Con Artists

In the last blog I wrote I mentioned a few films by Orson Welles; I forgot to mention one of my favourites of his, not fictional but a documentary (sort of). "F for Fake", says a review, "is about the nature of reality, celebrity and art." I'm not so sure about that. Welles always gives the impression that he is deeply serious about things when he is talking, being himself, not acting, but I wonder if, as in this film, he has anything profound to say about "the nature of reality, celebrity and art"; nonetheless it is an entertaining work with characters in it who are less than real in that they may be role-playing, certainly celebrities in a criminal way and not so much artists as con artists.
One is Clifford Irving whose fame rests on a fake biography of Howard Hughes, the film producer (and flyer). Another is Elmyr de Hory, a forger of famous artists's paintings - though he never copied other painters' works but invented works in their style. And sold them, through agents, for lots of money (his agents, naturally, pocketing the most).
They are an engaging pair of rogues. Why is it that rogues are usually more interesting than ordinary people? Can't answer that but I do believe that there is a general fascination with rogues such as these who can pull fast ones on establishment figures who set themselves up to experts.
One of the most amusing features of this film is the fact that most of the information that was obtained about Elmyr de Hory came from a biography by none other than Clifford Irving. Elmyr de Hory was a living person alright; I know that because he was in the film..... Mmmm! What can you believe? Was he real? Or was Orson Welles pulling a fast one on us?
On the subject of forged paintings it was said that Cezanne painted about 120 works, 200 of which are in the USA.