Literature: Arthur Tompkins. Art Crime and its Prevention
ARTinvestment.RU   23 июля 2020

The book is about the possible fate of art during the lockdown, written by the current judge

Crimes of art and their prevention: a Handbook for collectors and professionals

Author: Arthur Tompkins
Year: 2016
Volume: 240 pages
Publisher: Lund Humphries, UK
ISBN: 9781848221871

Historians of twentieth-century art familiar digital range 250-350 thousand... Is the approximate number of artworks confiscated by the regime of Nazi Germany the population of the European countries. Some, it affects its volume, other — variability: because the lower bound therein approximately reflects the already found items, top — potentially stolen and is still not identified. And while officially recognized 250 thousand are subject to controversy and scandals, ephemeral Delta in the "unknown" 100 thousand is fertile ground for fraud.

What relation this story has to the present time, when the main markers of the market are striving for transparency and democracy, you ask. Especially in pandemic conditions when the Museum's collection, including reservists, become the most public and accessible, and items from private collections are increasingly recorded in public databases together with the accompanying documentation. The fact is that the best cover for the fraud — chaos.

Today, the chaos is abundantly gives us quarantine: we don't know anything about the fate of the greater part of the Museum collections tucked away in storage or preserved in film in the exhibition halls represent weak as a limited number of auctions and lots kompensiruet the actions of the dealers on the private market: what they sell, in what quantity and at what price. Remains unclear and the number of galleries closed, and with it — the number of interrupted contracts with the artists and the fate taken on consignment works. Finally, we don't know what happened to works of art that publicly, on camera, was looted during the recent protest actions in the United States: where are they today, where he will emerge, and most importantly, do not indicate whether the owners of the affected galleries inflated figures of losses, "hiding" for the black market, and many work with Windows. Comes to mind the story of the treasures from Palmyra — at first demonstratively destroyed, and a few years later by chance discovered unharmed in one of the European Freeport.

In the book "Crimes of art and their prevention," Arthur Tompkins — practicing judge from New Zealand — makes the emphasis on the time of troubles. Crimes, according to Tompkins, to a lesser extent the handiwork of the artisanal "single" — most often they are associated with the system and a well-organized art-преступным community. Community targeting countries with unstable political situation and good arts schools. As authors of individual articles invited quite famous in the market of personalities — in particular, already familiar to our readers Tom Flynn. As models of crimes for which the world the art sooner or later will have to pay include the "buyback" at auctions, so beloved of some local artists. Valid warnings aboutonline-рынка art: even before the mass adoption of the word "blockchain" in our everyday life illustrates the pitfalls of a possible democratization of the artistic heritage, including the legalization of counterfeiting through perceived accessibility. Arthur himself Tomkins took over the writing of chapters on the military action, reviewed the order of ten countries on the basis of subsequent court proceedings and final decisions. In short, "Crimes of art and their prevention" — is a practical tool that is transposed into our time. The only difference is that today, brink of chaos is not a separate country, and the whole world.

a New book by author — "manual for the study of provenance" — have suffered from the coronavirus: publication announced in the spring of 2020, postponed to early 2021-го. Now maybe the author will add some useful advice, and then heads — is the fact that after the end of the pandemic, the researchers of the provenance of the material is in excess.

Denys Belkevych, AI