Lecture on art crime

Lecture:
"The Fine Art of Crime"
Dick Ellis, Art Management Group
at the ICON Office
Wednesday, 27 January 2010
1 London Bridge
London SE1 9BG
6.30pm prompt

Tickets:
    ICON members:  UKP5
    non- members: UKP10

To be sure your name is on the security list at the door please
register no later than Monday, 25 January 2010, telling us if you
are an ICON member.

Refreshments will be served

RSVP

    Clare Finn
    +44 20 7937 1895
    finnclare<-at->aol<.>com

The theft of a major work of art never fails to make the headlines
reflecting on both the deep sense of loss felt by owners, curators
and the art loving public and the total disbelief that such a crime
could be perpetrated against an old friend. The finger of suspicion
is pointed at the mystical billionaire collector whose desire to
possess the painting far outruns any sense of morality or respect of
the law. Using case studies and recoveries "The Fine Art of Crime"
will expose the real motives and trends in cultural property crime,
show how art is used by organised crime and reveal how art can
become the crime itself.

Richard "Dick" Ellis has been a specialist art crime investigator
for over 25 years. A career detective with the Metropolitan Police,
he served in Special Operations at New Scotland Yard. In 1989 he
joined the Art and Antiques Squad, where he served until his
retirement from the police in 1999 when he became the general
manager of Christie's Fine Art Security Services Ltd. In 2000 he was
made managing director of Trace recovery services running the stolen
property database and Trace Magazine. In 2005 he joined with
security and conservation specialists to form the Art Management
Group.

As a specialist art crime investigator both in the police and in the
private sector he has been involved in many notable recoveries
including "The Scream" stolen from the National Gallery of Norway in
1994, Audubon's "Birds of America" stolen from the State Library in
St. Petersburg, antiquities looted from China and Egypt as well as
the recovery of numerous items of art and antiques stolen from
private residences throughout the United Kingdom such as silver from
Stanton Harcourt in 2005 and in 2006 paintings by Bonnard, Vuillard
and Duffy stolen in London.

He has served as a member of UNESCO's international panel of experts
on the protection of cultural property and was instrumental in the
creation of the Council for the Prevention of Art Theft's Code of
Due Diligence. He has lectured extensively on the protection of and
the illicit trade in cultural property and in 2008 was appointed
Expert Advisor to Government on International Loans to Museums in
England and Wales.


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 23:18
                 Distributed: Friday, November 20, 2009
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