IFAR Journal
Volume 14, No. 1/2
2013
It's Not Just Machu Picchu: Recovering Peru's Spanish Colonial Heritage
— Fortunato Quesada; Thomas B. F. Cummins; Frederic J. Truslow; Thomas Mulhall
The edited proceedings of an October 2012 IFAR Evening highlighting Peru’s recent attempts to recover Spanish Colonial objects that have left Peru illegally and the help provided by a photographic inventory created by IFAR in the 1980s of approximately 3,000 paintings in the churches of Cuzco, Peru. The Evening also provided an art historical overview of Spanish Colonial painting.
The Peruvian Perspective -- It's Not Just Machu Picchu: Recovering Peru's Spanish Colonial Heritage
— Fortunato Quesada
The Consul General of Peru in New York discusses the cultural richness of Peru and the problem of looting and illegal trafficking of Peruvian art.
Spanish Colonial Art: Changing Tastes, Evolving Risks -- It's Not Just Machu Picchu: Recovering Peru's Spanish Colonial Heritage
— Thomas B. F. Cummins
A professor of Pre-Columbian and Colonial Art at Harvard University provides a richly illustrated art historical overview of Spanish Colonial art and its continuing devotional and social value to the people of Peru.
The IFAR Inventory of Cuzco Churches and Its Lessons -- It's Not Just Machu Picchu: Recovering Peru's Spanish Colonial Heritage
— Frederic J. Truslow
An attorney and consultant to IFAR’s Cuzco Inventory discusses the origins and renewed importance of IFAR’s photographic inventory and presents the magnitude of art theft in Peru using before and after photos of stolen works and ravaged churches, as well as statistics culled from the Inventory project.
Homeland Security Investigations -- It's Not Just Machu Picchu: Recovering Peru's Spanish Colonial Heritage
— Thomas Mulhall
The Supervisory Special Agent of Homeland Security’s cultural art and antiquities program in New York describes his agency’s role in preventing the illegal trade in cultural property including the relevant U.S. laws used in cultural property crime investigations.
Anatomy of an Art Sting
— Charles Scribner III; Brenton Easter; Christopher A. Marinello; Robert K. Wittman; Robert E. Goldman
The edited proceedings of a December 2012 IFAR program where five distinguished speakers -- Charles Scribner III, Brenton Easter, Christopher A. Marinello, Robert K. Wittman, and Robert E. Goldman -- discussed the risks, the planning and the legal underpinnings of a successful art sting operation.
Rubens Meets Miami Vice: The Art of the Sting -- Anatomy of an Art Sting
— Charles Scribner III
An art historian of the Baroque period describes his experience as the art expert in an FBI sting operation to recover a Rubens painting stolen from a museum in Spain.
Undercover Operations: Homeland Security Investigations -- Anatomy of an Art Sting
— Brenton Easter
A Special Agent with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security / Homeland Security Investigations in New York discusses his department’s role in preventing cultural property crimes; the nature of undercover operations, including distinctions between civil and criminal investigations; and a few HSI success stories, including the case of Dr. Arnold-Peter Weiss.
The Art Loss Register -- Anatomy of an Art Sting
— Christopher A. Marinello
The Executive Director and General Counsel of the Art Loss Register (ALR) in London discusses his company’s role in recovering works of art including his participation in law enforcement sting operations.
The Undercover Operative -- Anatomy of an Art Sting
— Robert K. Wittman
The Former Senior Investigator and Founder of the FBI’s National Art Crime Team discusses three major international criminal investigations where FBI sting operations helped recover valuable works of art.
The Legal Perspective -- Anatomy of an Art Sting
— Robert E. Goldman
The first At-Large Prosecutor for the FBI’s National Art Crime Team emphasizes the need for cooperation between law enforcement and attorneys working on undercover investigations. He also discusses the entrapment defense and other pitfalls, and the ways in which domestic and international laws can impact undercover investigations.
News & Updates: Seized Dinosaur Back in Mongolia Will be Housed in New Museum; More Fossils to Follow
— Ann-Margret Gidley and Sharon Flescher
An update on a story reported previously in IFAR Journal. In May 2013 U. S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials returned an illegally exported Tyrannosaurus bataar skeleton to Mongolia. Additional skeletons will also be returned to Mongolia, and all will be housed in a new museum.
News & Updates: Settlement Talks Over Egyptian Mummy Mask Unravel
— Sharon Flescher
An update on a story followed by IFAR Journal since 2005. Talks between the Saint Louis Museum of Art and the Egyptian government over ownership of a mummy mask of Ka-Nefer-Nefer have broken down.
News & Updates: Bronze Rat and Rabbit Return to China Through Pinault Gift
— Sharon Flescher
In an update on a story reported previously in IFAR Journal, IFAR discusses the return to China of two bronze heads formerly in the collection of Yves-Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé, and later acquired by Franois Pinault. The heads were claimed by China as part of its cultural heritage when they were put up for auction at Christie’s Paris in 2009.
News & Updates: Appeals Court Says Prince Made “Fair Use” of (Most of) Cariou’s Copyrighted Photos; Cariou Plans to Ask Supreme Court to Review
— Ann-Margret Gidley and Sharon Flescher
An update on a lawsuit, Cariou v. Prince, reported on previously in IFAR Journal. In April 2013, a U.S. Court of Appeals reversed in part a lower court’s decision and ruled in favor of appropriation artist Richard Prince, saying most of the disputed works made “fair use” of copyrighted photographs by Patrick Cariou. Cariou’s attorney says they plan to petition for Supreme Court review.
News & Updates: Not What It Once Was: Artist’s Disavowal of Her Work Stands; Appeal Filed
— Ann-Margret Gidley and Sharon Flescher
An update on a New York court case previously reported in IFAR Journal concerning the dealer Marc Jancou’s lawsuit against Sotheby’s and the artist Cady Noland after the auction house withdrew from sale a work he had consigned that was later disavowed by the artist. The court dismissed Jancou’s breach of contract claim against Sotheby’s and his claim against Noland for tortious interference.
News & Updates: Met Returns Khmer Sculpture to Cambodia; Case Against Sotheby’s Allowed to Move Forward
— Ann-Margret Gidley and Sharon Flescher
An update on a case reported previously in IFAR Journal concerning Cambodian sculptures. The Metropolitan Museum of Art voluntarily returned two Khmer sculptures to Cambodia, while Cambodia’s suit against Sotheby’s for the return of a third Khmer sculpture, withdrawn from a sale in March, continues.
News & Updates: Herzog Heirs Win Appeal in Quest to Recover Nazi-Looted Art from Hungary
— Sharon Flescher and Ann-Margret Gidley
An update on a longstanding Holocaust era claim, De Csepel v. Hungary, against the Hungarian government by the heirs of Baron Herzog for the repatriation of 40 works of art formerly in Herzog’s collection. In April The U. S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit affirmed a lower court ruling allowing the Herzog heirs’ lawsuit against Hungary to proceed in the U.S. and reversed the lower court’s decision that the heirs could claim only 29 of the 40 works.
Stolen Art
Stolen items include Pierre Auguste Renoir’s Exterior View, stolen in South Australia; Jean Baptiste Tiepolo’s Study of Heads/ Two Male Heads, stolen in Kraainem, Belgium; Ernst Ludwig Kirchner’s Dancing Nude in the Studio, stolen in transit in Hannover, Germany; Alberto Giacometti’s Vue de l’atelier de l’artiste and Amedeo Modigliani’s Study for a Sculpted Head, stolen in New York City.
Recovered Art
Recovered items include Jan Van Goyen’s Harbour Scene (The Beach Scheveningen), stolen in London, England.
Missing Art
Missing items include Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo’s Bacchus and Ariadne; James Abbot McNeil Whistler’s The Palaces; and Charlie Mumblemoore’s Yellow Wandjina.
