Pierre Brassau

In 1964, Swedish journalist Åke "Dacke" Axelsson pulled off an amazing hoax. He exhibited a series of paintings made by a chimpanzee, under the pretense that they were the work of a previously unknown French artist named "Pierre Brassau". The paintings were praised by critics, with one writing that "Brassau paints with powerful strokes, but also with clear determination. His brush strokes twist with furious fastidiousness. Pierre is an artist who performs with the delicacy of a ballet dancer." After the hoax was revealed, one critic still insisted that Peter's work was "still the best painting in the exhibition."