Author: Derek Fincham

Spring Issue of the Journal of Art Crime

The Spring issue of the Journal of Art Crime has been published, I’ve posted the table of contents below.  This is the third volume of the journal, which has some terrific contributions from fellow bloggers David Gill, Donn Zaretsky, and others in the field like Ton Cremers and Giovanni Pastore.

This issue has pieces on forgery, the Getty Kouros, vandalism, the antiquities trade, underwater heritage, and other topics.  Noah Charney edits the journal, which is a very fine source of writing on art and antiquities crime, with serious academic pieces, regular columns and other interviews and extra features. Highly recommended.

Subscriptions are reasonable, with the funds supporting ARCA and its publishing and educational mission.  A subscription includes two 150-page issues every year with some terrific contributions.  You can subscribe here. 

Table of Contents:  Journal of Art Crime, Volume 3, Issue 1 


ACADEMIC ARTICLES
Collecting Histories and the Market for Classical Antiquities 3
David W.J. Gill
Responding to Art Vandalism in British Museums and Galleries: A Survey of the Situation 11
Helen E. Scott
The Getty Kouros Mystery 23
Miranda Vitello
Copy versus Forgery: The Difficulty in Determining Motive with Regards to Modern 31
Iconography and Icon Collections
Riikka Köngäs
 
Faking History: How Provenance Forgery is Conning the Art World 41
Olivia Sladen
The Looting of the Iraq Museums: 53
An Examination of Efforts to Protect Universal Cultural Property
Simmy Swinder
REGULAR COLUMNS
An Empty Frame: Thinking About Art Crime 75
“Thoughts on the Leonardo Trial”
Derek Fincham
Security & Safety Reflections 79
“Oxygen Reduction in Museum, Libraries, and Archives”
Ton Cremers
Context Matters 81
“Italy and the US: Reviewing Cultural Property Agreements”
David Gill

Cultural Heritage 87
“The Defense of Underwater Archaeological Heritage”
Colonel Giovanni Pastore

Lessons from the History of Art Crime 93
“Did the Nazis Steal the Mona Lisa?”
Noah Charney
Art Law and Policy 95

Donn Zaretsky

EDITORIAL ESSAYS

What’s in a Number? 99
John Kleberg
University Treasures 101
John Kleberg
After 40 Years, Revelations about the Lost Caravaggio 103
Judith Harris
The Returns to Italy from North America: An Overview 105
David W.J. Gill

REVIEWS

Nazi Plunder: Great Treasure Stories of World War II 111
America and the Return of Nazi Contraband: The Recovery of Europe’s Cultural Treasures 111
Douglas L. Yearwood reviews
Criminology and Archaeology: Studies in Looted Antiquities 113
The Restitution of Cultural Assets 113
Derek Fincham Reviews
Confessions d’un voleur d’art (Confessions of an Art Thief) 115
Diane Joy Charney reviews
Le Front de l’Art, Defense des Collections Francaises 1939-1945 117
Rose Valland Resistante Pour l’Art 117
Rose Valland Capitaine Beaux-Arts 117
Rose Valland, l’espionne du musee du Jeu de Paume 117
Diane Joy Charney reviews
“Caravaggio at The Quirinale” Exhibition 119

EXTRAS

The Art We Must Protect: Top Ten Must-See Artworks in the USA 121 Noah Charney
ARCA profile of Ton Cremers 125
Mark Durney
Q&A with ICE’s Cultural Property, 127
Art and Antiquities Program Head of the Northeast, Special Agent Bonnie Goldblatt
Mark Durney
2010 ARCA Award Winners 129
Contributor Biographies 131

Acknowledgements 133

Questions or Comments? Email me at derek.fincham@gmail.com

Vernon Rapley Leaves the Metropolitan Police for the V&A

According to a report by the Art Newspaper, the V&A museum has hired Detective Sergeant Vernon Rapley away from Scotland Yard’s art and antiques.  The V&A is a massive museum, which has been difficult to safely secure in the past.  Here’s to hoping he can continue to improve the V&A’s security.  From the Art Newspaper:

He joins the museum on 21 June, to take charge of security and visitor services. Before turning to art, Rapley investigated murder, paedophilia and child abuse at the Metropolitan Police. He really got to know the V&A in 2004, when there was a spate of thefts at major London museums. The V&A was hit three times, and 38 rooms had to be shut, many for years, while security was upgraded. Supported by the V&A, the Yard set up the London Museum Security Group. Rapley even took a turn as guest curator earlier this year, when he organised a Scotland Yard-curated display at the museum on fakes and forgeries, which spotlighted the case of the Greenhalgh family from Bolton, who created objects ranging from Egyptian antiquities to modern paintings.

  1. V&A gets its own personal detective | The Art Newspaper, (2010), http://www.theartnewspaper.com/articles/V&A-gets-its-own-personal-detective/21044 (last visited Jun 9, 2010).
Questions or Comments? Email me at derek.fincham@gmail.com

More Reactions to the "Medici Dossier"

Kimberley Alderman starts a discussion on whether Italy should release all the images in the “Medici Dossier”. 

Christie’s is being criticized for leaving on the auction block three items which have been alleged by archaeologists and an Italian prosecutor to have originated from the famous and illicit antiquities trader, Giacomo Medici.  Italy, however, has not submitted a formal request for repatriation of the objects to the U.S. government or even a title claim to Christie’s.

She offers some strong comments from attorney William G. Pearlstein:

What the Italians are doing is outrageous. They are deliberately withholding the Medici files from the public, allowing hot pieces to remain in circulation and then playing up every seizure for maximum publicity value. They continue to play the role of victim when actually they have became cynical predators on American institutions that want nothing more than to do the right thing.

David Gill responds with his typical pointed questions about diligence for buyers, Christies, and collecting histories. I think many good points are made here, and we need to have an open conversation about what role the market and auction houses can or should play in this trade.  Damage is done, demand remains high, and the current rules aren’t preventing destruction or producing an honest market.  I’ve argued that auction houses need to be held to a higher standerd, because they act as heritage market makers, and the fact that an object comes up for auction means something, and is an important event in the history of an objects such that increased liability should attach when these objects are found to be lost or stolen.

  1. David Gill, Christie’s, the Medici Dossier and William G. Pearlstein Looting matters (2010), http://lootingmatters.blogspot.com/2010/06/christies-medici-dossier-and-william-g.html (last visited Jun 7, 2010).
  2. Kimberley Alderman, Is Italy “Asking For It” By Refusing to Release the Medici Photographs? Three items at Christie’s raise questions « The Cultural Property and Archaeology Law Blog, http://culturalpropertylaw.wordpress.com/2010/06/06/is-italy-asking-for-it-by-refusing-to-release-the-medici-photographs-three-items-at-christies-raise-questions/ (last visited Jun 7, 2010).
Questions or Comments? Email me at derek.fincham@gmail.com

Footnotes 6.3.2010

  • The Modern Art Museum in Paris is set to open its doors for the first time since the May 20th heist.
  • Charles Hill, A former Scotland Yard expert warns against the potential danger to London’s museums and galleries during the 2010 Olympic games.
  • Commercial galleries in Australia are preparing for whatever may come as a result of a new royalty law which takes effect June 9th.
  • Haverford College in PA is set to return a noted Descartes original letter to its rightful owner in Paris.
  • Two British families have returned antiquities to Libya, some of which date as far back as the 5th century BCE.
  • Click here to read about psychologist’s take on the motivations behind art theft.
  • Stately homes in England have been targeted by art theft gangs after valuable porcelain.
  • Click here to read the Wall Street Journal’s take on why we should give some masterpieces a rest.
  • Not everything you’ve heard about art theft is the truth.
Questions or Comments? Email me at derek.fincham@gmail.com

Princeton Curator the Focus of Criminal Investigation

In 2007 Princeton University Art Museum agreed to return four antiquities to Italy, and hold four others on loan for four years.  This came during a wave of negotiated returns from American museums like the MFA Boston, the Met, the Getty, and others. 

Now the N.Y. Times is reporting that Italian prosecutors are focusing on Michael Padgett, an antiquities curator at Princeton University along with Edoardo Almagià, an antiquities dealer. 

It should come as no surprise that Italian authorities are investigating Almagià, as ICE agents seized “archaeological material” from his apartment in 2006.  More surprising perhaps are the charges brought against Padgett, the curator at Princeton.  Charges were brought against Marion True, a curator at the Getty, whose trial has been slowly progressing for the last five years.  There were indications or perhaps only assumptions that she would be the lone curator charged. 

This should be an interesting investigation to watch develop.  The True investigation has certainly had a dramatic impact on the antiquities trade. 

From a practical matter, I wonder what was contained in the settlement agreements with Italy and these museums.  Was there no discussion of immunity for curators who may have acquired some of these objects which are being returned?   

  1. Hugh Eakin, Italy Focuses on a Princeton Curator in an Antiquities Investigation, The New York Times, June 2, 2010, http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/03/arts/design/03curator.html?pagewanted=all (last visited Jun 3, 2010).
Questions or Comments? Email me at derek.fincham@gmail.com

Paracas Textiles

nullJudith Dobrzynski tries to track the disposition of Paracas Textiles currently ‘owned’ by the city of Gothenburg Sweden.  There are some reports that the objects may be returned, but the interesting aspect is how the objects are being displayed in Sweden, in a way which throws the doors open to the perils of the antiquities trade and the destruction looting can cause. 

First, Dobrzynski notes the city council was supposed to vote on April 26th on whether the textiles would be returned:

It’s possible that the decision was indeed made, but the announcement was put off until fall, when an exhibition on the textiles at the Museum of World Culture — called “A Stolen World” — closes. The show states its position pretty baldly: “This is the story of how an unscrupulous policy, the illegal commerce and hunting for antiques strip some cultures of their identity.”

It’s also possible that exactly how to return them is an issue. According to a short item last January on the website of the Museum Security Network (here), “the delicate nature of Paracas textiles makes them extremely sensitive to the environment such as light and vibrations. And to move them could mean damage beyond repair.”

As with many issues of cultural patrimony, there’s no easy answer.

Note the description of the exhibition below.  Could we imagine similar objects in the United States on display with such language?  The museum of world culture describes these textiles which are currently on display there:

null

Large quantities of Paracas textiles were smuggled out of Peru and illegally exported to museums and private collections all over the world around 1930. About a hundred of them were smuggled to Sweden and donated to the Ethnographic Department of Göteborg Museum. The accumulation of them used to be a prestigious task, and so, apart from Peru itself, there are Paracas textiles in art museums and private collections all over the world and in many western museums of ethnography. Today textiles from Paracas are among the most sought-after heritage objects in the illegal market.

More is known today concerning the problems associated with looted and smuggled artefacts, and discussions are in progress concerning the line which museums should take regarding dubious items in their collections. How should we relate to this part of history?

Questions or Comments? Email me at derek.fincham@gmail.com

Footnotes 5.24.2010

  • Artist Justin Lowe plans to re-create the CBGB bathroom for a Connecticut Museum.
  • Members of the Military are offered free admission into many museums through a new NEA program.
  • The Fresno Metropolitan Museum will return 6 Ansel Adams’ works to Adams’ son rather than sell the works.
  • SMU’s Meadows Museum learned that three of its well-known works were looted from Jewish families by the Nazis.
  • Two Banksy prints were stolen from a London art gallery.
  • Jerry Brown has filed a brief in support of Marei Von Saher in the Norton Simon Museum case.
  • Marion Manekar analyzes the deaccession debate through Shelly Banjo’s recent article in the Wall Street Journal.
  • Twin Kouroi statues were apprehended from two Greek farmers, who had attempted to illegally sell the statues for $12million.
  • The battle over the Rose Art Museum is heating up, again.
  • Does the move of the famous Barnes Collection symbolizes that is wrong with museum’s today:  “movies, restaurants, classes, gift shops, parties, pop-cultural exhibits, and interactive computers.”
Questions or Comments? Email me at derek.fincham@gmail.com

"[S]ome in the art world desire a market that is neither open nor honest."

So notes federal district court Judge William H. Pauley III in an opinion denying the request by Craig Robins to prevent the sale of three works which he was not allowed to buy.  Robins alleged that art dealer David Zwirner had effectively blacklisted him from buying other works by Marlene Dumas.  From Randy Kennedy’s summary:

The collector, Craig Robins, asserts in a lawsuit that he sold a painting by Ms. Dumas through the David Zwirner Gallery in Chelsea in 2004 with an agreement that the sale remain confidential. But the gallery, which took over representation of Ms. Dumas in 2008, told her about it, Mr. Robins asserts, causing her to add his name to the blacklist, even though he has an extensive collection of her works, 29 in all, according to the suit. In court testimony, Ms. Dumas’s former dealer confirmed that the artist maintains a blacklist of collectors and dealers whom she believes to be speculating in her works or simply selling them too quickly after buying them. Mr. Robins says that the Zwirner gallery promised to help get him off the blacklist and to sell him new paintings but that the gallery failed to do so. The gallery has denied the claims.

Ed Winkleman argues this might have all been avoided with the introduction of droit de suite in New York:

In situations such as the one that led to the Robins-Zwirner lawsuit, droit de suite would work well for galleries too. If the law required collectors to share the profits from any resale, the gallery would not get caught between the furtive goals of the collector and the wishes of their artist. Indeed, in most resale arrangements all three parties (collector, gallery and artist) could be motivated to work together to ensure each makes the most money possible. 

  1. Randy Kennedy, Collector’s Motion for Court Order Against Gallery Is Denied – ArtsBeat Blog – NYTimes.com, http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/05/21/art-collector-fails-to-get-court-order-against-gallery/?ref=design (last visited May 24, 2010).
  2. Helen Stoilas & Marisa Mazria Katz, Judge denies collector’s injunction against dealer The Art Newspaper, http://www.theartnewspaper.com/articles/Judge-denies-collector-s-injunction-against-dealer/20893 (last visited May 24, 2010).
  3. Edward Winkelman, The case for droit de suite in New York | The Art Newspaper, http://www.theartnewspaper.com/articles/The-case-for-droit-de-suite-in-New-York/20673 (last visited May 24, 2010).
Questions or Comments? Email me at derek.fincham@gmail.com

Another Theft in Marseille

Another theft in France, this time from a private residence in Marseille.  Five works, including a Picasso lithograph were stolen in a violent theft.  The owner was assaulted during the robbery.  Reports indicate that two men managed to get past the home’s security gates and take the works.  Mark Durney asks:  “Was this theft inspired by the audacious theft from Paris’s Museum of Modern Art?”

  1. Art thieves strike in Marseille, BBC, May 22, 2010, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/europe/10142303.stm (last visited May 24, 2010).
Questions or Comments? Email me at derek.fincham@gmail.com