Art & crime
Book - 2021
"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"--
- Subjects
- Published
-
New York, NY :
Seven Stories Press
[2021]
- Language
- English
German - Main Author
- Other Authors
- ,
- Item Description
- Translated from the German.
- Physical Description
- xvii, 285 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (chiefly color) ; 24 cm
- Bibliography
- Includes bibliographical references.
- ISBN
- 9781644211199
- Light and Shadow: an Introduction
- 1. Stolen, Robbed, Kidnapped
- Of legendary museum thefts, "art-napping," and the 220-pound gold coin
- 2. The Disappearance of the Original
- The second decline of the avant-garde
- The myth of Modigliani-how classic modernism is systematically counterfeited
- Hitler's telephone and Thorak's horse-the trade in genuine and counterfeit Nazi paraphernalia
- Mornings Picasso, afternoons Dali-mass deception with copied graphic reproduction
- India ink and Italian red wine-the trade in forged books
- 3. Cultural History Destroyed
- The international smuggling and illegal excavation of antiquities
- 4. When Dictators Collect
- The art market, the international kleptocracy, and ethics
- 5. The Fakes President
- Donald Trump and Art
- 6. Art Investment as Fraud
- Helge Achenbach and the Aldi connection
- 7. Dirty Money and Clean Art
- Van Gogh in the basement, Basquiat in a box-how the art market serves international money laundering
- Freeports-the dark rooms of the global art business
- Conclusions: Ten questions about art and crime
- Photo insert credits
- Acknowledgments
- Notes