Art Crime

From the looting of antiquities and Nazi theft to the seizure of paintings right off museum walls, the world of international art crime is both fascinating and diverse. In a dynamic learning environment that supplements class time with site visits and guest lectures from world-renowned art crime specialists, students will engage in an intensive study of this high-stakes arena, where millions of dollars as well as the reputations of premier cultural institutions and experts are on the line. Students will learn how fakes enter the art market and what methods are used to determine whether a work of art is authentic or a forgery, as well as investigate how and when stolen or looted works are returned to their rightful owners. Hands-on activities such as a connoisseurship workshop will allow students to engage directly with the topics discussed.

Using case studies of the most notable art crimes of the past three centuries, students will be introduced to basic legal and ethical issues specific to the art market, guided by an expert educator. Students will discover how two unarmed men posing as police officers could steal a dozen famous artworks valued at nearly $500 million right off the walls of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. Students will also look at works of art stolen by the Nazis that were then ultimately returned to their rightful heirs, such as the captivating case of Gustav Klimt’s Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I, currently in the collection of New York’s Neue Galerie, and profiled in the 2015 film Woman in Gold.