The reason art heists exploded in the 1970s

Security guards, like the one injured in the Worcester Art Museum robbery, rarely carry weapons and are often, as Reichardt puts it, “retired” or “crazy” with limited training, as derisively portrayed in “Mastermind.” She further added: “We used to have this cool circular drive in front of the museum, which was really convenient for vacationing.” And while the film features an FBI art crimes investigator who is reminiscent of real-life agent Robert Whitman, who recovered $300 million worth of art over the course of his career, the actual FBI art crimes team was only established in 2016. 2004.

Alamy

But as Flynn points out, while museums may have been slow to recognize the threat of robbers in the past, robbers have also not generally shown the most foresight. “The history of art crime and large-scale art theft has been due to opportunistic idiots who don’t really understand the nature of the art itself,” he says, referring to the potential damage, “and the art market itself. [Then] They suddenly find, to their horror, that the objects they have stolen are extremely difficult to move. ”

Art thief’s charm

The lovable villain archetype of the art thief in fiction also began to emerge in the 1960s and ’70s. Amid the unrest caused by the Vietnam War and the Nixon administration, disillusionment and dissatisfaction reached high levels, especially among young Americans. At the same time, films such as 1964’s Topkapi (in which a group of art thieves attempts to steal from an Istanbul palace), 1966’s How to Steal a Million (Audrey Hepburn and Peter O’Toole plan a heist to achieve an altruistic goal), and the same year’s Gambit (starring Michael Caine as a brave cat thief who steals an antique bust) glorify such characters.

According to art crime historian Susan Ronald, the rise of art heists in pop culture reflected the anti-authority spirit of the time. “part of” [the appeal of these characters] teeth [their] “The fact that art heists usually do not involve individuals makes this crime more acceptable,” she explains. This is an organization, and there’s something very bold about it. ”