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serennognos's review against another edition
3.0
Very dated information on some thefts considering this was published in 2006 (i.e. Munch’s “The Scream” has since been recovered) but overall a good basic primer on art theft. Unfortunately the writing tends towards Anglocentric and colonization & cultural theft apologist.
missjenm's review against another edition
2.0
The topic is incredibly interesting and to it's credit this book has great full color illustrations and pictures. I thought it didn't have enough content. It was a like a quick overview of art theft without really getting into any details.
kel_pru's review
4.0
An interesting illustrated history of art thievery! It was fascinating to see a english men's take on the Gardener Museum heist...spoiler: still devastating!
sarahcoller's review against another edition
5.0
I really love reading about art history mysteries---I can't get enough! This book was super interesting and will be going straight into my permanent collection. I found myself looking up each work and notating in the book whether they'd been recovered since publication. Happily, I found quite a few that had!
I was pretty disgusted with the way museums and governments refuse to give up obviously stolen property. The British handling of the art property of other nations, in particular, is despicable. I'm planning a trip in March and Selah really wants to see the Natural History Museum/V&A/etc. --- not so sure I'll enjoy it as much now as I have in the past. As the author points out, how many pieces in our museums are even the spoils of war? Quite the moral dilemma there...
Even though I'm always rooting for the good guys, I do have to admit several of the heists were pretty genius. The whole story surrounding the fictional Thomas Alcock collection was pretty impressive.
Great read---glad I took the time!
I was pretty disgusted with the way museums and governments refuse to give up obviously stolen property. The British handling of the art property of other nations, in particular, is despicable. I'm planning a trip in March and Selah really wants to see the Natural History Museum/V&A/etc. --- not so sure I'll enjoy it as much now as I have in the past. As the author points out, how many pieces in our museums are even the spoils of war? Quite the moral dilemma there...
Even though I'm always rooting for the good guys, I do have to admit several of the heists were pretty genius. The whole story surrounding the fictional Thomas Alcock collection was pretty impressive.
Great read---glad I took the time!
hooptron's review
3.0
The slightly oversize format was unnecessary and made the book feel awkward to read. This is a good introduction or overview of art theft but certainly doesn't break any new ground. It feels a little textbook-y.
kikiandarrowsfishshelf's review
3.0
A good quick read about the theft of art. In some cases too general, so functions more as an introduction. It does trace the historical cases, so not just the big modern criminal cases. Nicely illustrated. Especially at the end where the museum is presented.
whitney210's review
4.0
This was kind of coffee book table sized so a little awkward to hold... but so interesting! It looks at art theft from all angles, from how art has increased in value and why, to why some artists and museums are more at risk..