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January 28, 2025

Tuesday, January 28, 2025 - No comments

An Interview with Noah Charney – founder of ARCA

By Edgar Tijhuis*

Introduction

Dr. Noah Charney founded ARCA in 2006 while still a postgraduate student. He will lecture during ARCA's summer training programmes on his area of expertise: the motives and methods of forgers.

How did you get into art crime?

I became interested in art crime during my postgraduate studies in London at The Courtauld Institute, where I pursued an MA in art history. Initially torn between playwrighting and art history, I chose the latter after encouragement from professors who felt playwrighting could be self-taught.

While studying, I combined my love of art and writing, gaining experience through summer jobs at Christie’s and the Yale British Arts Center. Around this time, The Da Vinci Code and The Thomas Crown Affair remake inspired me to write my debut novel, The Art Thief, blending suspense with accurate art-world research. Its success enabled me to become a full-time writer.

What led you to the concept of an association dedicated to studying art crime?

Researching The Art Thief revealed art crime as an underdeveloped academic field with little structured study.  As I began a PhD at Cambridge on the history of art theft, I organised the first-ever art crime conference, bringing together law enforcement agencies working in the field, including folks with the FBI, Metropolitan Police, the Carabinieri, and academics, thinking academics, art historians, museum professionals, art conservators, and archaeologists could help inform future police enforcement.

The conference gained unexpected attention when The New York Times Magazine featured it, labelling me as a trailblazer pioneer in the field. This success led me to establish ARCA (the Association for Research into Crimes against Art) to bring together and to connect specialists and to promote the serious study of art crime. At the time, there were only a few dozen experts in the field, and no specialised training programs, so I decided we needed to create one. 

What has ARCA achieved?

ARCA has significantly advanced art crime studies. In 2009, we launched the first postgraduate program focused on art crime, held in a picturesque Italian town. The same year, we introduced The Journal of Art Crime, the first peer-reviewed journal in this focused area and hosted the first annual "Amelia" art crime conference.

Many of our forensic analysts and directors in allied sectors. We’ve expanded into documentaries, partnerships with companies like Samsung, and recently launched a book series with Bloomsbury.

Initially, ARCA was a homemade effort from me and my wife, but overtime many others got involved and took over the leadership of ARCA, allowing me to focus on teaching and advocacy.

Today, ARCA continues to grow, connecting academia, law enforcement, and the art world to deepen everyone's understanding of art crime.

What is the purpose of the course you are teaching this summer?

I teach a concise course on art forgery, a subject of my book The Art of Forgery (2015).  A new edition is due in late 2025 with Bloomsbury.

Forgery is a fascinating topic, filled with quirky characters and surprising stories. My approach was the first to apply a criminological framework to what had been anecdotal studies of individual forgers. One concept I developed is “the provenance trap,” which highlights how criminals manipulate provenance research to deceive experts into authenticating forgeries.

Which forger fascinates you the most?

Lothar Malskat stands out for his humorous story. He included hidden “time bombs” in his forged medieval frescoes, such as a turkey and a portrait of Marlene Dietrich, to prove he was a forger. Determined to expose himself, he even sued himself, acting as both the defendant and the prosecution!

What is it like in Amelia, where ARCA's summer program is based?

Amelia is an idyllic Umbrian hilltop town. I discovered it while teaching at Yale University, where their Italian language program was transitioning to Siena. Amelia sought a new academic program, and it was a perfect fit for ARCA.

The town is small enough that our students and professors bring economic and cultural liveliness. It’s ancient, charming, and not overly touristy, offering an authentic Italian experience. Our participants often feel “adopted” by the locals and return frequently to visit.

Amelia is also close to Rome yet affordable, making it an ideal location for our program as it keeps the costs down.  Even best-selling author Daniel Silva, whose protagonist is an art restorer, used to summer here and set a scene in one of his novels at the city's local gelateria.

What is special about this program?

Our programme was groundbreaking when it launched and remains the most comprehensive interdisciplinary programming in art and antiquities crime out there.  It combines group and individualised classroom learning with the experience of living in a beautiful Italian town.

We organize amazing field classes which are connected to the courses, evaluating risk management at museums and exploring endangered Etruscan tombs. It’s a unique blend of intense academia and real-world experiences.

Which course would you like to take yourself?

I’d love to take all the courses, but if I had to choose, it would be Tasha Dobbin Bennett’s. She’s a professor at Oxford College at Emory University and an accomplished Egyptologist and bioarchaeologist. After completing our program herself, she joined our faculty, and her course is a fantastic addition.

Any advice for participants coming to Amelia?

Just go for it. It will be one of the most enriching summers of your life, both academically and personally. And don’t forget to enjoy the cappuccinos!


* Edgar Tijhuis is the Academic Director of ARCA. 


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