AUSTRALIAN HOAX SPREADS TO NEW YORK ART WORLD

After  this  blog  recently  posted  a   piece  about  Australia’s   Ern  Malley  literary hoax , involving Max  Harris , Geoffrey Dutton  and  Sidney Nolan, it  was  surprising  to  hear   on   the  ABC  in the  wee  small  hours  of  a  restless night  that  the  deception  has   been mentioned  in  this  latest    novel    by   Siri Hustvedt.  It   tells  how  an  embittered    woman , now  dead,  had  pulled   a  hoax on  the  New York  art  world  at the end of the  20^th century . Feeling  that  she   had   been  the  victim of   lifelong  cultural  misogyny  and rejection  of  her artwork  because of  her sex, she  got  three male  friends to  pretend  her  artwork  is  theirs . During  an   interview  with  the author, ABC  Books and  Arts presenter , Michael Cathcart , brought out  the  unexpected  fact  that   the  Ern Malley hoax  gets  a  mention in the  novel. How did she  become aware of  Ern Malley, he   asked . Laughing,  Siri  said   she  was   probably informed  of  the  wonderful  hoax  by  Australian  author  Peter Carey, who  lives  in  New York. So there you are , nearly   70  years  later , Ern Malley strikes  again , this  time  in  the  Big Apple .