Links: ARCA

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ARCA, art, art crime, art forgery, art market, art theft, art trafficking, cultural preservation, interdisciplinary, international law, looting, provenance, repatriation, research, smuggling

The Association for Research Into Crimes Against Art is an important international organisation doing exactly what the name suggests, and their site is highly recommended. Conceived as a think tank, it connects professionals from the varied disciplines relevant to art crime worldwide, promotes scholarship, and emphasizes public outreach. The group organises conferences and training in interdisciplinary research, publishes, and keeps a blog on recent media relevant to art crime. It also has outstanding links to more specialised blogs and sites.

Click here or above to go to ARCA’s site.

 

Glossary: Forgery

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art, art crime, art forgery, art instruction, art technique, authenticity, classical, copy, counterfeit, museum, reproduction, visual problems

At first glance, the word forgery seems unnecessary for a specialised glossary; it’s a common word, readily understood. The briefest definition I found was: (n.) the action of forging or producing a copy of a document, signature, banknote, or work of art. But as a strict definition, couldn’t that apply to a museum gift shop print? The next dictionary was clearer: (n.) 1) The act of forging, especially the illegal production of something counterfeit. 2) Something counterfeit, forged, or fraudulent. So it is not enough that something be a copy, it must be a copy intended to deceive. But how does one determine intent when looking at an object? The definition of forgery may be simple on its face, but in the context of art, its meaning is complex.

What Provenance Research Can Do: Forgery

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antiquities, archaeology, art, art crime, art forgery, art history, artefact, artifact, authenticity, excavation, museum, provenance, research

A surprising and surprisingly clear-cut benefit of a rigourous provenance policy is defence against forgery. Expertise and technical analysis will always be necessary to prove forgery, but provenance can actually help prevent it. In art and especially archaeology, context is critical for determination of authenticity.

The First Step

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antiquities, archaeology, art forgery, art history, art theft, art trafficking, artifact, cultural heritage, cultural preservation, looting, provenance, smuggling

Provenance is a history of an object: when it was produced, where it has been, and who has laid claim to it. A Year in Provenance is a history written in real time—each day for the next year. The question of where the project should go seems complex until one considers the greater vexation of where to begin. Provenance research, by its nature and by the nature of the world around it, needs to be interdisciplinary; to stop at recording an object’s history without concern for the ethics of that history or the protection of the object, would defeat the purpose of proper provenance.