Art Fraud Detective

Art Fraud Detective
Author: Anna Nilsen
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2005
Genre: Art
ISBN: 9780753411957

Some of the priceless masterpieces have been stolen from the Town Gallery and replaced with forgeries, and it's up to you spot the clues and identify the fakes. This spot-the-difference game also contains facts about paintings, tips on the techniques of the Old Masters and a glossary of art terms.

Hot Art

Hot Art
Author: Joshua Knelman
Publisher: Tin House Books
Total Pages: 362
Release: 2012-03-06
Genre: True Crime
ISBN: 1935639382

"Hot Art traces Joshua Knelman's five-year immersion in the shadowy world of art theft, which takes him from Egypt to Los Angeles, New York to London, and back again, through a web of deceit, violence, and corruption. With a cool, knowing eye, Knelman delves into the lives of professionals such as Paul, a brilliant working-class kid who charmed his way into a thriving career organizing art thefts and running loot across the United Kingdom and beyond, and LAPD detective Donald Hrycyk, one of the few special investigators worldwide who struggle to keep pace with the evolving industry of stolen art. As he becomes more and more immersed in this world, Knelman learns that art theft is no fringe activity--it has evolved into one of the largest black markets inthe world, which even Interpol and the FBI cannot contain. Sweeping and fast-paced, Hot Art is a major work of investigative journalism and a thrilling joyride into a mysterious criminal world"--

Art Auction Mystery

Art Auction Mystery
Author: Anna Nilsen
Publisher: Kingfisher
Total Pages: 48
Release: 2005-10-13
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 9780753458426

Sixteen famous paintings from collections around the world have been stolen and replaced with clever forgeries. Now these fake paintings, along with sixteen others, are going up for auction. After an anonymous tip, the reader has to come to the rescue! By comparing the paintings to the originals, the reader has all the clues to figure out which paintings are real and which are fakes. Including work by the world's most famous artists, this book is part mystery, part puzzle, part art reference book, and all-over fun!

The Art of the Con

The Art of the Con
Author: Anthony M. Amore
Publisher: Macmillan + ORM
Total Pages: 275
Release: 2015-07-14
Genre: Art
ISBN: 1466879114

Art scams are today so numerous that the specter of a lawsuit arising from a mistaken attribution has scared a number of experts away from the business of authentication and forgery, and with good reason. Art scams are increasingly convincing and involve incredible sums of money. The cons perpetrated by unscrupulous art dealers and their accomplices are proportionately elaborate. Anthony M. Amore's The Art of the Con tells the stories of some of history's most notorious yet untold cons. They involve stolen art hidden for decades; elaborate ruses that involve the Nazis and allegedly plundered art; the theft of a conceptual prototype from a well-known artist by his assistant to be used later to create copies; the use of online and television auction sites to scam buyers out of millions; and other confidence scams incredible not only for their boldness but more so because they actually worked. Using interviews and newly released court documents, The Art of the Con will also take the reader into the investigations that led to the capture of the con men, who oftentimes return back to the world of crime. For some, it's an irresistible urge because their innocent dupes all share something in common: they want to believe.

The Art of Investigation

The Art of Investigation
Author: Chelsea A. Binns
Publisher: CRC Press
Total Pages: 271
Release: 2019-12-09
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0429757387

The Art of Investigation examines the qualities required to be a professional, thorough, and effective investigator. As the title suggests, it delves into more than the steps and procedures involved in managing an investigation, it also covers the "soft skills" necessary to effectively direct investigations and intuit along the way. The editors and contributing authors are the best in their field, and bring a wealth of real-world knowledge and experience to the subject. There are several publications available on the nuts-and-bolts of the process and stages of an investigation. That ground has been covered. However, little has been published on the investigative skills required, the traits necessary, and the qualities endemic to an inquisitive mind that can be cultivated to improve an investigator’s professional skill-set. Each chapter discusses the applicability of the traits to the contributor’s own work and experience as an investigator. In doing so, the contributors provide a story—or set of stories—from their personal experience, which demonstrates a given trait and its importance in the course of their investigative work and career. This will be first-hand experience that will serve to help any investigative professional in the course of their work. The case examples included throughout are sometimes surprising, but always engaging and insightful. An investigator must keep an open mind above all else, and this book will "lift the veil" on the inner workings of an investigation, in addition to the thought processes and inner monologues of an investigator as part of that process. Key Features • Chapters highlight the qualities and traits—the "soft skills"—that are required, and which can be improved over time, to be a thorough investigator. • A veritable "Who’s Who" of renowned investigative experts lend their personal expertise and experience to this how-to manual for investigators. • A unique approach is applied and provides self-help advice for both new and experienced investigative and security professionals. • The book focuses on the learned, acquired, and intuitive skills of investigation—a nuanced but essential aspect of the investigative skill-set. The Art of Investigation will be a welcome addition to any investigator’s toolkit and will also be of interest to students in criminal justice, security, and Homeland Security programs, security consultants, corporate and private security professionals, and the legal community.

Priceless

Priceless
Author: Robert K. Wittman
Publisher: Crown
Total Pages: 338
Release: 2011-06-07
Genre: True Crime
ISBN: 0307461483

The Wall Street Journal called him “a living legend.” The London Times dubbed him “the most famous art detective in the world.” In Priceless, Robert K. Wittman, the founder of the FBI’s Art Crime Team, pulls back the curtain on his remarkable career for the first time, offering a real-life international thriller to rival The Thomas Crown Affair. Rising from humble roots as the son of an antique dealer, Wittman built a twenty-year career that was nothing short of extraordinary. He went undercover, usually unarmed, to catch art thieves, scammers, and black market traders in Paris and Philadelphia, Rio and Santa Fe, Miami and Madrid. In this page-turning memoir, Wittman fascinates with the stories behind his recoveries of priceless art and antiquities: The golden armor of an ancient Peruvian warrior king. The Rodin sculpture that inspired the Impressionist movement. The headdress Geronimo wore at his final Pow-Wow. The rare Civil War battle flag carried into battle by one of the nation’s first African-American regiments. The breadth of Wittman’s exploits is unmatched: He traveled the world to rescue paintings by Rockwell and Rembrandt, Pissarro, Monet and Picasso, often working undercover overseas at the whim of foreign governments. Closer to home, he recovered an original copy of the Bill of Rights and cracked the scam that rocked the PBS series Antiques Roadshow. By the FBI’s accounting, Wittman saved hundreds of millions of dollars worth of art and antiquities. He says the statistic isn’t important. After all, who’s to say what is worth more --a Rembrandt self-portrait or an American flag carried into battle? They're both priceless. The art thieves and scammers Wittman caught run the gamut from rich to poor, smart to foolish, organized criminals to desperate loners. The smuggler who brought him a looted 6th-century treasure turned out to be a high-ranking diplomat. The appraiser who stole countless heirlooms from war heroes’ descendants was a slick, aristocratic con man. The museum janitor who made off with locks of George Washington's hair just wanted to make a few extra bucks, figuring no one would miss what he’d filched. In his final case, Wittman called on every bit of knowledge and experience in his arsenal to take on his greatest challenge: working undercover to track the vicious criminals behind what might be the most audacious art theft of all.

Provenance

Provenance
Author: Laney Salisbury
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 352
Release: 2009-07-09
Genre: History
ISBN: 1101105003

A tautly paced investigation of one the 20th century's most audacious art frauds, which generated hundreds of forgeries-many of them still hanging in prominent museums and private collections today Provenance is the extraordinary narrative of one of the most far-reaching and elaborate deceptions in art history. Investigative reporters Laney Salisbury and Aly Sujo brilliantly recount the tale of a great con man and unforgettable villain, John Drewe, and his sometimes unwitting accomplices. Chief among those was the struggling artist John Myatt, a vulnerable single father who was manipulated by Drewe into becoming a prolific art forger. Once Myatt had painted the pieces, the real fraud began. Drewe managed to infiltrate the archives of the upper echelons of the British art world in order to fake the provenance of Myatt's forged pieces, hoping to irrevocably legitimize the fakes while effectively rewriting art history. The story stretches from London to Paris to New York, from tony Manhattan art galleries to the esteemed Giacometti and Dubuffet associations, to the archives at the Tate Gallery. This enormous swindle resulted in the introduction of at least two hundred forged paintings, some of them breathtakingly good and most of them selling for hundreds of thousands of dollars. Many of these fakes are still out in the world, considered genuine and hung prominently in private houses, large galleries, and prestigious museums. And the sacred archives, undermined by John Drewe, remain tainted to this day. Provenance reads like a well-plotted thriller, filled with unforgettable characters and told at a breakneck pace. But this is most certainly not fiction; Provenance is the meticulously researched and captivating account of one of the greatest cons in the history of art forgery.

Artful Dodgers

Artful Dodgers
Author: Bernard Ewell
Publisher: Abbott Press
Total Pages: 366
Release: 2014-05-02
Genre: Design
ISBN: 1458215377

Who really knows how the art market works? Here, for the first time, art detective, veteran appraiser and international art expert Bernard Ewell opens the door and gives you a tour of the worlds most unregulated market, one unlike any other which does not even follow the rules of modern economics. There are actually two art markets, with one operating as if it was the other, while both depend on The Six Myths That Drive The Art Market. Perception is everything and pervasive secrecy is the unbreakable rule. The players, the con men and the larger than life personalities are better than the characters created by novelists. Youll meet the crooks and their victims and realize that both are actually our creation. We all participate in the fraud and foolishness that props up an art market that buys and sells civilizations greatest treasures and most horrible junk. Be prepared to put aside everything you think you know and have heard from art dealers and read in the press. The international auction houses, the big name galleries, superstar artists, and the museums are haunted by fakes and forgeries which collectors usually buy for all the wrong reasons. Arrogance or ignorance? Its both. The art market is where the intent to deceive meets contributory negligence and willful ignorance and most of those who have been defrauded dont even know it. This book will entertain you as it gives you the tools to more fully enjoy and safely buy art.

The Last Leonardo

The Last Leonardo
Author: Ben Lewis
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Total Pages: 402
Release: 2019-06-25
Genre: Art
ISBN: 1984819267

An epic quest exposes hidden truths about Leonardo da Vinci’s Salvator Mundi, the recently discovered masterpiece that sold for $450 million—and might not be the real thing. In 2017, Leonardo da Vinci’s small oil painting the Salvator Mundi was sold at auction. In the words of its discoverer, the image of Christ as savior of the world is “the rarest thing on the planet.” Its $450 million sale price also makes it the world’s most expensive painting. For two centuries, art dealers had searched in vain for the Holy Grail of art history: a portrait of Christ as the Salvator Mundi by Leonardo da Vinci. Many similar paintings of greatly varying quality had been executed by Leonardo’s assistants in the early sixteenth century. But where was the original by the master himself? In November 2017, Christie’s auction house announced they had it. But did they? The Last Leonardo tells a thrilling tale of a spellbinding icon invested with the power to make or break the reputations of scholars, billionaires, kings, and sheikhs. Ben Lewis takes us to Leonardo’s studio in Renaissance Italy; to the court of Charles I and the English Civil War; to Amsterdam, Moscow, and New Orleans; to the galleries, salerooms, and restorer’s workshop as the painting slowly, painstakingly emerged from obscurity. The vicissitudes of the highly secretive art market are charted across six centuries. It is a twisting tale of geniuses and oligarchs, double-crossings and disappearances, in which we’re never quite certain what to believe. Above all, it is an adventure story about the search for lost treasure, and a quest for the truth. Praise for The Last Leonardo “The story of the world’s most expensive painting is narrated with great gusto and formidably researched detail in Ben Lewis’s book. . . . Lewis’s probings of the Salvator’s backstory raise questions about its historical status and visibility, and these lead in turn to the fundamental question of whether the painting is really an autograph work by Leonardo.”—Charles Nicholl, The Guardian “As the art historian and critic Ben Lewis shows in his forensically detailed and gripping investigation into the history, discovery and sales of the painting, establishing the truth is like nailing down jelly.”— Michael Prodger, The Sunday Times

Art Detective

Art Detective
Author: Doris Kutschbach
Publisher: Prestel
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2023-08-31
Genre: Art
ISBN: 9783791375694

Now available in paperback, this highly engaging book teaches young readers about great works of art by challenging them to spot the difference between the original and a sly forgery. From Michelangelo to Picasso, art history is filled with stories of spectacular forgeries that have stumped the greatest scholars of their time. It is from this fascinating angle that young readers learn about the great works of art in this fun and educational book. Set in an imaginary museum, it presents reproductions of famous art works alongside "forgeries." Readers are asked to play detective as they examine each painting closely, looking for the differences. Along the way a small cartoon sleuth leads them through the paintings, uncovering technical and historical details that enhance readers' appreciation and knowledge. Whether they're examining Seurat's painting of an afternoon scene on the island of La Grande Jatte; an arrangement of flowers by Sargent; van Gogh's Starry Night; or Rousseau's Exotic Landscape, readers will be playfully drawn into the world of great art and no doubt eager to examine other works first hand.