1984: Walter makes a critical mistake — he tells a USA Today writer that Margaret is claiming credit for his work because she believes him to be dead, implying that she's after his legacy.pic.twitter.com/OoOrGs8Wki
1986: Margaret, apparently not satisfied to be publicly gaslit forever, takes Walter *and* USA Today to court. The judge brilliantly requests that both artists paint. Walter doesn't even make an attempt, claiming his shoulder is injured. His canvas remains blank.
Margaret, on the other hand, produces an archetypal Keane in 53 minutes. She titles it "Exhibit 224."pic.twitter.com/VW6KAoKeAZ
Walter Keane is cooked at this point. Nobody has actually seen him paint, though for years they *believed they had.* Look at all these photos of Walter Keane painting!pic.twitter.com/SI8WOztnkb
IMO there are solid lessons here about great con men. One is that they'll produce a lot of stuff-that-looks-like-evidence; it doesn't require the skills they're claiming but looks like it confirms them. Like the photos — there's a "big eye" painting & Walter with brush to canvas.
Another: Margaret tried to teach Walter to paint, but apparently he developed no skill whatsoever. I think it's fair to say that with the time he had (10+ years!), nearly anyone could reproduce a *plausible* Keane (the critics are right — they're formulaic).pic.twitter.com/HyqdpgZXG4
It's crazy to me that anyone in this deep wouldn't make more of an effort to learn to *do* the thing they're famous for, but there you have it. Walter Keane couldn't paint any more than Uri Geller could bend spoons with his mind, but rarely did anyone *actually* ask that of them.
Aside: my favorite fraudster of all time is Ferdinand Waldo Demara, who at one point *claimed to be a surgeon* and actually performed a number of major surgeries — successfully(!!!) — after a rushed consultation with a textbook. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinand_Waldo_Demara …pic.twitter.com/haphdoWgJd
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