Paintings by Picasso are the most counterfeited and stolen by criminals

The interest from the mafia came through the television. In those two years, "the television reported that Picasso and Cezanne were the most sought after in auctions." After that "Picasso is the most stolen and counterfeited" and the milestone occurred in 1976, with "some 180 pieces of Picasso stolen," he said.

Paintings by Picasso are the most counterfeited and stolen by criminals

The work of artist Pablo Picasso arouses more interest amongst the mafia, terrorist groups and drug traffickers than any other artists, according to Noah Charney, a renowned expert on crime and art.

Stealing and forging "Picassos" began to be fashionable between "1960 and 1961," Charney said in an interview at the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, where he presented four guides on the main art museums in Madrid, Barcelona, Seville and the Basque Country Collection "Museum" (Editorial GeoPlaneta).

The interest from the mafia came through the television. In those two years, "the television reported that Picasso and Cezanne were the most sought after in auctions." After that "Picasso is the most stolen and counterfeited" and the milestone occurred in 1976, with "some 180 pieces of Picasso stolen," he said.

But Picasso is not the only Spanish artist in the spotlight of organized crime, but Salvador Dalí and Joan Miró are on the list. The biggest problem: the large volume of counterfeit "lithographs by Picasso, Dali and Miro" that are on the market. "Hence generally I discouraged the purchase of lithographs by such artists unless they "trust the gallery owner."

Charney (New Haven, 1979), studying the relationship between art theft and the Mafia, terrorism and drug trafficking, that is, stories worthy of a Hollywood movie, said the way art thieves to work has changed over the last "fifteen years" and "they employs more violence".

These issues are studied in the research partnership in the world of art and antique crimes (ARCA) which Charney founded and directs in Italy. ARCA is an "ideas laboratory" of world experts that try to combat theft, smuggling and counterfeiting of antiques and international art from Italy, as it is the country in which more crimes are being committed against artistic heritage in the world, said Charney.

The figures speak for themselves: "in Italy 20,000 to 30,000 art workd disappear each year, approximately ten times more than in other countries." Thus, since 1969 Italy has a team of police experts fighting against trafficking in works of art and heritage.




Let The Barcelona Reporter Know What You Think Post your comment Below




News Source © 2010 Barcelona Reporter
Text within the news headline and/or news body may be subject to copyright Barcelona Reporter does not claim copyright to any such text.unless it is written by one of our reporters :
Please refer to the URL-referenced web page (the ‘Article Source’) for further information and details of the original source from the Barcelona Reporter.com web site. Copyright remains with the original copyright holder