Van Gouh was an artist with amateurish talent, but his paintings sold for millions. Stick figure men, mostly.
Critic Peter Souse felt the art world, pretentious as it was, needed a fraud, provided Van Gouh, and advanced his career.
Only when Souse, envious of his own creation, flooded the market with his own stick figure men -did the former friends became bitter rivals. Art critics debated who was the worse of the two.
The market for Gouh’s and Souce’s collapsed; each died penniless.
The stick figure men went on to have a minor but long-lasting role in children’s art.
