[MSN] Art theft, according to Interpol, is the fourth largest crime worldwide after drugs, money laundering and arms sale. Sujit Chowdhury takes us through the history of art theft and the motive behind this organised crime.

[MSN]

Art theft, according to Interpol, is the fourth largest crime worldwide
after drugs, money laundering and arms sale. Sujit Chowdhury takes us
through the history of art theft and the motive behind this organised crime.

The latest theft of four paintings from Emile Bührle Foundation, Zürich on
February 11, 2008 has raised serious concerns about crime and security in
the art world. It was one of the largest art theft in Europe as the
estimated value of these paintings was $163 million. Incidentally, two
paintings, Claude Monet’s Poppies near Vetheuil (1879) and Van Gogh’s
Chestnut in Bloom (1890) were found in perfect condition in an abandoned car
near the museum on the night of February 19. Other two paintings, Edgar
Degas’ Count Lepic and his Daughters (1871) and Paul Cezanne’s Boy in a Red
Jacket (1888) are still missing and the thieves are at large. A week before
this incident, two of Picasso’s oil paintings, valued at $4.4 million, were
stolen from the nearby town of Pfäffikon. 
Art theft, according to Interpol, is the fourth largest crime worldwide
after drugs, money laundering and arms sale. FBI estimates that the annual
loss on art theft is as high as $6 billion on an average per year. There are
30,000 works of stolen art in Interpol database. The rate of recovery is
usually very marginal as most of the stolen art goes to the underworld as
collateral or payment against drug or arms deal as stolen art is difficult
to be sold in the open market. 

Some experts believe that art is also stolen ‘on order’ by a prospective
buyer. There are cases that indicate a systematic and meticulous planning
before the actual theft as a crane and a flatbed truck were used to steal a
two tonne bronze sculpture, A Reclining Figure by Henry Moore in December
2005. In all, art theft has increasingly become an organised crime having
serious ramifications across the globe. 
 
A historical study of theft of art and antiquity throws light on diverse
aspects varying from an idiosyncratic incident to an organised plundering
and from an act of sycophancy to a lucrative hi-tech crime. Innumerable
antiquities and art work were seized, confiscated and looted during
Napoleon’s war expeditions and Nazi rule. During recent times, priceless
artefacts were plundered out of Afghanistan and Iran. Sources reveal that
probably the sale proceeds in the black market have been used to fund
narco-terrorist activities and these invaluable pieces have been smuggled to
Japan. Countries like France, Belgium and Switzerland, being non-signatory
to any such international conventions or due to their laws, are ‘safe
heaven’ for stolen art. Statistics show that most of the art are recovered
in a country other than from where it was stolen. England has the highest
figure of stolen art followed by the USA.  

The first recorded individual art theft goes back to 1878 in which Adam
Worth, a notorious thief and gambler, stole Gainsborough’s The Duchess of
Devonshire from an art the dealer. His motive was to negotiate release of
his accomplice failing which he returned the painting to the same art dealer
in 1901 for $ 25,000. In 1911, the theft of Mona Lisa from Louvre made
headline worldwide. Initially, the police was clueless but finally it was
found that Vincenzo Peruggia, an Italian working in Louvre, had removed the
painting as he considered it to be an Italian national treasure. Peruggia
was caught two years later in Italy and the painting was returned to Louvre.

Since it is difficult to sell paintings in art market, many stolen paintings
have not been recovered as the thieves have died without leaving any
whereabouts of these paintings. One panel from a 15th century Altarpiece
called The Just Judges painted by Van Eyck Brothers was stolen in 1934 and
the suspected thief died long back. 

Sometimes, the stolen pieces are sold to art galleries. It used to happen
when Provenance Research for art collection or registration of sale were not
mandatory. One such example is the recovery of three paintings of Georgia
O’Keeffee stolen from Alfred Stieglitz Gallery in 1946 from Princeton
Gallery of Fine Arts which had purchased the paintings for $35,000.
Interestingly, there have been stage-managed cases of theft for fraudulent
insurance claim. 

In 1999, Steven Cooperman, a doctor in the US, was convicted for arranging
theft of two paintings from his home to claim $17.5 million. There are cases
of maniac art thieves who just want to have their private collection as the
case of Stephen Breitwieser who admitted to have stolen 238 artworks from
various places in Europe and was finally convicted in 2005. There are expert
art thieves or dealers in stolen art like Charles Abithol from Canada who
has been in jail in seven countries. 

Apart from the organised theft for sale in the underworld, the prospect of a
reward or a ransom is quite alluring. Here ‘criminal venture capitalists’
enter the scene as they buy the paintings for nominal value and return it
for rewards, earning a hefty profit. That is the reason most of the thefts
take place in high-value and low-security private collections and art
galleries. According to the figures available, 61 per cent of artwork have
been stolen from private residences followed by museums and galleries (19
per cent) and churches (9 per cent). For instance, the Russborough House in
Ireland was robbed four times and paintings were stolen. 

The main factor that encourages art theft is low-risk and high reward
involved in the heist. The punishment is considerably lower than other
offences while the reward is very high. To substantiate, for stealing Edward
Munch’s iconic painting The Scream in Norway, the thieves got only six and
four years imprisonment while the reward announced was phenomenal. The
highest reward announced for a stolen painting is Vermeer’s The Concert ($ 5
million) followed by da Vinci’s Madonna with Infant ($ 1.8 million),
Picasso’s Portrait of Dora Maar ($690,000), Van Gogh’s View of the Sea
($330,000), Lucian Freud’s Portrait of Francis Bacon ($ 187,000) among many
others. Among the painters, Van Gogh is the most sought after as 16 of his
paintings have been stolen over the years from various locations. The
biggest theft in the history was in 1990 when 12 paintings worth $ 300
million were stolen from The Gardner Museum in Boston and till date none is
recovered. 

To provide information on stolen art and to facilitate recovery, Art Loss
Register was set up in 1991 by international auction houses, insurance
companies and art dealers. 

It was only in the last year that Association for Research into Crimes
against Art (ARCA), a non-profit organisation, was set up to raise the issue
of art theft on various international platforms and to assist the
governments and law enforcement agencies.

http://www.deccanherald.com/

______________________________________
http://www.museum-security.org
http://www.museumbeveiliging.com
http://www.handboekveiligheidszorgmusea.nl
______________________________________