Checking in...
Crimes against art never end
Many, if not most, of you know that I’m in the midst of a political campaign. As a result, my postings here have taken a second seat to vying for the role of State Auditor in Massachusetts.
But art crime waits for no one.
Here are some extraordinary tales that I wanted to bring to your attention:
A $2 million tabernacle was stolen from a Brooklyn church. Chris Marinello at Art Recovery International posted an interesting story about theft and recovery of such an object in his old neighborhood here.
Proving my frequently-made point that museum security professionals must be on guard for vandalism at least as much as they are for theft, a miscreant attempted to smash the glass protecting Leonardo’s Mona Lisa before smearing a cake on the glass. Fortunately, the painting was not damaged.
The question over the authenticity of Basquiat paintings on display in Orlando has brought the FBI into the mix.
Basquiat forgeries (among many others) led to an arrest a Florida gallery. (Kudos to Sarah Cascone at ArtNet for her coverage of this story)
Yet more Basquiat: would-be thieves attempt to steal one of his works in Manhattan.
Elsewhere the FBI is offering an $8,000 reward for information related to a three-year-old art heist. No Basquiat this time.
Getty conservators complete very complex work on the De Kooning stolen from the University of Arizona decades ago. (I received an invite to a special viewing at the Getty next week but, alas, cannot make it. How I wish I could!)
These are, unfortunately, just a sampling of what’s been going on over the past few weeks. More to come as time permits!