News
$1.5M Buddha Statue Stolen From LA Gallery
The 250-pound bronze sculpture was taken from Barakat Gallery’s outdoor space in West Hollywood.
Art Crime
News
MoMA and Morgan Library Among Museums Returning Nazi-Looted Art
Seven Egon Schiele works that belonged to Austrian-Jewish cabaret performer Fritz Grünbaum were handed back to his heirs.
News
Lindemann Family Returns $20M Worth of Looted Cambodian Artifacts
The 33 antiquities were linked to notorious trafficker Douglas Latchford.
News
Stolen Van Gogh Painting Returned in IKEA Bag
“The Parsonage Garden at Nuenen in Spring” was confidentially handed off to Dutch art detective Arthur Brand this week.
Art
The Illicit Allure of Art Forgery
An anarchic desire to undermine the art world’s institutions lends art forgers a roguish, rebellious identity that is both compelling and unsavory.
Opinion
The Sun Is Setting on the British Museum
There’s only one way for the museum to survive the 21st century, and it starts with advancing toward restorative justice.
News
Authorities Seize $5M Roman Bust From Massachusetts Museum
The seizure is part of an ongoing investigation into “a smuggling network” trafficking antiquities looted from Turkey.
Art
Three Antiquities Traffickers and Their Fall From Grace
Amid a spate of high-profile repatriations of looted cultural objects, we took a closer look at some of the most infamous players in the illicit market.
News
British Museum Director Resigns Amid Theft Scandal
The reported thefts by one of the museum’s own employees have also fueled new calls for the repatriation of the Benin Bronzes and Parthenon marbles.
Interview
An Art Thief’s Tale of Love and Seduction
Stéphane Breitwieser stole several billion dollars worth of art from more than 150 museums before he was caught in 2001.
News
Activists Protest at Rubin Museum-Backed Exhibition in Nepal
The protesters said the Rubin Museum is using the Itumbaha exhibition to launder its public image and distract from the potentially looted objects in its collection.
News
Challenging a 50-Year-Old Factoid About the Illegal Antiquities Trade
The assertion that the illicit antiquities trade is “the world’s third largest, second only to arms and narcotics” is unsubstantiated and damaging, a new paper argues.