Marc Balcells Magrans is a Fulbright scholar, a Spanish criminologist, and a criminal lawyer. He currently lives in New York where he is completing a PhD in Criminal Justice. His research focuses on art crime and its relationship to terrorism and organized crime, as well as museum security and its connection to art crimes and theoretical criminology. He has taught several courses on International Criminal Law and Spanish Criminal Law and Criminology, he has published internationally, and he has served as a media consultant for art crime issues.

Marc Balcells’ research has led him to study the looting of the Baghdad Museum during the war; museum security; the value of art as a catalyst for looting throughout history; and a small ethnography on boredom of museum guards at the Metropolitan Museum.

He speaks Catalan, Spanish, English, Italian, French and German.

ARCA Blog: Marc, you are enrolled in this summer’s ARCA program for the study of art crime and the protection of cultural heritage in Amelia, Italy. What attracted you to the program and what are your expectations about the courses, the instructors and the students? And have you ever lived in Italy or in a medieval city in Umbria?

ARCA Blog: As a frequent visitor to museums, I have been curious about the people who guard the art. In the United States you studied the museum security guards at the Metropolitan Museum. What did you learn from that study?

ARCA Blog: The guards who left the biggest impression on me were those employed by the archaeological museum in Napoli. The impressive collection of mostly artifacts from Pompeii are housed in a sprawling building with large French doors which were flung open in the hot July afternoon I visited. The guards wore thick rubber sole shoes and appeared casually dressed. They didn’t appear to be a threat to anyone. However, then we remembered that Napoli is protected by organized crime and thought only a fool would steal from that museum. What makes an effective security guard?

ARCA Blog: What is situational crime prevention and how did you relate it to museum security?

ARCA Blog: In places of civil unrest, museums like the National Museum in Baghdad are raided and the objects sold on the secondary market outside of the country. What can countries do to protect their cultural assets in these cases? What was learned from the looting of the Baghdad museum?

ARCA Blog: You speak numerous languages and studied Classics in Humanities before focusing on criminology. What do you envision for yourself as a dream occupation after you have completed your studies?

“The Art Law Group at Lysaght, Lysaght & Ertel counsels clients on all legal issues related to the acquisition, retention, and disposition of fine art, and rights to works of artistic creation. The firm handles litigation, alternate dispute resolution, and transactions that concern works of art, the art market, and the art world. It assists clients with the purchase, consignment, sale, and auction of art, organizing and implementing major exhibitions, structuring business agreements, drafting contracts, complying with customs procedures, recovering stolen work for collectors and insurance companies, and advising clients on criminal matters.”

“The members of the firm have had great success in both litigation and transactional work, including recovering large monetary judgments in complex litigations. In addition, the founding partners of the firm are avid art collectors and involved in the art markets in both New York City and Chicago.”

Leila: The most difficult task is marketing the group. There are a few very well-known law firms in the US that have wonderful art law groups, and naturally clients turn to those firms first. Being the new kid in town is challenging, but we’re hoping that members of the art community will begin to recognize LLE as one of New York’s top art law firms.

Leila: Because we’re a smaller firm, we have lower operating expenses, meaning that we’re able to charge less for our services. Clients will be able to get high-level work, but for lower prices.

Leila: Basically, the same as any other group. Clients call us with questions about their legal situations, ranging from negotiating contracts between galleries and artists, litigating for the sale of paintings, filing trademarks, or dealing with criminal investigations regarding provenance. Clients can be very emotional about their legal issues, and it’s our job to analyze their situations rationally to find the best solution for each unique situation. We do our best to use legal tools to properly advise our clients and protect their interests.

Leila: Clients are concerned about the provenance of their objects. Collectors are beginning to realize that provenance is extremely important. If they do not complete their due diligence of provenance research, they could have much bigger and more costly problems later down the line. In order to substantiate ownership, LLE works with provenance researchers in the US and Europe.

Leila: I haven’t yet worked on any Holocaust-era art restitution cases, but it’s an area that I’m deeply interested in, and I would love to work on a matter related to World War II looted art.

Leila: Certainly, it’s very necessary, and it’s a rule that I follow myself. As an art collector, I always research a piece’s history, and I keep dated receipts and information about where I purchased an object. It is necessary for clients to research the history of an artwork. If there isn’t a history attached to the piece, then purchasers should keep all current records: receipts, information about the seller of the object (whether it be a business card or name of the seller), etc.

Leila: As you can imagine, the artists are most concerned with their art. They need to be guaranteed that their art will be safe and protected against theft, fire, and damage. In addition, they need to be ensured that they will have unsold items returned and that they will receive proper credit for their work. And artists need to feel comfortable with their agents and galleries—they must know that these individuals respect their art and their craft.

On the other hand, gallery owners are most concerned about having products delivered to them. Artists have the reputation of being unreliable, and gallery owners need contracts that specifically set out dates and deadlines to ensure that artists deliver their works safely and securely with enough time for the galleries to properly organize shows.

This podcast features Part II of Noah Charney's "The World Wishes To Be Deceived: A Brief History of Art Forgery" delivered as a part of Venice in Peril's 2nd Exclusive Art Crime Lecture held on April 5, 2011 at the Royal Geographical Society in London. In the lecture, Charney discusses the differences between fakes, forgeries, and copies as well as highlights a few of the most interesting cases from the past 500 years. Access the podcast at ARCA's iTunes page or by clicking this link.

Ms. Toleikis: I came from Canada to London to do a masters degree in Art History and Business at Sotheby's Institute. My thesis focused on restitution policies in the United Kingdom, the United States and Russia. Through research and interviews I became highly interested in art restitution. I began to work in a modern British art gallery and continued to read art market related cases, becoming interested in theft and forgery. A family friend recommended I take the postgraduate program at ARCA. The course enabled us to be taught by experts in each of the fields including policing, law, insurance, security, criminology and members of the art trade. I was impressed with how many professional branches are involved in art crime related cases. This is a unique field where numerous expertise are required. Living and learning in Amelia was a great exposure into true Italian culture.

Ms. Toleikis: For my thesis at ARCA, I focused on theft from national heritage homes within the United Kingdom. Burglaries are an issue with numerous heritage homes in the UK. I combined data based upon the type of entry and what was stolen from the heritage homes in conjunction with prosecution rates within the English legal system. Building on previous cases I analyzed approach of the current legal system in regards to burglary. Notorious groups such as the Johnson family, a group of travelers, targeted heritage homes throughout the country for years prior to being apprehended and charged. Although there has been a recent rise in theft of porcelain, collections of sliver and other antiques have been targeted as well. In 2005 a large Henry Moore statue was taken, garden architecture is also targeted as it does not involve entering the house. While it may appear that items taken consist of primarily small works this is not the case as seen in the theft of a Henry Moore statue in 2005.

Ms. Toleikis: In regards to the gallery, since the course I have become much more aware of the prints and paintings we handle. We complete provenance research for our clients and while many of the paintings may have had only one previous owner prior to the artist, it is important to have this information available for our clients. As we acquire a number of works through auction it is important that we complete our own analysis of the work prior to bidding. In Autumn last year (2010) we had an exhibition of one of our artists work that was outside the gallery, in a different location within London. One night, someone broke in and took some of the paintings. As a result we put the works up on the Art Loss register. It is important to remember that while the painting removed may not be a Picasso or a Van Gogh, all forms of art can be a target for thieves. When working in a gallery it is important to document all the work, even a simple photograph, size and title of the work will help in locating the work in the future.

For the legal office, I work for a barrister completing research on art related cases of Nazi looted theft and restitution. I have also helped in writing and reviewing books in both legal and non legal related fields. Working for the legal office in art related claims is an amazing opportunity as I am able to combine my interest in restitution policies and long term loan programs for museums and other institutions, while furthering my knowledge through legal cases.

Ms. Toleikis: All fairs, whether national or international are vetted prior to the opening of the fair. The art in each of the stands is examined by a panel. If there are any questionable pieces of art the galleries are asked to remove the work from the fair. They are then able to handle issues of looted or fake work within their company. It is rare that a gallery would allow this to happen as it would project them in a bad light. In larger international fairs such as TEFAF, where there are paintings, antiques and jewellery theft can be an issue. In 2008 a group of people entered the fair and tried on jewellery. They then came back the next day and stole a large amount of it. While security is on hand at art fairs, there are often so many people coming through that it is difficult to regulate each individual.

Ms. Toleikis: Upon completing my law degree I hope to move towards working with restitution based cases or ownership disputes. I am interested in helping establish long-term loan agreements or other forms of compensation for ownership. I also hope to expand my knowledge to help smaller institutions as well such as galleries and local museums to provide a system of how to handle or what to do when legal claims are brought against an institution whether it be copy right issues, damage or theft.

In 18th century Britain, “paragraph men” visited coffee houses in London picking up anecdotes and news behaved like today’s bloggers trolling the Internet who recycle material from other blogs.

“Paragraph men” collected scandalous gossip about public figures on pieces of paper that they would take to the printing shop, either for a fee or to promote themselves, and published scandal sheets about the sex lives of famous people. The only way to defend against these ‘scandal mongers,’ who earned nicknames like “Bruiser” and “Viper”, was to resort to physical fights.

In France, defying the censors, newsmongers (nouvellistes de bouche) sought information from gatherings at special benches in the Tuileries or Luxembourg Gardens or under the tree of Cracow in the Palais-Royal, then transfer these oral “anecdotes” to written snippets of gossip that would later be printed in newspapers published outside of France but circulated within the country. Since the entire process was illegal, those mentioned as the subjects of gossip had no recourse in the courts for ‘libel’ but also engaged in combat with the writers, including, once, France’s greatest poet, Voltaire.

Historian Robert Darnton shared this information Thursday night at The Getty Center in his talk, “Blogging Now and Then (250 Years Ago)”, in a lecture that complimented the new exhibit, “Paris: Life and Luxury in the 18th century” which opened April 26 at The Getty Center in Brentwood.

Robert Darnton, Carl H. Pforzheimer University Professor and director of the University Library at Harvard University, examined, according to the J. Paul Getty Museum’s website, “how anecdotes, dispensed by ‘newsmongers’ and ‘paragraph men’, became a staple in the daily diet of news consumed by readers in 18th-century France and England. Anecdotes were also pilfered, reworked, and served up in books. By tracking anecdotes through texts, we can reassess a rich strain of history and literature.”

“We are living through a revolution ever bit as big as the time of Gutenberg,” Dr. Darnton told his audience after an introduction that identified him as the “rock star” of scholars in 18th century literary and cultural history and the author of numerous prize-wining books in European history.

“It’s uncomfortable,” he said. He said that this deluge of information sometimes created a need for readers to make sense of it all, but he said that there is a “fragmentary characteristic of information in general.”

Websites such as The Drudge Report and The Huffington Post collect stories of scandal and gossip mongering that is “not so trivial”, Darnton said. He quoted Stendhal’s opinion about collecting anecdotes and said that the mania for anecdotes was essential in the 18th century.

Dr. Darnton showed a photo of The Talking Statue of Rome, an ancient Roman sculpture nicknamed Pasquino, often covered by poems about the scandalous behavior of cardinals in the 16th century, and used through the ages, including the student uprisings in 1968, and from where “many current graffiti descends.”

“Information comes in fragments and inked in niches in the surrounding environment,” Dr. Darnton said.

Just as modern bloggers recycle material from other blogs, the scandalous gazettes repeated information. Snippets of information about the sexual or private lives of politicians were treated much like the tweets of today.

“However, 21st century blogs are not the same as 18th century anecdotes,” Dr. Darnton said. “I will point out the differences to understand information, how tidbits circulate, and peculiar to time and place.”

Blogs undercut revenue from newspapers, reducing jobs in journalism by 16,000 in 2008, according to Dr. Darnton. Online news is short and you can begin blogging effortlessly. Readers seek out aggregating websites like The Huffington Post that through searches “comb” websites for information. This marginal reporting is comparable to ‘hack writing’ in the 18th century.

“Ancedotes in the 18th century were seen as ‘true’ and ‘secret’, ‘suppressed’ by the king,” Dr. Darnton said. But anecdotes were also gathered by Byzantine historian Procopius whose “Secret History, The Anekdota” detailed the sordid and private lives of the court of Emperor Justinian and his wife Theodora.

Other anecdotes were copied into books such as the English translation of “The Private Life of Lewis XV” owned by George Washington who, alas, Dr. Darnton said, did not leave any notes in the margins of his copy.

Dr. Darnton said, “Anecdotes were the secret history, the underground literature, understood to be half truths.”

These “scraps of paper” which were the “echo of public noises” transferred information from the oral system to writing and then to print. They have been found at the Bastille and were collected and pasted into journals, assembled in chronological order, and sold underground as books.

Dr. Darnton suggests rethinking literature based upon the ‘fragmentary nature of information” and “how it is re-worked.”

“Don’t dismiss gossip as trivial,” he said. “Oral transmittal of news was terribly important.” Even the police compiled a gazette by gathering these anecdotes through thousands of spies. Some salons such as Madame Doublet’s met regularly to “cobble together” these anecdotes to make money, and these books by anonymous writers have disappeared from literary history, according to Dr. Darnton.

Someone from the audience asked Dr. Darnton if these anecdotes were used for political change and lead to the French Revolution.

“It’s similar to Egypt or Libya today,” Dr. Darnton responded. “No one foresaw the revolution.” People knew many anecdotes revealing the private lives of the aristocrats, including a coffee spilling incident where the King of France’s mistresses spoke to him as if he were nothing more than a servant, and the accumulated effect of repetition “builds up mythology”.

“Bastille only had seven people imprisoned on the day it was stormed,” Dr. Darnton said. “But in 1778/1789 it was all about the perception of events.”

A: Sergent Enquêteur Jean-François Talbot (Sûreté du Québec) travaillait avec Alain Lacoursière lors de la création de l’équipe d’enquêteur. Il compte 12 ans d’expérience. Il termine une formation universitaire en Histoire de l’art./Sergent Investigator Jean-François Talbot (Sûreté du Québec) worked with Alain Lacoursière in establishing the art crime investigation team. He has twelve years of experience. He is completing his university training art history. 

Sergent Enquêteur Alain Dumouchel (Sûreté du Québec) compte près de 25 ans d’expérience , dont 6 ans en enquête criminelle. Il est inscrit à une formation universitaire en Histoire de l’art./ Sergeant Investigator Alain Dumouchel (SQ) has nearly 25 years experience, including 6 years in criminal investigation. He is studying for a university degree in Art History. 

Gendarme Sylvie Dubuc (Gendarmerie Royale du Canada) compte plus de 25 ans d’expérience, dont 8 ans en droit d’auteur./Constable Sylvie Dubuc (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) has over 25 years experience, including 8 years in copyright investigation. 

Sergent Superviseur Alain Gaulin (Sûreté du Québec) est le responsable de l’équipe. Il compte plus de 20 ans d’expérience policière./ Supervisor Sergeant Alain Gaulin (SQ) is the team leader. He has over 20 years of police experience.

A: Il est impossible de se prononcer pour le Canada, l’équipe travaille exclusivement au Québec. La quantité de dossier d’enquête est en nombre croissant depuis la creation de l’équipe./It is impossible answer that question with respect to all of Canada, since the team works exclusively in Quebec. The number of investigations has increased since the creation of the team.

A: Le Port de Montréal est un endroit ciblé par plusieurs organizations criminelles pour faire le traffic de marchandise. Les oeuvres d’arts n’y échappent pas./The Port of Montreal is targeted by several criminal organizations for the trafficking of goods. Artworks are no exception.

A: Nous avons une excellente collaboration avec les responsables d’Interpol à Ottawa. Nous consultons régulièrement leur banque de données pour completer nos dossiers. Nous avons fais des rencontres avec des enquêteurs des pays suivants: France: Office Centrale de la lutte des biens culturels; Belgique: Police Judiciaire Fédérale (Oeuvre d’art et Antiquité); États-Unis: F.B.I. & Secret Service. La collaboration avec les autres agences internationales est primordiale pour nous et permet d’obtenir des résultats dans nos enquêtes./We have excellent cooperation with Interpol officials in Ottawa. We regularly consult their database to complete our records. We have met with investigators from the following countries: France (Central Office for the Protection of Cultural Property); Belgium (Federal Judicial Police in Artwork and Antiquities); and the U.S. (F.B.I. and the Secret Service). Collaboration with other international agencies is of the utmost importance to us and can produce results in our investigations.

A: Le plus grand défi réside dans la rapidité de notre intervention permettant la récupération des oeuvres volées./The biggest challenge is how quickly we can act to recover the stolen art.

A: Il est difficile de décrire une journée type. Les événements imprévus viennent souvent changer notre planification. En plus des tâches usuels de notre travail d’enquêteur, il y a les rencontres des divers propriétaires de galerie et autres personnes relies au milieu de l’art de la province permettant d’établir des contacts./It is difficult to describe a typical day.  Unexpected events often modify our planning. In addition to the usual tasks related to our investigative work, there are various meetings of gallery owners and others connected to the province's art scene in order to establish contacts.

A: Le courriel Art Alert a été crée en 2005. C’est un outil de travail fort utile pour nous. Il rejoint de plus en plus de monde au Canada et ailleurs. On recoit régulièrement des demandes du public demandant à être abonné./The e-mail Alert Art was founded in 2005 and is a very useful tool for us. We are reaching more and more people in Canada and elsewhere. We regularly receive requests from the public asking to be subscribed to Art Alert.

A: Pour devenir enquêteur en oeuvre d’art au Québec, il faut être policier d’un service de police. Une formation en histoire de l’art ou autre domaine connexe est un atout./To become an art crime investigator in Quebec, you must employed as a police officer. A background in art history or related field is desirable.

A: Depuis la formation de l’équipe, la charge de travail ne cesse d’augmenter, l’ajout d’enquêteur confirmerait la réussite de notre équipe. La reconnaissance par le milieu de l’art au Québec de la nécéssité de cette équipe est un autre objectif. /Since the formation of the team, the workload is increasing, and to add investigators would help the success of our team. Recognition by the Quebec art community of the necessity for this team is another goal.

Readers may request a subscription to Quebec's Art Alert by sending an email to: art.alerte@surete.qc.ca

This article has been posted here with the permission of ARCA's Journal of Art Crime which will publish this article in it's Spring/Summer 2011 issue.  You may subscribe to the Journal of Art Crime through ARCA's website here.

by Katherine Ogden, ARCA Class Alum 2009

All of this discussion brings us back to our original quandary - how does the way in which the news media presents art crime criminals affect art crime as a whole? The main thing we need to begin to focus on is the fact that there is little to no representational of real art crime criminals in the news media. This is a problem because the news media is allowing, and in some cases encouraging, the idea of the sexy/glamorous art thief, the Thomas Crown or Dr. No character, which is not the reality. Art crimes are committed by all sorts of people, and excepting a few examples the majority of known art crime criminals are not the attractive, glamorous types from the movies. These crime criminals are the people that you avoid in bars and teach your kids not to talk to on the streets. More and more the link between art crime and organized crime is being strengthened which only makes the need to understand and accurately report on art crime that much more important.

Joseph Wiseman as "Dr. Julius No"  in the 1962 James Bond movie "Dr. No"

Additionally, only when the professionals associated with art crime begin to understand that it is a larger problem than a millionaire missing a pretty picture or a museum missing a sculpture will law enforcement accurately file reports on art crime and ultimately realize that art crime has been funding such universally deplorable crimes as arms trade, drug trade and organized crime. One of the best ways to accomplish this would be for news media outlets to begin to report on the actual criminals behind these crimes and the subsequent sentencing of these criminals. Once the faces of these ordinary criminals are put in the public arena, the illusion of the sexy art crime criminal can begin to be destroyed, and then the public can understand that art crime needs to be taken just as seriously as other crimes.

Finally if Connor were to rob a bank tomorrow for 1.1 million dollars, every news media outlet in the United States and quite possibly in the entire world would broadcast his picture. So why is it the case that if he were to steal a Vermeer worth more than 1.1 million dollars no one would see his face? That is where the problem lies, and it is only through efforts by the media and art professions to put a “face” on art crime criminals that we will see a more realistic view of the individuals who take part in such crimes.

Bibliography:

Armstrong, Stephen. "Artful Dodgers." 28 January 2006. Guardian.co.uk. 20 September 2009

Associated Press. "Warhol's sports superstar pieces stolen from L.A. home - USATODAY.com." 

12 September 2009. USATODAY.com. 20 September 2009.

Bernstein, Richard. “For Stolen Saltcellar, a Cellphone Is Golden.” The New York Times 2006 

26-January.

Blair, Granger. "Stolen Art Recovered by Scotland Yard." The New York Times 5 January 1967.

Brown, Shelia. Crime and Law in Media Culture. Philadelphia: Open University, 2003.

Cardy, Philip. “Stolen art found in loo-vre.” The Sun 2003 29-April.

Charney, Noah. "Chasing Doctor No: Art Crime Fact and Fiction-1." Talk for the UIA Meeting. 

Bilbao: ARCA, 9 May 2008. 9.

Chermak, Steven M. Victims in the News: Crime and the American News Media. Boulder: 

Westview Press, 1995.

Cole, Teresa Levonian. Art Detective Charles Hill. 16 March 2009. 10 September 2009

—. "Charles Hill ." Photo. Country Life. 16 March 2009. 10 September 2009.

Connor, Jr., Myles J. The Art of the Heist: Confessions of a Master Art Thief, rock-and-roller, 

and prodigal son. New York: HarperCollins, 2009.

Cortellessa, Luigi. "ARCA Art Crime Conference." Amelia, 11 July 2009.

Cowdery, Nicholas. Getting Justice Wrong: Myths, Media and Crime. St. Leonards: Allen & 

Unwin., 2001.

Demers, David Pearce. "Corporate Newspaper Structure, Profits and Organizational Goals." 

Journal of Media Economics (1996): 1-23.

Edwards, Jeff. "EROS AND VILLIANS; EXCLUSIVE Oceans 11 Gang Plot to Steal Priceless Landmarks." The Mirror 9 February 2006: 5.

Gurevitch, Michael. Culture, Society and the Media. London: Routledge, 1990.

Harvey, Oliver. "Tiaras to balaclavas." 10 January 2009. The Sun. 24 November 2009 .

Harvey, Oliver. "Rose Dugdale." Photo. The Sun. 10 January 2009. 24 November 2009.

Honan, William. "Donald L. Mason, 74, Who Led F.B.I. Unit Tracking Stolen Art." The New 

York Times 21 August 1999: 10.

Itzkoff, Dave. “Magritte Painting Stolen.” New York Times 2009 24-September.

Jones, Hannah. "Lost for Ever?" Western Mail 27 August 2004: 8.

Kennedy, Randy. "Arts Beat: The Culture at Large." 16 October 2009. The New York Times. 16 

October 2009

On the other hand, one cannot mention Agent Wittman without mentioning his British counterpart, Charley Hill. Prior to his retirement to the private sector, Detective Hill was one of the most successful detectives in the Art and Antiquities unit of Scotland Yard (Cole, Art Detective Charles Hill). The main quality that differentiates Detective Hill from Agent Wittman is that you can easily find pictures of Detective Hill with a quick internet search.

So how does Detective Hill succeed in catching criminals? Through a seemingly endless supply of disguises and accents. It seems as though the faceless nature of the art investigator has the capacity to be both good and bad, but in the case of Detective Hill, good. When criminals are not able to pinpoint the “look” of an art investigator, the investigators are able to transform themselves just enough to garner minimal suspicion. In one well-known case Detective Hill posed as a curator from the Getty Museum in California and brokered a deal for the purchase of Edvard Munch’s The Scream, which had been stolen from the National Gallery in Oslo (Cole, Art Detective Charles Hill). The success of this recovery and countless others leads one to believe that perhaps it is best if the face of the art investigator maintains an air of illusion, as it is quite common in all crime reporting to not see the face of the investigator. This should also serve to strengthen the need for public display of the criminals responsible for these crimes, the more the criminals are put in front of the public, the faster the illusion of the sexy criminal will erode.

Myles J. Connor, Jr.

This podcast features Noah Charney's "The World Wishes To Be Deceived: A Brief History of Art Forgery" delivered as a part of Venice in Peril's 2nd Exclusive Art Crime Lecture held on April 5, 2011 at the Royal Geographical Society in London. In the lecture, Charney discusses the differences between fakes, forgeries, and copies as well as highlights a few of the most interesting cases from the past 500 years. Access the podcast at ARCA's iTunes page or by clicking this link. Come back for Part II next week!