ARTHIST 230 Art Crime - Course Outlines

Course Prescription

Explores the growing trend of art crime through a focus on five primary areas: theft, fraud, smuggling, forgery, and vandalism. These will be examined within the context of international and New Zealand case studies, including the theft of the Mona Lisa in 1911, Nazi looting in World War II, and thefts during the Iraq War in 2003. Ways to curb such crime, particularly the development of art crime squads, will also be discussed.

Course Overview

This paper explores the growing trend of art crime through a focus on theft, illicit antiquities, looting, vandalism and forgery. These will be examined within the context of global and New Zealand case studies, including the theft of the Mona Lisa in 1911, Nazi looting in World War II and thefts during the Iraq War in 2003. Ways to curb such crime, particularly the development of art crime squads, will also be discussed.

The area of Art Crime is inter-disciplinary, drawing on the fields of art history, criminology, law, anthropology and archaeology, to name just a few. This is the only Art Crime paper available through a university in Australasia.

Previous students commended the fact that this course was ‘quite unlike any other in Art History’ and that they ‘enjoyed the diverse topics covered’. They also said that it ‘allowed them to apply their existing knowledge about other subjects such as Renaissance and Pacific art in new ways’, such as thinking about their roles in relation to the art market and to art theft.

Students who complete the course have skills which will help them in future studies in Art History or Museums and Cultural Heritage, both here and overseas. You can carry on your interest in this area through supervised projects at both Honours and Masters. Ngarino has supervised students on metals theft in the UK, and looting in Syria, Iraq and Egypt, so there is scope for you to develop your research in this field.

Course Requirements

Prerequisite: 15 points at Stage I in Art History and 30 points passed Restriction: ARTHIST 332

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this course, students will be able to:

Define or explain the key areas of art crime, including theft, forgery, vandalism and looting, and illustrate each with a case study (Capability 1.1 and 1.3)
Identify and describe key components of the art market and art world which influence art crime and how these change in relation to place and time (Capability 1.3)
Compare and contrast different cases of art crime globally, especially in relation to non-Western art (Capability 2.1 and 6.1)
Identify and critically analyse current international and national protection in relation to art crime and apply those to specific cases of art crime (Capability 2.2 and 3.1)
Situate the understanding of the cultural, social, and political context in which art is made and its later use/function (Capability 4.1, 4.2 and 4.3)
Critically evaluate a variety of source material to formulate and defend your own view in writing or group presentations. (Capability 2.2, 4.1 and 5.1)

Assessments

Assessment Type	Percentage	Classification
Case study	15%	Individual Coursework
Essay	35%	Individual Coursework
Final Exam	50%	Individual Examination
3 types	100%

Workload Expectations

This course is a standard 15 point course and students are expected to spend 10 hours per week involved in each 15 point course that they are enrolled in.

For this course, each week you can expect 2 hours of lectures, a 1-hour tutorial, and 7 hours of reading and thinking about the content and hours of work on assignments and/or test preparation.

Delivery Mode

Campus Experience

Attendance is expected at tutorials to complete the course.
Lectures will be available as recordings. Other learning activities including tutorials will not be available as recordings.
The course will/ include live online events including tutorials.
Attendance on campus is not required for the exam.
The activities for the course are scheduled as a 2 hour lecture and one hour tutorial.

This course is not available for delivery to students studying remotely, including those outside NZ in 2023.

Learning Resources

Course materials are made available in a learning and collaboration tool called Canvas which also includes reading lists and lecture recordings (where available).

Please remember that the recording of any class on a personal device requires the permission of the instructor.

There is a ton of amazing research in the field of art crime – you could spend 24 hours a day reading it through the entire 12 weeks of the course and you still wouldn’t read it all. My tip is to focus your reading – perhaps only read the introductions to some of the larger edited books listed below, then for specific classes go in and read specific chapters.

Bazley, Tom. Crimes of the Art World. New York: Praeger. 2010. Also an e-book.
Chappell, Duncan and Saskia Hufnagel, eds. Contemporary Perspectives on the Detection, Investigation and Prosecution of Art Crime. Farnham, Surrey, England : Burlington, VT ; Ashgate, 2014.
Charney, Noah (ed). Art crime: Terrorists, tomb raiders, forgers and thieves. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015. Also an e-book.
Hufnagel, Saskia, and Duncan Chappell (eds.), The Palgrave Handbook on Art Crime. London: Palgrave Macmillan UK, 2019.
Jackson, Penelope, Art Fraudsters, Fakers and Thieves. Wellington: Awa Press, 2016.
Jackson, Penelope, Women in the Frame. Women, Art, and Crime. Wellington: Awa Press, 2019.
Manacorda, Stefano and Duncan Chappell, eds. Crime in the Art and Antiquities World: Illegal Trafficking in Cultural Property. New York: Springer, 2011. Also an e-book.
Nicholas, Lynn. The Rape of Europa: the Fate of Europe's Treasures in the Third Reich and Second World War. New York: Vintage Books, 1995. See also: www.rapeofeuropa.com
Thompson, Arthur. Art Crime and its Prevention: A Handbook for Collectors and Art Professionals. London: Lund Humphries, 2016.
Vadi, Valentina and Hildegard E. G. S. Schneider. Art, cultural heritage and the market: Ethical and legal issues. Heidelberg : Springer, 2014. Also an e-book.

Student Feedback

At the end of every semester students will be invited to give feedback on the course and teaching through a tool called SET or Qualtrics. The lecturers and course co-ordinators will consider all feedback and respond with summaries and actions.

Your feedback helps teachers to improve the course and its delivery for future students.

Class Representatives in each class can take feedback to the department and faculty staff-student consultative committees.

Will ensure the instructions for the first assignment are the same in the coursebook, on Canvas and in all communications to the students.

Academic Integrity

The University of Auckland will not tolerate cheating, or assisting others to cheat, and views cheating in coursework as a serious academic offence. The work that a student submits for grading must be the student's own work, reflecting their learning. Where work from other sources is used, it must be properly acknowledged and referenced. This requirement also applies to sources on the internet. A student's assessed work may be reviewed against online source material using computerised detection mechanisms.

Class Representatives

Class representatives are students tasked with representing student issues to departments, faculties, and the wider university. If you have a complaint about this course, please contact your class rep who will know how to raise it in the right channels. See your departmental noticeboard for contact details for your class reps.

Inclusive Learning

All students are asked to discuss any impairment related requirements privately, face to face and/or in written form with the course coordinator, lecturer or tutor.

Student Disability Services also provides support for students with a wide range of impairments, both visible and invisible, to succeed and excel at the University. For more information and contact details, please visit the Student Disability Services’ website http://disability.auckland.ac.nz

Well-being always comes first
We all go through tough times during the semester, or see our friends struggling. There is lots of help out there - for more information, look at this Canvas page https://canvas.auckland.ac.nz/courses/33894, which has links to various support services in the University and the wider community.

Special Circumstances

If your ability to complete assessed coursework is affected by illness or other personal circumstances outside of your control, contact a member of teaching staff as soon as possible before the assessment is due.

If your personal circumstances significantly affect your performance, or preparation, for an exam or eligible written test, refer to the University’s aegrotat or compassionate consideration page https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/students/academic-information/exams-and-final-results/during-exams/aegrotat-and-compassionate-consideration.html.

This should be done as soon as possible and no later than seven days after the affected test or exam date.

Learning Continuity

In the event of an unexpected disruption, we undertake to maintain the continuity and standard of teaching and learning in all your courses throughout the year. If there are unexpected disruptions the University has contingency plans to ensure that access to your course continues and course assessment continues to meet the principles of the University’s assessment policy. Some adjustments may need to be made in emergencies. You will be kept fully informed by your course co-ordinator/director, and if disruption occurs you should refer to the university website for information about how to proceed.

Student Charter and Responsibilities

The Student Charter assumes and acknowledges that students are active participants in the learning process and that they have responsibilities to the institution and the international community of scholars. The University expects that students will act at all times in a way that demonstrates respect for the rights of other students and staff so that the learning environment is both safe and productive. For further information visit Student Charter https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/students/forms-policies-and-guidelines/student-policies-and-guidelines/student-charter.html.

Disclaimer

Elements of this outline may be subject to change. The latest information about the course will be available for enrolled students in Canvas.

In this course students may be asked to submit coursework assessments digitally. The University reserves the right to conduct scheduled tests and examinations for this course online or through the use of computers or other electronic devices. Where tests or examinations are conducted online remote invigilation arrangements may be used. In exceptional circumstances changes to elements of this course may be necessary at short notice. Students enrolled in this course will be informed of any such changes and the reasons for them, as soon as possible, through Canvas.

Capability 1:	Disciplinary Knowledge and Practice
Capability 2:	Critical Thinking
Capability 3:	Solution Seeking
Capability 4:	Communication and Engagement
Capability 5:	Independence and Integrity
Capability 6:	Social and Environmental Responsibilities

ARTHIST 230 : Art Crime

Arts

2023 Semester One (1233) (15 POINTS)