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Art theft has risen from an occasional event involving the trophies of the wealthy and elite, into a multi-billion-dollar annual criminal industry, run almost entirely by organized crime groups, and a significant funding source for terrorism. It has been listed among the highest-grossing criminal trades worldwide. When ARCA (the Association for Research into Crimes against Art) began, the media and the general public knew very little about art crime. Thanks in part to its efforts, the world is better-informed than ever, but there is still much to surprise and engage, and the stories of art crime never fail to intrigue. The book is organized into five parts:Fraud and ForgeryLaw, Policing, and PolicyArt, Crime, and Popular CultureTheft and Security, andWar, Conflict, and Art.This book is the latest on art crime by the founder of ARCA, Dr. Noah Charney,widely considered the world's leading authority on the history of art crime. His work on the subject has been included in his best-selling, Pulitzer-nominated books and articles for major publications, including The Guardian, The Washington Post, The Observer, Salon and many others.

This book brings together empirical and theoretical case-study research on art and heritage crime. Drawn from a diverse group of researchers and professionals, the work presented explores contemporary conceptualisations of art crime within broader contexts. In this volume, we see ‘art'in its usual forms for art crime scholarship: in paintings and antiquities. However, we also see art in fossils and in violins, chairs and jewellery, holes in the ground and even in the institutions meant to protect any, or all, of the above. And where there is art, there is crime. Chapters in this volume, alternatively, zoom in on specific objects, on specific locations, and on specific institutions, considering how each interact with the various conceptions of crime that exist in those contexts. This volume challenges the boundaries of what we understand as “art and heritage crimes” and displays that both art, and criminality related to art, is creative and unpredictable.

A thrilling, eye-popping look at true crime in the billion-dollar art world.The art world is one of the most secretive of global businesses, and the list of its crimes runs long and deep. Today, with prices in the hundreds of millions for individual artworks, and billionaires'collections among the most conspicuous and liquid of their assets, crime is more rampant than ever in this largely unregulated universe. Increased prices and globalization have introduced new levels of fraud and malfeasance into the art world--everything from'artnapping,'in which an artwork is held hostage and only returned for a ransom, to forgery and tax fraud. However, the extent of the economic and cultural damage that results from criminality in the global art scene rarely comes to light. The stories of high-stakes, brazen art crimes told by art experts Stefan Koldehoff and Tobias Timm are by turns thrilling, disturbing, and unbelievable (the imagination for using art to commit crimes seems boundless). The authors also provide a well-founded analysis of what needs to change in the art market and at museums. From the authors of False Pictures, Real Money (about the Beltracchi art forgery case), Art and Crime includes a chapter on art owned by Donald Trump. It is a thoroughly researched, explosive, and highly topical book that uncovers the extraordinary and multifarious thefts of art and cultural objects around the world.

A charged biography of a notorious Nazi art plunderer and his career in the postwar art world†‹'[Petropoulos] brings Lohse into sharper focus, as a personality and axis point from which to explore a network of art dealers, collectors and museum curators connected to Nazi looting.... What emerges from Petropoulos's research is a portrait of a charismatic and nefarious figure who tainted everyone he touched.'—Nina Siegal, New York Times“Readers of art history and WWII biographies will appreciate this engrossing deep dive into one of the world's most prolific art looters.”—Publishers Weekly Bruno Lohse (1911–2007) was one of the most notorious art plunderers in history. Appointed by Hermann Göring to Hitler's art looting agency in Paris, he went on to help supervise the systematic theft and distribution of more than thirty thousand artworks, taken largely from French Jews, and to assist Göring in amassing an enormous private art collection. By the 1950s Lohse was officially denazified but was back in the art dealing world, offering masterpieces of dubious origin to American museums. After his death, dozens of paintings by Renoir, Monet, and Pissarro, among others, were found in his Zurich bank vault and adorning the walls of his Munich home. Jonathan Petropoulos spent nearly a decade interviewing Lohse and continues to serve as an expert witness for Holocaust restitution cases. Here he tells the story of Lohse's life, offering a critical examination of the postwar art world.

In der Kunstsammlung des Waffenfabrikanten Emil G. Bührle ist die kriegerische Geschichte des 20. Jahrhunderts gespeichert. Kriegsmaterialexporte an NS-Deutschland und in die Hotspots des Kalten Kriegs hatten ihn zum reichsten Schweizer gemacht. Ausgestattet mit unerschöpflichen Mitteln kaufte er Kunstwerke, die durch Ausplünderung und Vertreibung jüdischer Sammler und Galeristen auf den Kunstmarkt gespült wurden. Über Jahrzehnte schlummerte seine Sammlung in einem Privatmuseum und diente dem Ansehen der Familie Bührle. Nun soll sie im Neubau des Kunsthauses Zürich die Stadt als Kulturmetropole aufwerten. So zumindest die Hoffnung eines Zusammenschlusses verschiedener Akteure aus Politik, Wirtschaft und Museumswelt. Wie fand die durch Krieg, Vertreibung und Holocaust kontaminierte Sammlung Einzug in ein öffentliches Museum? Der Historiker Erich Keller zeigt in diesem Buch, wie flüchtig Erinnerungskultur ist – und wie stark die Forschungsfreiheit gefährdet wird, wenn sie unter den Druck einer neoliberalen Standortpolitik gerät. Er erklärt, wie historisch belastete Kunst ökonomisch verwertbar gemacht wird und was Provenienzforschung leisten könnte. Geht es um problematische Provenienzen, ist oft die Rede von'belasteten'Bildern. Doch Kunstwerke aus dem 19. Jahrhundert wussten nichts von ihrer Zukunft. Was aber wollen die Museen von ihrer Vergangenheit wissen? Debatten um Raubkunst drehen sich nicht um eine entrückte Vergangenheit, sondern stellen Fragen nach politischer Verantwortung in der Gegenwart.

DIE SPEKTAKULÄRSTEN KUNSTDIEBSTÄHLE DER GESCHICHTE Vom Diebstahl der Mona Lisa 1911 bis zum Juwelenraub im Grünen Gewölbe 2019 – dieses Buch steckt voller fesselnder und unglaublicher Geschichten. Vom Diebstahl der Mona Lisa 1911 bis zum Juwelenraub im Grünen Gewölbe 2019 – dieses Buch steckt voller fesselnder und unglaublicher Geschichten. Susanna Partsch hat die spektakulärsten Kunstdiebstähle ausgewählt und erzählt von gewieften Mafia-Clans, als Polizisten verkleideten Tätern, findigen Kunstdetektiven, zerschnittenen Gemälden, besessenen Kunstliebhabern und Lösegeldforderungen in Millionenhöhe – Fälle wie aus einem Kriminalroman, die aber das Leben schrieb. Die spektakulärsten Kunstdiebstähle: Von der Mona Lisa bis zum Juwelenraub im Grünen Gewölbe Spannende und unterhaltsame Lektüre für jeden Kunstliebhaber

This volume brings together work by authors who draw upon sociological and criminological methods, theory, and frameworks, to produce research that pushes boundaries, considers new questions, and reshape the existing understanding of'art crimes', with a strong emphasis on methodological innovation and novel theory application. Criminologists and sociologists are poorly represented in academic discourse on art and culture related crimes. However, to understand topics like theft, security, trafficking, forgery, vandalism, offender motivation, the efficacy of and results of policy interventions, and the effects art crimes have on communities, we must develop the theoretical and methodological models we use for analyses. The readership of this book is expected to include academics, researchers, and practitioners in the fields of criminology, sociology, law, and heritage studies who have an interest in art and heritage crime.

This first comprehensive analysis of the Third Reich's efforts to confiscate, loot, censor and influence art begins with a brief history of the looting of artworks in Western history. The artistic backgrounds of Adolf Hitler and Hermann Goring are examined, along with the various Nazi art looting organizations, and Nazi endeavors to both censor and manipulate the arts for propaganda purposes. Long-held beliefs about the Nazi destruction of'degenerate art'are examined, drawing on recently developed university databases, new translations of original documents and recently discovered information. Theft and destruction of artworks by the Allies and looting by Soviet trophy brigades are also documented.

Countless dollars of art are stolen or looted every year, yet governments often consider art theft a luxury problem. With limited public law enforcement, what prevents thieves, looters and organised criminal gangs from flooding the market with stolen art? How can theft victims get justice – even decades after their loss? What happens if the legal definition of a good title is at odds with what is morally right? Enter the Art Loss Register, a private database dedicated to tracking down stolen artworks. Blocking the sale of disputed artworks creates a space for private resolutions – often amicable and sometimes entertainingly adversarial. This book is based on ten cases from the Art Loss Register's archive, showing how restitutions were negotiated, how priceless objects were retrieved from the economic underworld and how thieves and fences end up in court and behind bars. A fascinating guide to the dark side of the global art market.

This book is available in audiobook format, narrated by Kerry Fox: https://www.audible.co.uk/pd/Females-in-the-Frame-Audiobook/B08PC6YSW1?asin=B08PC6YSW1&source_code=ASUOR22212112000M8This book explores the untold history of women, art, and crime. It has long been widely accepted that women have not played an active role in the art crime world, or if they have, it has been the part of the victim or peacemaker. Women, Art, and Crime overturns this understanding, as it investigates the female criminals who have destroyed, vandalised, stolen, and forged art, as well as those who have conned clients and committed white-collar crimes in their professional occupations in museums, libraries, and galleries. Whether prompted by a desire for revenge, for money, the instinct to protect a loved one, or simply as an act of quality control, this book delves into the various motivations and circumstances of women art criminals from a wide range of countries, including theUK, the USA, New Zealand, Romania, Germany, and France. Through a consideration of how we have come to perceive art crime and the gendered language associated with its documentation, this pioneering study questions why women have been left out of the discourse to date and how, by looking specifically at women, we can gain a more complete picture of art crime history.

The illicit antiquities market is fueled by a well-documented rise in looting at archaeological sites and a fear that the proceeds of such looting may be financing terrorism or rogue states. In this report, the authors compile evidence from numerous open sources to outline the major policy-relevant characteristics of that market and to propose the way forward for developing policies intended to disrupt illicit networks.

This book explores the untold history of women, art, and crime. It has long been widely accepted that women have not played an active role in the art crime world, or if they have, it has been the part of the victim or peacemaker. Women, Art, and Crime overturns this understanding, as it investigates the female criminals who have destroyed, vandalised, stolen, and forged art, as well as those who have conned clients and committed white-collar crimes in their professional occupations in museums, libraries, and galleries. Whether prompted by a desire for revenge, for money, the instinct to protect a loved one, or simply as an act of quality control, this book delves into the various motivations and circumstances of women art criminals from a wide range of countries, including the UK, the USA, New Zealand, Romania, Germany, and France. Through a consideration of how we have come to perceive art crime and the gendered language associated with its documentation, this pioneering study questions why women have been left out of the discourse to date and how, by looking specifically at women, we can gain a more complete picture of art crime history.

Das Buch widmet sich Hitlers Verteilungsprogramm eingezogener Kunstsammlungen, das der Diktator nach dem „Anschluss“ Österreichs an das Deutsche Reich 1938 für die „Ostmark“ auflegte und auf das gesamte Großdeutsche Reich auszuweiten vorsah. Nach einer ersten Phase divergierender Konzepte übernahm im Juni 1939 Hitler selbst die Leitung des Projekts. Danach führten sein Sonderbeauftragter Hans Posse und dessen Assistent Gottfried Reimer, unterstützt von der Wiener Denkmalbehörde, die Verteilung von 5000 hochrangigen Kunstwerken aus jüdischem Besitz durch. Vor dem Hintergrund einer Situation, die von scharfer Konkurrenz zwischen Wien und den ostmärkischen Reichsgauen, dem Aufbau des „Führermuseums“ in Linz und den Erwartungen der Museen im „Altreich“ geprägt war, wird Hitlers Profil als Museumspolitiker sichtbar.

When compared to terrorism, drugs and violent crimes that occupy the news today art is not considered as important. But, as it turns out, art and cultural crime is currently ranked as the third-largest criminal enterprise in the world. What exactly is art crime? Why does art matter? And what is law enforcement doing to prevent this crime today? Due to the misleading portrayal of art crime in the entertainment industry people have the flawed belief that art and cultural crime doesn't damage anyone in a direct way. And the truth of the matter is that this crime results in the loss of billions of dollars annually. Art and cultural crime is not simply focused on museums or private displays, the loss of art directly affects our cultural identity and history. Napoleon moved from one region to the next collecting art and sending as much as possible back to France. The Nazis looted cultural property from every territory they occupied. And there have been various cases of ISIL and ISIS destroying archaeological sites as a method of destroying any evidence of past culture or history that disagree with their own. With the United States being the largest market for both legal and illicit artwork in the world more preventative attention from law enforcement and security is needed for our country to meet international standards and end detrimental art crimes. In Stealing History, Colleen Clarke and Eli J. Szydlo look at the history behind art crime, how these crimes have grown over the last half century, and what law enforcement has been involved in protecting the world from these crimes.

Interest in art crime is at an all-time high. Academia is committing greater resources to it, lawyers are increasingly specializing in the field, and the public is enthralled. Belief that the art market's opaque and unregulated practices are indirectly to blame for these crimes, is also gaining ground. But what are the reasons for criminal activity in the art market? Is the art market any more welcoming to criminals than other sectors? And is law enforcement failing to keep up? Crime and the Art Market brings together the author's direct experience from both fields to present an accessible, informative and realistic overview of these crimes in today's society. The book re-examines high-profile criminal cases, while highlighting others which failed to hit headlines but marked significant moments in the legal treatment of art crime. Through interviews, new data and exclusive insight into cases, the book demonstrates the impact of criminal activity on the market and broader society, while exploring claims that changes in the market's behavior are needed.

Art Crime and Its Prevention is the definitive handbook on art crime for art-world professionals of all kinds – from the museum, auction house or art-insurance employee to the contemporary gallerist, dealer, art-market student or collector. Written by a range of international experts, the book's territory is broad and includes advice on how to secure art in galleries and private collections; how and when to insure art; what to look for to be sure that an artwork you buy is legitimate; how to check provenance to be certain that it matches the work it accompanies; how to deal with forgery and best-practices in art acquisition. Contextual debate, such as discussion of the impact of looting in conflict zones and the relevant international law relating to art in war, enlivens the text and helps to present a fully-rounded analysis of art crime and its many associations. An authoritative and readable handbook, Art Crime and Its Prevention will be an essential reference guide for all those involved in the art world internationally, or in the protection and recovery of artworks.

Since the Second World War, art crime has shifted from a relatively innocuous, often ideological crime, into a major international problem, considered by some to be the third-highest grossing criminal trade worldwide. This rich volume features essays on art crime by the most respected and knowledgeable experts in this interdisciplinary subject.

A step-by-step guide for the craft of high stakes thievery In How to Steal the Mona Lisa, author Taylor Bayouth meticulously describes seven heists of priceless art and artifacts: the Hope Diamond, the'Mona Lisa,'the Archaeopteryx Lithographica, Rodin's'Thinker,'King Tut's golden death mask, the Crown Jewels, and the Codex Leicester. With this trusty guide, learn to: - Camouflage a getaway car. - Hack security systems. - Navigate air ducts. - Master the art of disguise. - Pick locks, scale buildings, and more. Illustrated throughout, this book contains all the information you need to acquire equipment, recruit partners, strategize the perfect crime, and discreetly sell off your stolen national treasures.

Against the backdrop of international conventions and their implementation, Cultural Property and Contested Ownership explores how highly-valued cultural goods are traded and negotiated among diverging parties and their interests. Cultural artefacts, such as those kept and trafficked between art dealers, private collectors and museums, have become increasingly localized in a ‘Bermuda triangle'of colonialism, looting and the black market, with their re-emergence resulting in disputes of ownership and claims for return. This interdisciplinary volume provides the first book-length investigation of the changing behaviours resulting from the effect of the 1970 UNESCO Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property. The collection considers the impact of the Convention on the way antiquity dealers, museums and auction houses, as well as nation states and local communities, address issues of provenance, contested ownership, and the trafficking of cultural property. The book contains a range of contributions from anthropologists, lawyers, historians and archaeologists. Individual cases are examined from a bottom-up perspective and assessed from the viewpoint of international law in the Epilogue. Each section is contextualised by an introductory chapter from the editors.

Growing up on the wrong side of the tracks in post-war Johannesburg, Carnie Matisonn learns of a great-uncle in occupied Norway murdered by Nazi soldiers as they looted his prized art collection. He starts a life-long quest to retrieve the art that takes him into the murky waters of apartheid sanctions-busting, Mossad agents, international art dealers and Nazi hunters. Matisonn's enthralling story - told here with journalist Charles Cilliers - embraces courage, wit and wisdom as he shows one man can achieve the impossible.

Als Sophie, die Witwe des Leiters der hannoverschen Kestner-Gesellschaft, Paul Erich Küppers, 1927 ihrem zweiten Ehemann, dem Künstler El Lissitzky, nach Moskau folgte, ahnte sie nicht, dass ihr bald nach seinem Tod als »feindliche Deutsche« unter Stalins Herrschaft die Verbannung nach Sibirien bevorstand. Zugleich wurde ihre Sammlung von Bildern zeitgenössischer Avantgarde-Künstler, die sie in vermeintlich guten Händen in Deutschland zurückließ, im Bildersturm der Nazis hinweggefegt. Kurz vor Ende eines Lebens in unvorstellbarer Armut gab sie in der Hoffnung auf Gerechtigkeit ihrem Sohn Jen Lissitzky eine handgeschriebene Aufzählung ihrer geraubten Kunstwerke. Jen machte sich mit Hilfe des Kunstfahnders Clemens Toussaint auf die Suche. Einige wenige Bilder tauchten auf und wurden restituiert, andere bleiben verschollen. Ein europaweit beobachteter Prozess um ein Werk von Kandinsky verlief im Sand, der Rechtsstreit um Paul Klees »Sumpflegende« dauert bis heute an.

“Must reading for any true-crime fan... [a] diverse, colorful crew of art-gallery grifters and scammers... Highly recommended!” —Howie Carr, New York Times–bestselling authorArt scams are today so numerous that the specter of a lawsuit arising from a mistaken attribution has scared a number of experts away from the business of authentication and forgery, and with good reason. Art scams are increasingly convincing and involve incredible sums of money. The cons perpetrated by unscrupulous art dealers and their accomplices are proportionately elaborate.Anthony M. Amore's The Art of the Con tells the stories of some of history's most notorious yet untold cons. They involve stolen art hidden for decades; elaborate ruses that involve the Nazis and allegedly plundered art; the theft of a conceptual prototype from a well-known artist by his assistant to be used later to create copies; the use of online and television auction sites to scam buyers out of millions; and other confidence scams incredible not only for their boldness but more so because they actually worked. Using interviews and newly released court documents, The Art of the Con will also take the reader into the investigations that led to the capture of the con men, who oftentimes return back to the world of crime. For some, it's an irresistible urge because their innocent dupes all share something in common: they want to believe.“An engrossing read about brazen, artful scams.” —Kirkus Reviews“A riveting, fast-moving account of shameless fraudsters who wreak havoc on the art world. A must read!” —Brian T. Kelly, former Assistant United States Attorney

In Cultural Property Crime various experts in the fields of criminology, art law, heritage studies, law enforcement, forensic psychology, archaeology, art history and journalism provide multidisciplinary perspectives on today's concept of cultural property crime, including art crime. In addition, the volume deals with international, legal and practical developments regarding the increasing criminalization of acts against cultural property in times of conflict. Attention is paid to the changing status and fluctuating appraisal of cultural property as subject to classical art crimes generally in peacetime and as an identity-related symbolic target during conflict. The book covers a wide range of topics such as forgeries, white-collar crime, archaeological looting and the impact of war on cultural heritage.

This book examines contemporary approaches to restitution from the perspective of museums. It focuses on the ways in which these institutions have been addressing the subject at a regional, national and international level. In particular, it explores contemporary practices and recent claims, and investigates to what extent the question of restitution as an issue of ownership is still at large, or whether museums have found additional ways to conceptualise and practice restitution, by thinking beyond the issue of ownership. The challenges, benefits and drawbacks of recent and current museum practice are explored. At the same time, the book discusses how these museum practices are received, and informed, by source communities, institutional and governmental agendas and visitors'expectations in order to explore issues of authority, collaboration and shared or conflicting values between the different communities involved in the process. This important book will contribute to the developing body of literature that academics, professionals, policy makers and students can refer to in order to understand how restitution has been negotiated,'materialised', practiced and evaluated within museums.

Like Sherlock Holmes'dog in the night time, sometimes the true significance of things lies in their absence. Rick Gekoski tells the very human stories that lie behind some of the greatest losses to artistic culture - and addresses the questions such disappearances raise. Some of the items are stolen (the Mona Lisa), some destroyed (like Philip Larkin's diaries) and some were lost before they even existed, like the career of the brilliant art deco architect, Charles Rennie Mackintosh, which floundered amid a lack of cash - but behind all of them lies an often surprising story which reveals a lot about what art means to us. Gekoski explores the greater questions these tremendous losses raise - such as the rights artists and authors have over their own work, the importance of the search for perfection in creativity, and what motivated people to queue to see the empty space where the Mona Lisa once hung in the Louvre.

This new text provides practical guidance on the modern law relating to cultural objects which have been stolen, looted or illegally exported. It explains how English criminal law principles, including money laundering measures, apply to those who deal in cultural objects in a domestic or international setting. It discusses the recovery of works of art and antiquities in the English courts where there are competing claims between private individuals, or between individuals and the UK Government or a foreign State. Significantly, this text also provides an exposition of the law where a British law enforcement agency, or a foreign law enforcement agency, is involved in the course of criminal or civil proceedings in an English court. The growth of relevant international instruments, which include not only those devoted to the protection of mankind's cultural heritage but also those concerned with money laundering and serious organised crime, provide a backdrop to this discussion. The UK's ratification of the UNESCO Convention on Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property 1970 in 2002 is considered. The problems posed in attempting to curb trafficking in art and antiquities are explored and the effectiveness of the current law is analysed.

The theft, trafficking, and falsification of cultural property and cultural heritage objects are crimes of a particularly complex nature, which often have international ramifications and significant economic consequences. Organized criminal groups of various types and origins are involved in these illegal acts.The book Crime in the Art and Antiquities World has contributions both from researchers specializing in the illegal trafficking of art, and representatives of international institutions involved with prevention and detection of cultural property-related crimes, such as Interpol and UNESCO.This work is a unique and useful reference for scholars and private and public bodies alike.This innovative volume also includes an Appendix of the existing legal texts, i.e. international treaties, conventions, and resolutions, which have not previously been available in a single volume.As anyone who has undertaken research or study relating to the protection of cultural heritage discovers one of the frustrations encountered is the absence of ready access to the multi- various international instruments which exist in the field. Since the end of the Second World War these instruments have proliferated, first in response to increasing recognition of the need for concerted multinational action to give better protection to cultural property during armed conflict as well as ensuring the repatriation of cultural property looted during such conflict. Thus the international community agreed in 1954 upon a Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict.That Convention, typically referred to as the Hague Convention of 1954, is now to be found reproduced in the Appendix to this book (Appendix I) together with 25 other important and diverse documents that we believe represent a core of the essentialinternational sources of reference in this subject area. In presenting these documents in one place we hope that readers will now experience less frustration while having the benefit of supplementing their understanding and interpretation of the various instruments by referring to individual chapters in the book dealing with a particular issue or topic. For example, Chapter 9 by Mathew Bogdanos provides some specific and at times rather depressing descriptions of the application in the field of the Hague Convention 1954, and its Protocols (Appendices II and III), to the armed conflict in Iraq. Reference may also be had to the resolution of the UN Security Council in May 2003 (Appendix VI) urging Member States to take appropriate steps to facilitate the safe return of looted Iraqi cultural property taken from the Iraq National Museum, the National Library and other locations in Iraq. Despite such pleas the international antiquities market seems to have continued to trade such looted property in a largely unfettered manner, as demonstrated by Neil Brodie in Chapter 7.Fittingly, as referred to in the Preface to this book, the last document contained in the Appendix (Appendix 26) is the “Charter of Courmayeur”, formulated at a ground breaking international workshop on the protection of cultural property conducted by the International Scientific and Professional Advisory Council (ISPAC) to the United Nations Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Program in Courmayeur, Italy, in June 1992. The Charter makes mention of many of the instruments contained in the Appendix while also foreshadowing many of the developments which have taken place in the ensuing two decades designed to combat illicit trafficking in cultural property through international collaboration and action in the arena of crime prevention and criminal justice.

Las obras de Arte Antiguo de los grandes museos del mundo tienen una historia que se cuenta y otra que se oculta. Sharon Waxman ha investigado esta última: la historia de cómo fueron saqueadas de sus países de origen. Una historia turbia de expolio, sobornos, tráfico, subastas y, en numerosas ocasiones, daño o destrucción. La autora realiza un apasionante recorrido tanto por los principales museos occidentales (el Louvre, el British Museum, el Metropolitan de Nueva York...), como por los lugares de procedencia de las antigüedades (Egipto, Turquía, Grecia, Italia...), evocando los episodios del pasado y analizando las demandas actuales de devolución de las piezas por parte de estos países.

This book offers a revealing look at the full scope of criminal activity in the art world—a category of crime that is far more pervasive than is generally realized.Forgeries, fakes, fencing, and felony theft—all are pervasive problems in the world of art, where the stakes are high, the networks wide, and the consequences profound. In recent years, suspicious acquisitions, unreliable provenances, and shady dealers have found their way into the headlines as museums and private collections have been confronted with everything from fake pieces to stolen antiquities to plain old theft and vandalism. Crimes of the Art World captures the full scope of this staggeringly lucrative field of criminal conduct, showing how its impact reaches well beyond the walls of the museum.Filled with fascinating stories of crime and greed, this revealing volume looks at case after case of thefts, forgeries, fakes, and illicit trafficking, as well as the political/religious victimization of art, white-collar art crime, and vandalism. The book examines each type of crime in terms of frequency, losses, and characteristics of victims and criminals. Concluding chapters focus on preventive measures, art crime investigation, and security issues.

Spektakuläre Kunstdiebstähle, Schmuggel nationaler Kunstschätze und illegaler Antikenhandel betreffen heute alle im Kunstmarkt Beteiligten. Sensationell sind die Restitutionsforderungen der aus jüdischem Besitz entzogenen Raubkunst, aus den besetzten Territorien geplünderten Beutekunst und die Sicherstellung der entarteten Kunst während der NS-Zeit. Die Bundesrepublik sehnt sich nach der in Russland lagernden Trophäenkunst. Erst heute werden die Verstaatlichungen privater und öffentlicher Kunst- und Antiquitätensammlungen innerhalb des Unrechtsregimes der DDR angeprangert. Brandaktuell ist schließlich die Diskussion um kolonial- und fundteilungsbedingte Kulturgutverlagerungen in den großen Museen der Welt. Band 1 eröffnet dem Leser die ganze Tragweite des illegalen Kulturgüterverkehrs aus tatsächlicher wie rechtlicher Sicht und verdeutlicht, in wie vielen Konstellationen die Handbücher zum Kulturgüterschutz und Kunstrestitutionsrecht für Museen, Kunsthandel, Auktionswesen und Privatsammler, insbesondere aber auch für öffentliche Institutionen, Behörden und ausländische Botschaften anwendbar sind.

Through the use of case examples and careful examination, this book presents the first interdisciplinary essay collection on the study of art crime, and its effect on all aspects of the art world. Contributors discuss art crime subcategories, including vandalism, iconoclasm, forgery, fraud, peace-time theft, war looting, archaeological looting, smuggling, submarine looting, and ransom. The contributors offer insightful analyses coupled with specific practical suggestions to implement in the future to prevent and address art crime. This work is of critical importance to anyone involved in the art world, its trade, study, and security.Art crime has received relatively little attention from those who study art to those who prosecute crimes. Indeed, the general public is not well-aware of the various forms of art crime and its impact on society at large, to say nothing of museums, history, and cultural affairs. And yet it involves a multi-billion dollar legitimate industry, with a conservatively-estimated $6 billion annual criminal profit. Information about and analysis of art crime is critical to the wide variety of fields involved in the art trade and art preservation, from museums to academia, from auction houses to galleries, from insurance to art law, from policing to security. Since the Second World War, art crime has evolved from a relatively innocuous crime, into the third highest-grossing annual criminal trade worldwide, run primarily by organized crime syndicates, and therefore funding their other enterprises, from the drug and arms trades to terrorism. It is no longer merely the art that is at stake.

Charting in detail the evolution of the international rules on the protection of historic and artistic sites and objects from destruction and plunder in war, this 2006 book analyses in depth their many often-overlapping provisions. It serves as a comprehensive and balanced guide to a subject of increasing public profile, which will be of interest to academics, students and practitioners of international law and to all those concerned with preserving the cultural heritage.

[Art Theft in War and Persecution. The Restitution of Looted and Stolen Art in the Conflict of Laws Provisions and International Law]In the course of the Second World War, the National Socialist persecution of the Jews in the German Reich and throughout the occupation period, an art theft to an extent previously unknown occurred. The predominantly international law debate concerning the return of the looted art from the Russian Federation and its neighbouring states to Germany is for the most part unsolved to this day. International conferences in London, Washington and Vilnius have formulated recommendations and declarations of intent (soft law) for dealing with this markedly civil law problem with regard to the restitution of cultural assets from Jewish ownership. In the Federal Republic of Germany, officials have made explicit endeavours aimed at the mutual declaration of the federal government, the states and the municipalities from 1999, and also to arrive at fair and equitable solutions within the scope returning cultural assets from public ownership that were removed under the aegis of National Socialism persecution. As a comprehensive compendium, the work applies to all individuals as well as institutions which are still affected today by these problems – in museums, collections, insurance companies, and also on the international art market in galleries and auction houses. It describes in a systematic presentation – in historical as well as juridical terms – the extremely complex subject matter of art theft in the Second World War (so-called “looted art”), in marked contrast to persecution-related dispossession of cultural assents from mostly Jewish provenience. In these frequently sensitive matters concerning the restitution of war-related, expropriated and/or persecution-related, removed cultural assets, questions arising from the realm of (international) private law, the intertemporal law of restitution and indemnification as well as international law are to be answered first and foremost.

Bringing the reader the very best of modern scholarship from the heritage community, this comprehensive reader outlines and explains the many diverse issues that have been identified and brought to the fore in the field of heritage, museums and galleries over the past couple of decades. The volume is divided into four parts: presents overviews and useful starting points for critical reflection focuses more specifically on selected issues of significance, looking particularly at the museum's role and responsibilities in the postmodern and postcolonial world concentrates on issues related to cultural heritage and tourism dedicated to public participation in heritage, museum and gallery processes and activities. The book provides an ideal starting point for those coming to the study of museums and galleries for the first time.

ROGUES IN THE GALLERY exposes it all: the cozy insurance ransom racket, the professional gangs of art thieves, the specialists, the connections with the international drug racket and the Mafia. Hugh McLeave has researched the whys and wherefores of the question for years, drawing on resources available to him through agencies such as Interpol, the FBI, the French, and Scotland Yard.