Miscellany and Apocrypha: Crime

Showing posts with label Crime. Show all posts

It's hard out there for an art forger

This essay explains how making paintings that look exactly like other paintings may be the simplest part of forging art.

Two stories (and a novel) on art theft

A man recently sent a ransom demand for a stolen Klimt painting. It was stolen 18 years ago.

Here's a summary of a 1961 art heist--and the following trial--so weird and famous it made it into a James Bond movie. Spoiler: the thief (or was he?) was convicted for stealing the frame...but not the painting.

If you like your art heist adventures more on the fictional side, don't forget Donna Tartt's novel The Goldfinch.

People keep vandalizing Kapoor's sculpture at Versailles

Anish Kapoor's controversial sculpture at Versailles has been vandalized for the second time in six months.

Art, Crime

Did you know that Hyperallergic has a regular post about art crimes throughout the world? It's called...wait for it..."Crimes of the Art." It's fun.

Hooray for fakes?

Last week brought the funny story of guys who sold a fake painting...only to find they'd been paid in counterfeit money...and got arrested anyway.

And today I read that a lot--but sadly not all--of the statues we saw ISIS destroy in Mosul are replicas and not the ancient treasures they thought they were.

Museum of Stolen Art

A design student in New York has made a virtual-reality museum where you can go online to look at masterpieces that are currently unavailable in traditional museums because they were stolen.

Not all museums are created equal

This one, for example, sold off original works and replaced them with fakes.

An uplifting tale of theft and art

Here's a really sweet story about a 70 year-old retiree who gets to keep his stolen paintings by Gaugin and Bonnard. He plans to sell one for about $40 million, but he's keeping the other, which has been hanging on his kitchen wall for decades.

Weird headline of the week

"Drunk German soccer fans steal Email Nolde painting worth millions."

Remember: friends don't let friends drink and ~~drive~~ try to steal art. Even if your team wins the World Cup.

Art headline of the year

"Robert Rauschenberg painting helps solve 1950s murder."

The Forger

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Here (and here and here) are some links to the story of Mark Landis, an art forger who passed fakes off to dozens of museums, sometimes posing as a Jesuit Priest. But Landis has not been charged with any crime, because he never received any money for his forgeries. He just gave the (fake) art away. Apparently he feels philanthropy is the greatest feeling.

I don't know if this is a case of the truth being stranger than fiction, but it's surely a case where the truth feels like it came right out of fiction. Landis's story would make a great novel or film.

Maybe not stranger than fiction

But it's so strange it sounds like it could be fiction. A group of French underground--literally--artists and hackers use their skills to put on secret film festivals, help museums with their security flaws, and fix things. Conservative secret organization that illegally preserves national treasures? Only in France.

More auction news

Since no one came to my aid for the Rothko, and no one mentioned buying one of the canine portraits, I assume you're saving your money for something big. Here it is: Munch's The Scream is going to be auctioned in New York, and is expected to go for at least $80 million. Actually, it's one of four versions of The Scream; this New York Times blog has all four of them so you can compare. Good luck bidding! (Buyer be warned: The Scream seems to be a popular target for thieves.)

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