Art thefts are, sadly, big business, and the subject of reader interest, as can be seen in the reception of R. A. Scotti's Vanished Smile: The Mysterious Theft of Mona Lisa (2009). Now the nonprofit Association for Research into Crimes Against Art (ARCA) has announced the establishment of an academic journal, Journal of Art Crime, that will explore the subject, its history, and its aftermath. Although ARCA's Web site states that the first issue was due to be published in spring 2009, there are no articles, abstracts, or a table of contents posted.Praeger also has recently published Art and Crime: Exploring the Dark Side of the Art World (edited by ARCA director Noah Charney). In addition, ARCA has an interesting blog here, and podcasts, such as this one on the 1961 theft of Goya's Portrait of the Duke of Wellington (1812–14). There are sobering art theft statistics posted as well, such as:
- Estimate of annual criminal income through art crime: $6–8 billion
- Estimated value of artworks stolen from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston: $300-500 million
- Minimum number of reported art thefts worldwide each year: 50,000
1 comment:
Ok, this strikes me as a blast to read if a) you are planning to write a mystery involving art crime, b) you hate art, c) (and this is more me) you simply can't resist
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