ART
For centuries, thieves have targeted valuable art and collectables from museums and private collections, making the theft of art a major problem. While the majority of art thefts are from private collections, high profi le museums are still a main focus of art crimes. Recently, headlines such as, “Stolen $3 million painting found in Miami Beach hotel,” “Daring Art Heist Nets Picasso, Matisse,” “A Picasso and a Gauguin Are Among 7 Works Stolen From a Dutch Museum,” are just a few that have shocked the art world and general public. One of the most dramatic art heists in history happened just last year as impeccably timed art thieves broke into the Kunsthal Museum in Rotterdam in the early morning and made off with seven borrowed paintings, including valuable works by Picasso, Monet, Gauguin, Matisse and Lucian Freud.
Vol 1 Spring 2013
The world of art thievery has been glamorized by Hollywood fi lms like The Thomas Crown Affair, where a bored wealthy financier orchestrates an elaborate heist and steals a painting valued at $100 million, from the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Art crime is in fact no glamorous affair and, according to the FBI, “is a looming criminal enterprise with estimated losses running as high as $6 billion annually.” The FBI has a dedicated Art Crime Team comprised of 14 special agents and three trial attorneys standing by for prosecutions. The FBI works closely with the National Stolen Art File, a computerized index of reported stolen art, in their
investigations. Art crimes are a big business
according to The Journal of Criminal Law
Art crime is, in fact, no glamorous affair. and Criminology, and account for over $1 billion dollars in art is stolen every year. Art crimes are complicated affairs with thieves crossing borders and often holding onto the valuable merchandise for years. Last year, FBI agents arrested two people at the Loews Hotel in Miami Beach for trying to sell a painting by Matisse valued at $3 million that was stolen more than a decade ago. The painting, “Odalisque in Red Pants,” is the property of the Sofía Imber Contemporary Art Museum in Caracas, Venezuela, who at first did not realize the painting was missing and unwittingly displayed a copy in the original’s place. The question arises, how does one find a lost or stolen piece of art and how can one protect themselves from such crimes?
The Association for Research into Crimes against Art (ARCA) is an organization that works to combat art crime by joining forces with not only law enforcement experts but also international scholars, art professionals and even concerned citizens. While prevention is a major focus, victims of art theft still must seek assistance.
In addition to the FBI’s National Stolen Art File, there are many places to register lost, stolen or looted art, and possibly also track or recover lost artworks. Trace (www. trace.com) and The Art Loss Register (www. artloss.com), both claim to have the world’s largest global database of lost, stolen, or seized property. Both organizations help art collectors to register lost artwork and claim successes at recovering art that has been lost or stolen. Art collectors can also benefit from these databases to check art that they are considering for purchase to see if the art is stolen. SAZTV (www. saztv.com) is another
good resource to find lost or stolen art and collectables throughout the world and works with a host of different links and databases of stolen art including dedicated police sites and a database of art stolen by well-known artists. The ICOM Red List (www.icom.museum/ redlist), set up by the International Council of Museums, originally concentrated on lost African artifacts but has since expanded to cover a framework that includes Latin America, Iraq and Afghanistan. Despite the security measures of art collectors and museums, art theft is prevalent and continues with billions of dollars of art still missing. It’s surprising that this type of thievery can still happen with modern security systems, and sadly, only a small percentage of stolen art is ever recovered.