The Woman With Fifty Faces: Maria Lani & The Greatest Art Heist That Never Was

by Jonathan Lackman, Zachary James Pinson (illustrator)

On April 7, 1928, Maria Lani blew into Paris claiming to be a famous German actress and proceeded to seduce the cultural elite with her undeniable charisma and strangely enticing enigmatic aura. She persuaded fifty artists —Pierre Bonnard, Marc Chagall, André Derain, Henri Matisse, Georges-Henri Rouault, Fernand Léger and Suzanne Valadon among them— to immortalize her in paintings and sculptures, which would appear as an important plot device in a forthcoming film. Unveiled as an exhibition in New York, the art works traveled to Chicago, London, Berlin, Rotterdam, and Paris. But, in 1931, as legend eventually had it, she and her husband Max Abramowicz vanished without a trace, and so did the art. The film was never made.
The Woman With Fifty Faces is about uncovering as much of the truth about Maria Lani as possible. The images that cascade through the book are stunningly beautiful, deeply compassionate, and farcically grotesque, capturing the essence of Lani’s life. From Poland’s antisemitic pogroms to the vulgar glamour and decadence of 1920s Paris to the Nazi occupation of France in the ‘40s, the tumultuous Europe Lani traverses becomes nearly as much of a character as Lani herself. Jon Lackman spent two decades researching Lani's life and Zachary J. Pinson spent 5,000 hours putting pen to paper. The result is a masterful collaboration about identity and the power and limits of reinvention.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Nonfiction, Biography, Art, History, Historical

232 pages, Hardcover

Published July 22, 2025

Reviews

[Joanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Woman with Fifty Faces tells the fascinating “origin” story of Maria Lani, a woman who arguably conned her way into immortality by persuading 50 prominent artists—including Matisse, Chagall, and Rouault—to paint her portrait. Maria falsely portrayed herself as a famous German actress commissioning the portraits for a film project, but the truth was far more complex: she was a Polish Jew struggling to survive in prewar Europe and under the Nazi occupation of France, alongside her husband, another Jewish man.

The story unfolds through stunningly rendered inked panels, each one a work of art in its own right. The illustrations range from hauntingly aesthetic to grotesque, perfectly complementing the intrigue and prejudices of Maria’s life. The idea that the film project—reportedly intended to star Greta Garbo—was never completed feels like a lost opportunity. This is a story that demands a film project about the film project; it’s that compelling.

[Greg Del · Rating 5 out of 5]

Haunting and well written story with the art to match.

[Laura Zacks · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was fortunate to have the chance to read a digital ARC of this gorgeous graphic nonfiction narrative. It reminds me of some of my favorite graphic nonfiction books, including Ken Krimstein’s work. I was not familiar with Maria Lani and her story, which is fascinating. Jon Lackman’s prose is poetic and engaging and tells the reader just enough about Lani to keep the reader hooked while maintaining the sense of mystery that Lani herself cultivated. The art is absolutely amazing, giving the book a cinematic feel. This is the kind of book that demands to be re-read. I also can’t wait to get my hands on the actual hardcover book when it’s published because I think the drawings, paired with the writing, will be even more moving and haunting in a real live book. Highly recommended.

[Elizabeth Tuttle · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a fantastically strange piece of history!

Maria Lani's story is so compelling in part because while so many artists were drawn into her orbit, she herself has gone pretty much unresearched until Lackman. Even today, there still exists a draft of her memoir somewhere out there that has not been found.

As a character she is both ordinary and extraordinary. She could have accepted a mediocre lot in life but instead strived for artistic renown, seemingly genuinely in her desire to be involved in film. While her film dreams were never realized, her life itself was quite the performance.

What makes this nonfiction graphic novel so appealing is the art. Pinson's style honors the mystery of Maria Lani while simultaneously capturing the intensity of her appeal. Ordinarily I'm not a big fan of graphic novels, but this one sure was a unique reading experience.

[Marc Baizman · Rating 5 out of 5]

A moving depiction of a woman with a mysterious past. The writing is fantastic, as her life story is something that feels (and may be) untrue, but the illustrations really elevate this to a true work of art. I was fortunate enough to read an advance copy, and I was absolutely blown away. Do yourself a favor and read this, and see what you think of Maria Lani, and her story.

[Lola Hart · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was lucky enough to get an advanced copy of this book, and I finished it in one sitting. Once I started reading I couldn’t look away! What a dramatic and compelling story of a mysterious woman. Very cinematic. The art and writing styles paired together in a lovely way. Will be rereading!

[Daria Orlowska · Rating 1 out of 5]

I had a really hard time with this one. I wasn't a fan of the way the artist rendered faces, and the story felt disjointed to me. It was supposed to be about Maria Lani, but we barely see her face or hear from her directly throughout the entire story. We keep hearing about her dream to be an actress but just see the two men in her life drive the narrative, to the point where it was unclear to me what her actual dream was and why the men were so invested in it. The whole premise of "one women painted by over 50 artists" was interesting, but the narrative mostly focused on Cocteau and his feeling about not being able to capture Lani in his art. There was an attempt to situate the action within the time period by including historical events, but it felt rushed, messy, and unsuccessful. Who was this written for?

[Izzy Pilares · Rating 4 out of 5]

What better way to tell a story about works of art by making your own work of art? The illustrations were eerie and nightmarish despite the glamorous life that Maria Lani led in the public eye which was a fascinating juxtaposition. This was clearly a well-researched and beautifully illustrated labor of love - highly recommend.

[doowopapocalypse · Rating 2 out of 5]

Arc from NetGalley.

I can’t escape feeling unsatisfied with this book.

[Nicholaus Patnaude · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was able to check out the first 100 pages of this from NetGalley. It’s a really beautifully rendered, pencil-scratchy impressionistic slow glimpse into history. The art is wholly original, breathtakingly evocative and an emotional slow journey. You really feel the sadness, desperation, and inspiration of the genesis of an actress. I did not want this preview to end and was especially fascinated with the way it rendered Jean Cocteau. Something about the way this is drawn allows you to see the characters’ internal struggles and their dreams toward idealized transformations. I want to read the rest!

[Rick Ray · Rating 2 out of 5]

The story of Maria Lani, a German film star from the 1920s, who works with many of Berlin's fashion and art titans to complete an exhibition of 50+ paintings and sculptures depicting her likeness. Years after her passing in 1954, accounts of her fraudulent claim to fame became more widely known, and questions as to how Lani convinced so many of her fame arose. The enigma behind Maria Lani was never fully elucidated, so here writer Jonathan Lackman attempts to demystify Lani's supposed celebrity. Lackman states that his research into Lani has spanned a decade, and the ensuing collaboration with artist Zachary Pinson presents The Woman With Fifty Faces summarizes Lackman's research and postulations that fill in gaps in accounts.

Much of the account comes from known facts about Lani's early life, such as her childhood in Poland where antisemitic tensions were developing rapidly. Eventually meeting her husband Maximilian Abramowicz, the pair would move around a lot until they would eventually escape the eventual German annexation by fleeing to the United States in 1941. A fairly detailed narrative spanning many years, it does have a bit of a discontinuous aspect to it since much of Lani's life is fairly speculative. Pinson adds to the enigma by keeping Lani's face obscured throughout - a creative choice that is both intriguing and frustrating. So while the legend of Maria Lani is preserved throughout, the reader has little to connect with on with her character, a challenging choice by the creators since the story is very much framed with her as the central figure.

Pinson's artwork is great, undoubtedly. The hatch work and shading adds a layer of aura to Maria Lani's mythos and imbues a moodiness to the story. Unfortunately, the scattered plotting and disconnected characterization makes for a rather uneven reading experience. The underlying mystery still remains quite intriguing, but I can't say this book really did it justice.

[Ankit Saxena · Rating 1 out of 5]

★☆☆☆☆ Disjointed and Disappointing

"The Woman With Fifty Faces" by Jonathan Lackman promises complexity and intrigue but delivers confusion and pretension instead. What should have been a layered exploration of identity ends up as a muddled mess of pseudo-intellectual meandering. The narrative lacks cohesion, the characters are shallow despite their supposed multiplicity, and the prose often feels more like it's trying to impress than to express. Lackman's overindulgence in metaphor and fragmented storytelling sacrifices emotional depth and clarity. By the end, I felt like I had read fifty disconnected ideas rather than a single compelling story. Hugely underwhelming. There are few mistakes as well. I the intro the Author's name was Jon Lankman and not Jon Lackman. In addition this is only sampled 99 pages and not a complete 232 pages comic book as mentioned on NetGalley or other websites. Sketchy art was good but expressions were so bad.

My NetGalley review

[Elle · Rating 1 out of 5]

Maria Lani is such an interesting person for a biography graphic novel. Yet, the illustrations accompanying the text were lackluster. (DNF - pg 100 due to only partial ARC provided)

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

My thanks to NetGalley and Fantagraphics Books for an advanced sampler of this forthcoming graphic novel that looks at two characters who took the art world of Paris by storm in the late 1920's and early 1930's, pretending to be people they were not and in turn taking making of those attracted to them for fools.

I knew a young woman once who worked in a bookstore that seemed just a little too good to be true. Katrina, I will call her, was like that Velvet Underground song I'll Be Your Mirror. Everyone seemed to project on to Katrina want they wanted from her. Good worker, smart, funny, some thought she was cute, some thought she was more than that. During an overnight getting Thanksgiving I think ready I got to talking with her, and for some reason she started telling me about her life. God it was miserable, and I knew I was in rare company for I could see Katrina wasn't a person who shared. Pretended yes, reflected yes, and a bit of a user, yes. I could see that Katrina had just gotten used to not showing anything, letting others take the lead, and getting what she could from them. Survival I think was her first instinct. She quit the Friday before Christmas, leaving us a bit in the lurch, but I knew she had her reasons. Probably wanted a discount for Christmas gifts, as the one thing true about her was that she was a reader. Reading this graphic novel I thought a lot of Katrina, and could see why a person would become someone new. And look so different even to artists trained to see what lies beneath the surface. The woman in this graphic novel was also a mirror. The Woman With Fifty Faces: Maria Lani & The Greatest Art Heist That Never Was written by Jon Lackman with art by Zachary James Pinson is the story about a woman, the art scene, an art scam, and what happened after.

Maria Lani was born in Poland at the turn of the 20th century in an area that talked about being tolerant about the presence of Jews in the country, but was not. The area was known for pogroms, or riots for an any given reason, which cause the Lani family to move a few times, but always with the fear that things could get worse. Lani also had problems with her family, and grew up with a lot of feelings of inadequacy and fear. Lani met her husband as she allowed him to enter a play written by Jean Cocteau, the famous playwright, poet and author., After an odd courtship Lani left for Paris with her new husband. Lani claimed to be a silent film star in Germany, which she had tried, but was too old for, so she changed her birthday to be younger. Setting up in Paris the couple met with Cocteau and became enmeshed in his circle. There was talk of a movie. Great artists wanted to paint her portrait, to try and put on paper what was so elusive in the real world. Over fifty artists gave it a chance, creating different works featuring Maria Lani. Than things got weird.

I had never heard the story of Maria Lani, probably because so many people were taken in by her. The story is sad, as is the ending, but really quite fascinating and interesting. One can see the poor woman just wanted to feel safe somewhere, not just physically but financially, where thugs and gangs wouldn't burn her out, or destroy her life for her religion. There is alot that might trigger some people in the writing, especially since most people are not used to the casual anti-semitism that was so prevalent in Europe. While the writing is good, the art really makes this story, carrying it along in woodblock looking prints, that tell so much about what is going on, while making readers stop to take in everything in the picture.

A real lesson in what graphic novels can do. Telling a story from the past, a story few know anything about and making it fresh and new. A real wonder, and one that I quite enjoyed.

[(Tracy's) Book Balderdash · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bleak and dark in a distinctly Slavic way. As someone with a Polish family, I appreciated the focus on an interesting piece of Polish history.

The scenery panels are darkly beautiful. The drawings of people are unsettling caricatures—particularly the men’s faces. Stylized. Meta at points.
It was the appropriate length for the tone, I think, which made it readable.

It feels like the kind of graphic novel one might be assigned in a college course—good for more traditional academics and/or history/art people.
There is a... hm... vagueness? about it that I associate with academia. It has no clear endpoint. The emotional journey was unsettling and uncomfortable, and the ugliness of the illustrated faces is only interesting so many times. (Everything in a review is personal, but this point especially.)

I think it accomplished something better than many bleak (perhaps a bit dull), scholar-praised graphic novels and short stories: it ended quickly. This is a get-in, convey-your-strange-bleak-ambiguous-illustrated-biography, and get-out before you remind us too deeply why we didn’t all stay in academia.

[Ingrid Stephens · Rating 4 out of 5]

On April 7, 1928, Maria Lani blew into Paris, claiming to be a famous German actress and proceeded to seduce the cultural elite with her undeniable charisma and strangely enticing enigmatic aura. She persuaded fifty artists —Pierre Bonnard, Marc Chagall, André Derain, Henri Matisse, Georges-Henri Rouault, Fernand Léger and Suzanne Valadon among them— to immortalize her in paintings and sculptures, which would appear as an important plot device in a forthcoming film.

I admit I've never heard of Lani, but her story is fascinating.   I found the art a mix or beautiful and disturbing.  So many were like scenes from a nightmare, and I suppose that is exactly what they are.

I'm looking forward to reading the actual book after this sample from Netgalley.
Recommended.  Expected publishing date July 22, 2025

Thanks to @netgalley and   Fantagraphics Books | Fantagraphics for the opportunity to read this eArc in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion.

[Ange ⚕ angethology · Rating 4 out of 5]

An aspiring film actress, Maria Lani pretended to be a star and managed to persuade over 50 artists to draw her, including Cocteau, Matisse and Chagall. She is a person I hadn't really heard of before, and yet she has been immortalized in seminal paintings and sculptures through her "ruse."

Maria Lani was a Polish Jew living in a time where pogroms and antisemitism in general were rife, and the art in the novel encapsulated the dreary atmosphere, but cinematically too, in black-and-white— presenting Maria's charm and beauty back then. The style is also characterized by caricatures which I think fit the tone and register of the biography.

It's hard to judge a 100-page sampler fully but I would give it 3.75 to 4 stars out of 5 based on what I've read and seen. Definitely an important biography that I feel more people should be more exposed to.

Thank you Fantagraphics and NetGalley for the partial eARC, all opinions are my own.

[Emi Yoshida · Rating 4 out of 5]

As the subtitle describes, the greatest art heist (and celebrity disappearance) of 20th century Europe was actually the work of a Polish con artist couple. I devoured this historic mystery in graphic form, and will continue returning to look over the art and details again and again. With each perusal more of this amazing story comes to light - different perspectives from various artists' work crystalize and become recognizable, and with focus chaotic timelines of war and economics align and illuminate. The art of Zachary J Pinson, research of author Jon Lackman, and genius of Mr and Mrs Max and Maria Abramowicz are all outstanding.

I thank Fantagraphics Books and NetGalley for the preview galley on Kindle, and will definitely get myself a proper version of the complete book soonest. Publisher release is scheduled for July 22, 2025.

[Ben · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. Pinson's art is gorgeously weird — faces and bodies are rendered as elastic and pockmarked and monstrous — which makes the absence of Maria Lani's face all the more compelling. It's not giving away too much to say that her face is shrouded throughout, so that the only full views we get of her are those rendered by the many artists to whom she was a "muse." And that to me was the real genius of Lackman's writing: he reveals the degree to which each of those male artists was not in fact looking at Lani, the subject, but rather using her as a vehicle to represent their own anxiety, or lust, or vanity... the list of their real subjects goes on, but it does not include her.

This was a fantastic read that made me think a lot more about how women show up in art through the centuries. Can't recommend it highly enough!

[lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had never heard of this story, and it was fascinating. The artwork is a little grotesque and rarely focused much on Maria's face (I assume because anyone can google all her portraits) and I wish there was a little more written about the constant movement of Jewish people in the early part of the 20th century as they struggled to escape persecution, and how hard that it made for them to establish their art. I also wish there was more talked about the relationship between artist and model, and how different artists seemed to bring out different sides of her. (It's briefly referenced, but I would have liked to hear more, especially since the author is an art critic.) Despite these small nitpicks, I really liked learning about this woman who I had never heard of.

[EuroHackie · Rating 2 out of 5]

A very odd graphic novel about the life and times of Maria Lani and her husband, Max Abramowicz, who were exactly what Jean Cocteau decried them as (con artists and thieves), but who had a whole other side to themselves: helping ferry Jewish people out of Europe during WWII, entertaining the troops at the Stage Door Canteen, and making their fake movie an almost-reality. It's this other side that the author/artist bring to life in this oversized book.

I did not like the art style and found the story a bit hard to follow at times. This felt like it was trying to hard to be literary and tell an intriguing story, when I didn't really see any evidence that Maria and Max weren't who Cocteau said they were. We all contain multitudes.

[Curious Madra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thanks Netgalley and publisher for granting my wish to read this interesting graphic novel!

It’s actually intriguing that there was such a real person like Maria Lani who got her portrait painted by 59 artists. Like she went through a rough childhood with her father dying in a workplace accident and her mother dying of an illness when Maria was in her 20s. I like the fact this novel makes you want to read more as it’s pretty atmospheric with how the late 1800s to the mid 1910s would’ve looked like. I really wish I could read more than just 100 pages of this story as I said, it’s really interesting!

[Alexis Berman · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley for my Advanced Reader's Selection from this book. It's always difficult to review a book that you weren't given the whole copy of but I said I would leave an honest review for the chance to read it.

This book is dark and the art is grotesque. The subtitle is "Maria Lani & The Greatest Art Heist That Never Was". After reading this, I know more about who Maria Lani was but nothing about the art heist that never was. I'm sure their is an audience for this book but I am not it.

[Ben Olson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed both the literary and visual experience. Reading this was enlightening in that I learned something new about a period of history I thought I knew well. It presents the flaws of its subjects (two con artists fleeing Jewish persecution in pre-WWII Poland) without judgment or justification, the Parisian art world they infiltrate as absurd, and the broader world they inhabit as grotesque. The overall effect is deeply poignant without being nihilistic. If that sounds appealing, I recommend this book.

[Anne Shirley · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

She arrived in Paris with no fame to her name, yet left behind a myth that outlived her. The Woman with Fifty Faces traces the strange, haunting story of Maria Lani—a woman who convinced the greatest artists of her time to paint her, only to vanish from history almost as suddenly as she appeared. In this graphic biography, fact and illusion dance in shadow, brought vividly to life through stark, unsettling illustrations and a narrative that resists certainty.

This graphic novel stands out for its distinctive artistic style. Rendered entirely in intricate black and white pen and ink, with dense cross-hatching and expressive lines, the visuals are nothing short of hypnotic. Pinson’s art channels expressionist moods—equal parts brutal and tender. The monochrome palette adds a gritty, atmospheric depth, while faces are often distorted or exaggerated to convey raw, unsettling emotion.

The narrative unfolds like a hall of mirrors. The book artfully establishes that Maria Lani’s entire persona was a meticulously crafted illusion. We see her orchestrating "hype," drawing crowds, and using the façade of luxury to establish her credibility. The story cleverly juxtaposes her public grandeur with her private reality.

At its heart, The Woman With Fifty Faces is a profound exploration of identity as a performance. The historical backdrop adds poignancy and weight. The book doesn't shy away from the darker undercurrents of the era – the "vulgar glamour and decadence of 1920s Paris," but also the looming shadows of "Poland’s antisemitic pogroms" and the "Nazi occupation of France." This tumultuous backdrop adds a layer of urgency and danger to Maria's story, suggesting that her reinvention might have been born out of necessity as much as ambition. 

The story is left midair , much like Lani herself—part illusion, part history. In its final frame, the book turns to Ovid’s Metamorphoses, as if to say: this was never just biography, but myth. Maria Lani becomes one of Ovid’s shapeshifters—her identity slipping between truth and performance, illusion and reinvention.

I closed the book not with answers, but with a quiet disquiet. It doesn’t offer resolution—only the lingering weight of reflection. Yet it leaves an indelible impression, its stark visuals and fragmented narrative style continuing to echo long after the final page.

[John Mihelic · Rating 4 out of 5]

You know, it's funny. When people talk about con artists, they really focus on the con and not the art. That's a shame because in cases like Maria Lani, which the authors detail in this text, the con is an art in itself. We are introduced to a character who struggles to survive, yet must have had incredible charisma and a life force to inspire so many people to believe in her story. What's interesting is that this text leaves her as an enigma, deliberately not showing her face for the most part, like a whole person who is a certain sort of je ne sais quois.

[Vanima León · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Woman with Fifty Faces tells the story of Maria Lani, a woman who conned her way into immortality. She persuaded 50 well known artists to paint her portrait. Maria falsely portrayed herself as a famous German actress commissioning the portraits for a film project. That was not the case. She was a Polish Jew struggling to survive in prewar Europe.

The illustrations are eerily haunting throughout the book.
-NetGallery

[Chad · Rating 2 out of 5]

The truth about this story is interesting. The roundabout way the story takes to get there is not. I'd lost the point trying to be made at times with all these extra pages that would just show an eyeball or an exterior shot. The story is about a con artist who came to Paris in the 20s and said she was a movie star from Germany. The city was smitten with her and soon famous painters from across the area were painting her portraits which eventually all disappeared.

[Darlene Campos · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought the history behind The Woman With Fifty Faces sounded interesting, so I read this book in one sitting. However, while the overall story was indeed intriguing, the narrative was a bit disjointed at times. The art style was also a little intense. Overall, it was a good read and I enjoyed learning about Maria Lani's history.

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating story of a woman who reinvented herself time and time again the name of self preservation. The art is sometimes grotesque but it is impossible to look away. An absorbing and fascinating read.