Priceless by Robert K. Wittman (with John Shiffman) is a new book full of stories of fine art theft and the search for recovery of lost art and artifacts. The stories of art theft and sting operations are fun and full of unsavory characters, international intrigue, and potential pit falls.
FBI Art Crime Team
The Federal Bureau of Investigation used to have an Art Crime team and Robert Wittman was the founder of this unique team of art recovery experts. Charged with investigating and recovering stolen art, the FBI Art Crime team was like the Art League of Justice, traveling the globe meeting with thieves, players and other miscreants of the stolen art underworld.
Why Investigate Art Crimes?
So why is it important to recover stolen art? With all of the crime in the world, rape, murder, genocide, kidnapping, why is there merit in focusing on the recovery of stolen art and artifacts? Wittman has a passion for art and explains that the art thief steals culture and history from us all. A stolen Vermeer is a hole in art history that can never be replaced. Additionally, art thefts are perpetrated by gangsters and professional criminals who probably also have a hand in drug dealing, other major thefts and various criminal activities.
The Big Heist in Boston
Which leads, of course, to the most famous art theft in recent history, the armed robbery of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, Massachusetts in 1990. The stolen paintings include a Vermeer, three Rembrandts, several sketches by Edgar Degas and a Manet. Though Wittman initiated Operation Masterpiece to solve the mystery of the missing works, the case remains unsolved with a reward of $5 million yet unclaimed.
Art Theft is About Greed
Priceless carefully explains that art theft is about greed not about a love of art. Art theft has been treated romantically in movies and in the popular media. Some people imagine a wealthy art lover and sophisticated mobster with a secret art gallery that only he and his closest associates may enjoy. The reality is not so pretty.
The people who steal art are dangerous gangsters, mobsters and professional criminals who use the paintings to bargain with, and sometimes sell them for bargain basement prices just to be rid of their ill gotten booty. The reality is that most stolen art is very hard to resell or fence due to its lack of credible provenance. Art thieves steal art for the money, not for the art.
The Rise of Art Crime
Wittman describes how art theft became more popular as the price of art began to rise in the middle of the twentieth century. Unfortunately, many countries still do not take art theft as seriously as other forms of theft. In fact, the federal government of the United States didn’t consider the theft of art and antiquities a federal crime until 1995. In comparison, Italy employees over 100 art recovery detectives. (To be fair, Italy also has a high rate of art theft due to the large number of great artworks that are kept in small museums and churches around the country.)
No More FBI Art Crime Team
Priceless reveals an FBI as full of bureaucracy as any other big government organization. The FBI inner workings include excessive paperwork, infighting, and supervisors who are transferred every few years so that no one accumulates too much power or influence. When Wittman retires, the FBI Art Crime Team dissolves. Though the web site still exists, and FBI team of art crime fighters is no longer actively pursuing cases.
While Priceless will please the art crime aficionado, the writing sometimes tries a little too hard to sound like a hard-boiled detective novel. The beginning of Priceless is a bit side-tracked and bogged down by the unfortunate death of an FBI colleague. Wittman’s life and career, from entrepreneur to art theft law enforcement officer is satisfying and informative.
Priceless by Robert K. Wittman with John Shiffman, Crown Publishers, 2010. ($25.00)
Mary Rayme - Mary Rayme is a graphic designer and arts educator with a BFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore.
