The real story of a Genuine Fake

"Getting dragged into this world of crime excited me and I decided to go with that feeling."

John Myatt, a former Staffordshire farm boy, perpetrated what Scotland Yard called 'the biggest art fraud of the 20th century.'

His knack for replicating the brush strokes of Matisse and other legendary artists, combined with accomplice John Drewe's gift for manipulation, made the pair rich and together they sold around 200 forgeries.

Myatt, now 69 years of age and back living in the county, made an estimated £275,000 through selling forgeries of paintings by the masters of his craft.

He ended up serving four months of a one year sentence in Brixton prison, while Drewe served a third of his six year sentence.

He said: "My time in prison isn't something I let bother me every day but it was really grim.

"It did make me realise, however, that life isn't just movement from A to B.

"Sometimes you go from A to Z and have to work your way back to B.

"These unexpected side steps are as much a part of life as the traditional growing up and making a family side of things."

For Myatt, an only child from Eccleshall who would tirelessly draw when given a break from duties on his parents farm, the world of art crime was an escape from the mundane trappings of middle age.

It was also a way to provide for his own children, Aimee and Sam, after his first wife left the family.

He was working as a supply teacher at Frank F Harrison school in Bloxwich but felt he needed to do more to provide for the children.

He said: "I put an ad in Private Eye saying 'Genuine fakes, £150' to see if anyone wanted to buy these copies I had been doing.

"Offers started coming in and I managed to pay the rent, cover my bills and keep the children in shoes and clothes.

"Then John told me that he had taken one of my paintings into Christies auction house.

"I sold it him for £200 for it but they valued it at £25,000.

"He asked if I wanted half of the money, which of course I did.

"Had I stopped after that I would have been fine.

"When you reach your 40s you look back on your life and ask yourself what have I really done?

"I was obviously proud of my children but I felt like things were stagnating for me a little.

"I just let things carry on and got caught up in this whirlwind."

On his release from prison, Myatt had decided he would never paint again, but the police officer who arrested him commissioned him to paint a portrait of his family.

Within six months, he was making a legitimate living from his art.

He said: "The day after I had been released, I was getting ready to go and look for work when the officer who had arrested me called me up.

"He told me I would be wasting my talent by looking for regular work and despite what I had done, my talent shouldn't be lost.

"He offered me £5,000 to do a portrait of his family and said he would put me in touch with other people, officers, barristers, who would like something similar.

"In six months I had £16,000 in the bank."

While Myatt's time making big money through forgeries was a source of excitement, nothing gives him as much joy as art itself.

He has recently produced 'Fake', a new collection of 47 original works which showcase the incredible attention to detail that has allowed his career to be a success after his conviction.

They include a bold geometric Joan Miró, an impasto of a Claude Monet, and, for the first time, a piece inspired by Roy Lichtenstein.

Each is signed off with Myatt's own copy of the original artists signature and branded a 'Genuine Fake'.

He said: "These aren't all necessarily straight up copies.

"For example, if I am walking around and see a set of clouds that really take my breath away, I will work those clouds into a Monet.

"These paintings are mine just as much as they are his."

The Fake exhibition has just finished a run at Wolverhampton Castle Galleries, whose manager Mark Horton said it was an 'honour' to host Myatt's work.

The exhibition and others like it make high quality art accessible to ordinary people, something which Myatt says is essential.

He believes the price of art has gone too far and that the quality of teaching has dipped since he left college.

He said: "There aren't enough artists in this country making money so I would hesitate to say anything too negative but you can't just put a tap in a gallery, shine a light on it and call it art.

"The money surrounding conceptual art is ridiculous and it something I feel very strongly against.

"When it was time for me to leave school I told my parents I didn't want to go to university and that Stafford Art College was where I wanted to go.

"They understood and said they could see why that made sense to me, they never stood in my way.

"That is important because a knock back from your parents can do a world of damage to your confidence.

"It was the 60s, it was The Beatles and The Rolling Stones, we were all young men and women, but the education was fantastic.

"They really concentrated on teaching you your craft and actually teaching you to draw, which they don't do so much now.

"It was just as I got out that conceptual art moved into the forefront, which is something I am not really keen on.

"I feel I got out at the right time."

Over the last decade, Myatt has been the subject of various documentaries and hosted a number of his ownTV shows.

He remarried in 2001, has four grand children and works from a studio at his home in South Staffordshire.

His work is commissioned by Castle Galleries and he spends as much free time as he can working on new pieces for them to exhibit.

He said: "My life right now is pretty perfect for me.

"I paint in my studio at home, take them to the guys at Castle Galleries when I think they are ready and they say if they can do something with it or not.

"Everyone is great at what they do and it takes any pressures off me so I am free to focus solely on the work.

"Being back in Staffordshire is brilliant for me too, it is such a beautiful place, one of Britain's best kept secrets."