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I fully approve of art theft. There should be honor among thieves of course. You shouldn't damage art. But if a painting isn't stolen now and then, well it wasn
by iandanforth 7y ago
I fully approve of art theft. There should be honor among thieves of course. You shouldn't damage art. But if a painting isn't stolen now and then, well it wasn't worth painting in the first place. Really, what is art for but to enliven the doldrums of the rich?
A moment or three of aesthetic pleasure, bragging at parties, but really most days it's just so much wallpaper. No, the true purpose of art is to be stolen. Then the chase begins, the drama, the mystery, the appreciation of the craft of skullduggery.
Eventually you track down the blighter who nabbed the splotchy-whatsit, buy him a beer and throw him back in the clink. That's where he'll meet his next crew, plan the next heist, and start the whole glorious affair over again.
So cheers to the cheeky beggars who grabbed the Gogh, let the fun begin!
- grawprog 7y agoOr the painting gets sold to someone shady overseas for a private collection and it's never seen again. It's not like in movies, there's no romance or drama to it. Stolen art doesn't benefit the common good.
- grecy 7y ago> and it's never seen again ... until it's stolen again and the cycle repeats. Sure, it might take a few generations, but it will come around again.
- abiogenesis 7y agoGovernments should finance teams of thieves to steal those back from private collections and place them back to public museums.
- joecool1029 7y agoWho says they don't? China's likely smart enough to figure this out: https://www.gq.com/story/the-great-chinese-art-heist https://www.gq.com/story/the-great-chinese-art-heist
- abiogenesis 7y agoThey seem to have stolen my idea too.
- KarlKemp 7y agoI can’t decide if I want to be on that team, or just play the character in the inevitable movie.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- Zenbit_UX 7y agoThere is also no need to put "or" in your first sentence.
- FPGAhacker 7y agoStolen art opens up the market for forgeries.
- brownbat 7y agoDick's version of the Man in the High Castle has a good meditation on forgeries. Mostly when people buy art, they're buying provenance, proof that a celebrity artist in history touched this particular object. Forgers have gotten incredibly sophisticated, finding ways to duplicate the texture of historical paints and style of brush strokes of masters. I think we'd do a lot of good for the world by commissioning as indistinguishable fakes as possible for all famous works, putting them in a room where the originals are all shuffled in, then sending them out into the world so any museum or private collector can have one, with some chance it's actually the real thing, but mostly the value would collapse to however sublime it is to actually look at the work.
- friendlybus 7y agoThe value of art is not just the ‘celebrity’ of an artist like he were an actor pimping out a cash-in film. Making a cultural contribution to the arts is a part of carrying your civilisation forward. The artist is valuable because they were the nexus point for many values and inspirations that speak highly to the culture that produced them. Cavemen don’t make the Mona Lisa or michaenglo’s David. These works (among many) stand as monuments to a time and place that produced a peak of artistic, scientific, technological and cultural success. Owning and safeguarding those art pieces connects you to the products of the success of that passed civilisation, you carry the memory and product of many people and imply a bright future for the sons and daughters of that culture by holding up their successes above the ravages of war and nature. Making copies defeats the point and is basically copying someone else’s homework and handing it in as your own. You stripped the point of doing the work to begin with for the sake of ‘spreading the wealth’. You didn’t make better artists that will produce new valuable works, you empowered lazy forgers who should be conservators of the past at best with that skill set. The aesthetic value is only part of what took and a lot structure and skill to create. Art is not about appearance.
- dsaasdffd 7y agoFrom someone's point of view, it was stolen from overseas!
- zhte415 7y agoA bit of a tangent, however mentioning 'private collection' reminds me of a 'private collection' that is today open to the public, a place that sat on my doorstep for years but I was unaware of. Free entry of course, like all museums, is relatively unknown in terms of galleries (certainly off the typical tourist trail), and well worth a few hours: Wallace Collection [1] [2]. If anyone's in London after the lock-down is over then it's well worth a few hours. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wallace_Collection https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wallace_Collection [2] http://www.wallacecollection.org/ http://www.wallacecollection.org/
- alxmdev 7y agoBut we're talking about a painting that was sitting in a museum, stored and cared for in ideal conditions and available to the general public. Sounds like it already fulfilled its purpose, without needing to be stolen and traded around by thieves.
- analog31 7y agoIt would be easier and safer for them to trade a certificate that represents the theft of the painting.
- asdff 7y agoI'm bullish on stolen van Gogh shares, personally
- solotronics 7y agoI'll bundle these together into a security. Oh and we can sell options contracts on them too!
- lacker 7y agoThat seems cool in a movie, just like the mafia seems cool in movies. In real life it's just bad. When millions of dollars are at stake for a criminal gang, people are going to end up dying. No cheers to the art thieves - go do something useful with your lives.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- nkantar 7y agoIf you haven't seen the TV show _White Collar_, you might enjoy it. But I somehow doubt that's the way things actually go. Given the quantities of dollars at stake, I imagine people tend to die in the process, and some of them are innocent bystanders.
- jeffdavis 7y agoArt is part of a story. Sometimes adding some action livens it up a bit and attracts a new audience. Other times the story was better to begin with, and the action distracts (and detracts) from it.
- sjwright 7y agoI agree but for different reasons. It reminds us that art isn’t permanent. Also, we need some attrition to make way for new art. Don’t get me wrong, most new art is hilariously terrible, but a tiny amount of it isn’t.
- elwell 7y agoThis was a smash and grab, no style...
- Zenbit_UX 7y agoSimple and efficient, but no style? Please, it was stolen on Van Gogh's birthday.
- devindotcom 7y agoI adore that people are taking this comment so seriously.
- tsycho 7y agoI suspect most people are upvoting because they found it funny (that's why I did). We could all do with a bit of unexpected humor now and then.
- zeroxfe 7y agoThis is probably the most heartwarming comment I've read on the web in ages!
- iandanforth 7y agoIf you're not already a fan, might I suggest anything by P.G. Wodehouse. ;)
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- mannykannot 7y agoBanksy! is that you?
- bsder 7y ago> Really, what is art for but to enliven the doldrums of the rich? Art is actually a wealth store so that the rich can trade money between themselves without tracking.
- dwd 7y agoAnother example is David Walsh, the founder of MONA in Hobart. I think I read this in his book, that his interest in art and antiquities started because he needed a way to move his cash winnings from gambling overseas back to Australia. You can't simply bundle up all your money and board a plane as there are limits on how much hard currency a country will allow you to remove - but not for artwork.
- Igelau 7y agoUnfortunately, by the time you catch him, the money has vanished into off-shore banks and the painting has moved from one mega-yacht to the next as collateral for trafficking arms, drugs, or flesh.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- alasdair_ 7y agoAll fine art sales should come with a Wu-Tang clause[1] as part of the paperwork. https://mobile.twitter.com/eastwes/status/674628837481820160?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E674628837481820160&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.billboard.com%2Farticles%2Fcolumns%2Fhip-hop%2F6805582%2Fbill-murray-wu-tang-heist-clause-fake https://mobile.twitter.com/eastwes/status/674628837481820160... [1] Sadly, fictional.
- ijidak 7y agoLol. Hilarious. Who finances something like this? I have to imagine the robbers knew they had a buyer before they executed the theft. I mean... you can't just steal a Van Gogh and then, only after, start ask around for who's in the market for a painting, right? You can't exactly post it on Craigslist or OfferUp. Imagine something like this had a buyer before it even started, right?
- DoreenMichele 7y agoI'm not saying you're right, but, humorously, the fame of the Mona Lisa is rooted in the fact that it was stolen at some point. Before that, it was an obscure and unimportant piece that most people had never heard of. Theft: almost as good for the reputation of art as the death of the artist. https://www.historicmysteries.com/theft-of-the-mona-lisa/ https://www.historicmysteries.com/theft-of-the-mona-lisa/
- goto11 7y agoLeonardo da Vinci was considered one of the greatest geniuses of history long before the painting was stolen from the Louvre, so Mona Lisa was not "an obscure and unimportant piece". After all, there was a reason it was stolen in the first place. It might be the theft which made it generally known and iconic even among people who don't care about art.
- martopix 7y agoI guess the previous poster meant obscure and unimportant _relative_ to Leonardo's production.
- devspade 7y agoAh yes cheers to the cheeky beggars...and if they had been caught in the act? What then? Surely they'd have given up their foolish ruse and not injured any local constables for tis' just a game?
- mrslave 7y agoYour comment brought a much needed smile to my face. Thank you. To this, and to the greater question touched upon by others in this thread - what is art for? - I recommend a film titled The Art of the Steal.
- JoeAltmaier 7y agoOr it molds away in a damp basement. Stolen art is usually damaged. There is no honor among thieves.