All That Glitters
A Story of Friendship, Fraud, and Fine Art
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- 11,99 €
Description de l’éditeur
A dazzling insider’s account of the contemporary art world and the stunning rise and fall of the charismatic American art dealer Inigo Philbrick, as seen through the eyes of his friend and fellow dealer
In development as a series for HBO
Orlando Whitfield and Inigo Philbrick met in 2006 at London’s Goldsmiths University where they became best friends. By 2007 they had started I&O Fine Art.
Orlando would eventually set up his own gallery and watch as Inigo quickly immersed himself in a world of private jets and multimillion-dollar deals for major clients. Inigo seemed brilliant, but underneath the extravagant façade, his complicated financial schemes were unraveling. With debt, lawsuits, and court summonses piling up, Inigo went into a tailspin of lies and subterfuge. At around the same time, Orlando would himself experience a nervous breakdown and leave the art world for good. By 2019 things had spiraled enough out of control for Inigo to flee to the remote island nation of Vanuatu, 300 miles west of Fiji. Within a year, he was arrested by the FBI and extradited to America, where he was sentenced to seven years in prison for having committed more than $86 million in fraud.
All That Glitters is at once a shocking and compulsive story of ambition and downfall, a cautionary tale, and an intimate portrait of friendship and its loss.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Former art dealer Whitfield skillfully blends memoir and true crime in this immersive account of his relationship with art fraudster Inigo Philbrick. Whitfield first met Philbrick at Goldsmiths University in 2006. The two became fast friends, launching an art dealership together in 2007. Early on, Whitfield noticed the charismatic Philbrick's need to "always be in possession of one trump card," which often led him to tell small lies to close deals or secure relationships. After a few years in business together, the pair began working separately but remained close, and Philbrick's deceptions started to balloon—he began inventing fictitious buyers and selling multiple shares of individual pieces at wildly inflated prices. After Whitfield's substance abuse and mental illness led him to retire, he learned about the scale of Philbrick's schemes; in 2019, with investigators closing in, Philbrick made headlines for fleeing to the island of Vanuatu to seek asylum. He was eventually arrested by the FBI and extradited to the U.S., where he pled guilty to defrauding collectors out of more than $80 million. Whitfield vividly captures the surreal contours of the art world—where buyers spend hefty sums on paintings made from M&Ms—and convincingly highlights how its absurdity helped cover Philbrick's tracks for so long. The result is a rollicking up-close look at a fascinating con.
