The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) currently ranks art crime as the third-largest criminal enterprise in the world. The increase in international art transactions has incubated a booming market for stolen and fraudulent art, and major U.S. arts institutions still grapple with repatriation of stolen or looted objects in their collections. Co-organized by Jane C.H. Jacob, art historian and provenance research expert, Jacob Fine Art, Inc., Chris Marinello, director and founder, Art Recovery Group, and Alice Farren-Bradley, Museum Security Network, the symposium brings together experts from major museums and auction houses, the NYU School of Law, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and the President’s Cultural Property Advisory Committee, as well as independent scholars and authors, art crime victims, art crime attorneys, forensic scientists, and other major players working to address art crime worldwide.
Join us and learn about the legal, forensic, governmental, and political strategies being employed to address the enormity of this global phenomenon. Topics include the history of fakes and forgeries, insurance fraud, art theft and art scams, scientific and forensic approaches, provenance research, cultural repatriation, issues facing auction houses and purchasers, and current case studies.
CLE units and financial aid are available for those who qualify. Attorneys attending the symposium can earn 8 CLEs in Professional Practice: 3.5 CLEs (June 4), 2.5 CLEs (June 5), and 2.0 CLEs (June 6). CLEs are transitional.
Details on NYU website here.
Amy Adler, Emily Kempin Professor of Law, NYU School of Law
Amr Al Azm, Associate Professor, Middle East History and Anthropology, Shawnee State University; former Director, Scientific and Conservation Laboratories, General Department of Antiquities and Museums, Syria
W. Graham Arader, III, Founder & Owner, Arader Galleries; specializes in antique works on paper, paintings, and rare books
Jordan Arnold, Managing Director and Head of Art Risk Advisory at K2 Intelligence; former art crime prosecutor at the Manhattan District Attorney's Office
Doreen Bolger, Director, Baltimore Museum of Art; oversaw the return of the stolen Renoir painting Paysage bords de Seine to the museum's collection in 2014
James Butterwick, Founder & Owner, Butterwick Gallery LLC; specializes in Russian avant-garde
John Cahill, Attorney, Cahill Partners LLP; formerly General Counsel, Phillips de Pury & Co.; Chair, New York City Bar Association, Art Law Committee
Tim Carpenter, Special Agent, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI); involved in the largest restitution case of Native American artifacts in the United States, recovering 5,000 objects to date
William L Charron, Partner and Co-Chair of Art Law Practice, Pryor Cashman LLP; Counsel, ARIS Title Insurance Corporation (ARIS)
Pierre Ciric, Founder, Ciric Law Firm PLLC; Co-Founder, Holocaust Art Restitution Project (HARP)
MaryKate Cleary, Collections Specialist, Painting and Sculpture, Museum of Modern Art
Sandra Cobden, Senior Vice President and General Counsel, Christie's Inc.
Michael Danti, Assistant Professor of Archaeology, Boston University; Co-Director, ASOR Syrian Heritage Initiative
Marla Diaz, General Counsel, Baltimore Museum of Art; lead attorney in the negotiation for the return of Paysage bords de Seine to the Baltimore Museum of Art
T/4 Sgt. Harry Ettlinger, served in the Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives (MFAA) program in World War II, better known as the Monuments Men; author of Ein Amerikaner: Anecdotes from the Life of Harry Ettlinger
Alice Farren-Bradley, Director of Claims & Recoveries, Art Recovery Group Ltd; Co-Founder, Art Crime Conference; Moderator, Museum Security Network
Wesley Fisher, Director of Research, Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany; Executive Director, Victim List Project of the Swiss Banks Settlement
Sharon Flescher, Executive Director, International Foundation for Art Research (IFAR); Editor-in-Chief, IFAR Journal
Megan Fontanella, Associate Curator, Collections and Provenance, Guggenheim Museum
Karl Geercken, Partner, Alston & Bird LLP; counsel for Leopold Museum, Vienna, in the Schiele Portrait of Walley case
David Goldstein, Attorney, Rabinowitz, Boudin, Standard, Krinsky & Lieberman PC; litigator in disputes over artworks, trade secret misappropriation, and copyright infringement; co-author of Creating an Equitable Balance Between the Rights of Former Owners and Good Faith Purchasers of Stolen Art
Patricia J. Graham, Founder, Asian Art Research & Appraisals; Research Associate, Center for East Asian Studies, University of Kansas; author, Japanese Design: Art, Aesthetics, & Culture
Judd Grossman, Founder and Managing Partner, Grossman LLP
Peter Herdrich, Founding Partner, The Heritas Group; formerly CEO, Archaeological Institute of America (AIA)
Simon Hornby, President, Art Services, Crozier Fine Arts Inc.
Jonathan Illari, Vice President and General Counsel, Auctionata; former Counsel, Bonhams
Jane C.H. Jacob, President, Jacob Fine Art, Inc.; Co-Founder, Art Crime Conference
Mari-Claudia Jiménez, Partner, Herrick Feinstein LLP; partner in the Art Law practice group
Holly Keris, Chief Curator, Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens
Jo Backer Laird, Counsel, Art Dealers Association of American; formerly Senior Vice President and General Counsel, Christie's Inc.
Jane Levine, Worldwide Director of Compliance, Sotheby's
Betty Little, New York State Senator, 45th District; sponsor of amendment to the New York Arts & Cultural Affairs Law enhancing protections for art authenticators
Bonnie Magness-Gardiner, Program Manager, Art Theft Program (National Stolen Art File and Art Crime Team), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
Christopher A. Marinello, CEO & Founder, Art Recovery Group Ltd; Co-Founder, Art Crime Conference
James Martin, Principal, Orion Analytical LLC, a materials analysis and consulting firm specializing in art, cultural property, and collectables
Eleonora Nagy, Conservator, Modern and Contemporary Sculpture; Director, Modern Sculpture Conservation LLC, New York; Conservator, three-dimensional works of art, Whitney Museum of American Art; Advisory Committee for Conservation and Restoration (ACCR) and Judd Foundation
Megan Noh, Assistant General Counsel, Bonhams; supports all U.S. specialist and business departments, with a particular emphasis on the day-to-day needs of the New York office, including claims, transactional and compliance work
Francis O'Connor, Jackson Pollock scholar and lead author of Jackson Pollock's catalogue raisonné
Nicholas O'Donnell, Litigation Partner, Sullivan & Worcester LLP; Editor, Art Law Report
Judith Pearson, President and Director, ARIS Title Insurance Corporation (ARIS)
Ken Perenyi, Renowned art forger whose works have passed through major auction houses and galleries in New York and London as original works; author of Caveat Emptor
Kevin Ray, Counsel, Art and Cultural Heritage Law, Business Reorganization & Financial Restructuring, Greenberg Traurig LLP
Christopher Robinson, Partner, Davis Wright Tremaine LLP; practices intellectual property and art law
Laurie Rush, Army Archaeologist, Fort Drum, NY; Board Member, US Committee of the Blue Shield
Meridith Savona, Special Agent, Art Theft Program (National Stolen Art File and Art Crime Team), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
Steven R. Schindler, Founder and Partner, Schindler Cohen & Hochman LLP; Art Business faculty, Sotheby's Institute of Art, New York
Colleen St Onge, Cultural Repatriation Assistant, Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, MI
Spencer Tomkins, President, Spencer Tomkins Fine Art Inc.; art consultant with over 25 years of experience in the international art market working with private and corporate collectors; specializes in American and European post-war and contemporary art
Mel Urbach, Esq., Klein & Solomon, LLP, New York, NY; represents the heirs of Alfred Flechtheim and is a pioneer in art restitution; negotiated return of Kokoschka painting and other work
*Please Note: This symposium, when attended in its entirety, counts as a 10-session elective. For additional information on the symposium, please call (212) 998-7289 or e-mail sps.libarts@nyu.edu.
Organisers' Press Release
NEW YORK / CHICAGO, 29 APRIL 2015 – Art Recovery Group and Jacob Fine Art inc. are pleased to announce full details of the third annual Art Crime and Cultural Heritage Symposium, which they have organized in collaboration with New York University’s School of Professional Studies.
The conference, taking place at NYU Law School’s Lipton Hall in New York City on 4-6 June 2015, will again set the standard for the global discussion of art and cultural heritage crimes, bringing together some of the world’s leading commentators and experts to confer on a range of recognized and emerging threats.
This year’s conference provides a platform to hear from some of the most influential and experienced professionals working in art and cultural heritage today. Keynote speeches will be delivered by Harry Ettlinger, the last surviving member of the Monuments Men, art forger Ken Perenyi, James Butterwick, a specialist in the Russian avant-garde, and Doreen Bolger and Marla Diaz, respectively Director and General Counsel of the Baltimore Museum of Art.
Over 50 speakers, panelists and keynotes have been chosen from major museums and auction houses, law enforcement agencies and government departments as well as independent scholars and authors, legal and art market professionals, loss victims and scientists.
Perspectives from the commercial art trade will come from Sandra Cobden, Vice President and General Counsel at Christie’s, and Jane Levine, Global Head of Compliance at Sotheby’s. Jane C.H. Jacob, President of Jacob Fine Art inc., stated: “The art market recognizes the need for greater professionalism and transparency and we are proud to be at the center of those efforts. The popularity of this conference demonstrates that due diligence, ethics and authenticity have never been more important to the business of art.”
Exploring one of this year’s most topical subjects, Amr al Azm, Middle East History and Anthropology, Shawnee State University and Michael Danti, U.S. Department of State and the American Schools of Oriental Research, will lead a panel on the protection of cultural heritage in the wake of IS activities in Syria and Iraq. Alice Farren-Bradley, Recoveries & Claims Director for Art Recovery Group, whose expertise is in ancient history and archaeology, commented: “This year’s conference program continues to illustrate how serious and international a problem art crime is. It is clear that current issues affect every part of the art market and cultural heritage sector and require a committed, coordinated response. We are proud to help further the debate on how cultural heritage crime can be tackled both at home and abroad.”
Bonnie Magness-Gardner, Program Manager of the FBI Art Crime Team and Laurie Rush, Army Archaeologist at Fort Drum will offer input from their governmental experiences. James Martin, Orion Analytical, John Cahill, Cahill Partners, Sharon Flescher, IFAR, and New York Senator Betty Little, along with counsel will discuss the problems facing art experts. The efforts to protect Jackson Pollock forgeries from entering the annals of art history will be lead by counsel involved the Knoedler case, along the FBI and author of the Pollock Catalogue Raisonné.
The conference also offers accounts of world famous recovery cases, such as the recent recovery of three Nazi-looted works from the Gurlitt trove and the recovery of a Renoir painting discovered in a car boot sale having been stolen from the Baltimore Museum of Art. Christopher A. Marinello, CEO of Art Recovery Group, said: "With this annual conference we have been aiming to establish the ‘Davos of the art market’ – a focused discussion of the real issues in art and cultural heritage and the practical solutions to solving them. This year’s program is one of the strongest we’ve ever held and we are excited about what will be discovered and achieved over these three days in June.”
Each day of the conference will address a particular theme, focusing on stolen art, looting and spoliation, and fakes and forgeries respectively, and end with a panel discussion on possible solutions. It continues to provide an unparalleled forum for academics, art market professionals, lawyers, students and members of the press interested in the legal, geopolitical and commercial state of art and cultural heritage crime.
Terry Shtob, Faculty and Academic Chair, Arts, Humanities & Writing Programs at New York University School of Professional Studies, speaking of the event, said: "NYU SPS is delighted to co-organize the Art Crime Conference again and is proud of the standard of speakers we have attracted this year. With more than 20 attorneys presenting, the Continuing Legal Education (CLE) credits provided through the conference will offer professional development to our attendees."