Art theft not going away any time soon

From the Observer & Eccentric: Art theft not going away any time soon

With the recent release of the independent documentary film, The Missing Piece: The Truth about the Man Who Stole the Mona Lisa, questions surrounding why someone would steal a priceless, and equally recognizable piece of art, often arise. Stolen from a wall in a gallery at the Louvre 100 years ago (Aug. 21, 1911), the whereabouts of this extraordinary painting remained unknown for two years.

According to Eric Gibson in his piece in the Wall Street Journal on Feb. 15, 2008, “One of the main factors determining a work of art's value on the open market ... is a legitimate provenance, or ownership history. What thieves rarely recognize is that once artworks have been stolen from a museum, they have no provenance. They can't be sold, so they're really worth nothing.”

Gibson proposes that instead, art theft “may be driven primarily by art's easy availability and its high social profile.” Gibson may be onto something since it has been estimated that art theft is a $3-5 billion worldwide business which continues to grow each year.

International agencies such as INTERPOL, UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organizations) and ICOM (International Council of Museums) invest money, time and other resources every year to bring awareness to this problem. In addition, the FBI's Art Theft Program established a rapid deployment Art Crime Team in 2004. This team is composed of 13 special agents, each responsible for addressing art and cultural property crime cases in a specific geographic region.

So, if talk about thief of cultural property interests you, why not pick up Simon Houpt's Museum of the Missing: A History of Art Thief. If you enjoy the thrill of the hunt, Edward Dolnick's The Rescue Artist: The True Story of Art, Thieves and the Hunt for a Missing Masterpiece and Robert K. Wittman's Priceless: How I Went Undercover to Rescue the World's Stolen Treasures are must reads. Both authors do a great job of putting you in the middle of the action, as these nonfiction books read almost like fiction.

Much has been written about the valuable art works stolen by the Nazis. Perhaps one of the best written books on this topic is Robert M. Edsel's The Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History. Hector Feliciano's The Lost Museum: the Nazi Conspiracy to Steal the World's Greatest Works of Art is also a title that will keep you riveted to your seat.

If fiction is more your style, Norm Charney's The Art Thief follows three art thefts in three cities as they are simultaneously investigated. Any true mystery lover shouldn't pass up Ian Pears‘ mystery series featuring art historian Jonathan Argyll and Flavia di Stefano of Rome's Art Theft Squad.

So whether the largest - and yet unresolved - art theft in history which took place at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston in 1990, or the stolen Post-Impressionist paintings from the Buhrle Collection in Zurich and followed by two Picasso's stolen just four days later from a Swiss exhibition near Zurich gets your blood running, there is no shortage of information available for you.

If you want to find out more about art theft or just want to peruse art books bursting with color plates from some of your favorite artists, stop by the library to relax and enjoy the world of art. Call (734) 326-6123 or stop by the library seven days a week or check out our website at westlandlibrary.org 24/7 or Facebook.