Art Assignment
International art heist? Looting museum collections during wartimes? Writing graffiti on an irreplaceable painting? The sudden resurfacing of a missing painting after years of searching? These all sound like plots to thrilling movies, but they are realities that have been occurring in the art world for ages. Because art works have such a high value both culturally and in actual dollars, you can find some very complex tales relating to the loss, damage, and recovery of extraordinary art.
In some cases, the story is almost humorous:
A little over a year ago this story was making headlines, perhaps you saw it:
Article: Botched Jesus fresco becomes surprise success By James Durston.
What happens when a piece of art is destroyed or damaged? What if a long lost piece is suddenly found?
In the recent past there have been several news stories about the destruction of artworks, the theft of art, and the sudden discovery of works that have been missing for years!
You will be writing a research paper on a topic relating to this. Please do not write about the above mentioned monkey Jesus, which has been deemed by most art historians to not have much worth.
Write on this topic - Art heists, thieves, and looting.
Art has been stolen through well planned robberies, on other occasions it is taken more impulsively, and during wartimes or other political events there are occasions where a piece of art (or an entire collection!) will be looted or removed by an invading country. For this topic find one of these events and investigate it thoroughly.
• Give us a brief history of the piece you are writing about, why was it highly valued in the first place, who made it, where was it located when it went missing?
• How was the work taken?
• What was the reaction to the missing art?
• What steps have been taken to recover the piece?
• Was the piece ever found? If so, what happened then? Was the work returned? Who was held responsible and what were the consequences?
• Did this in any way affect the value of other works by this artist? How?