Art theft is something most of us have come across through cinematized representations or occasional reports in the media. These stories give the crime a glamorous allure, with handsome lead characters leading a decadent lifestyle and modern thugs leaving baffled high-tech security companies in their wake.

News reports are only the tip of the iceberg though, as the FBI states that art crimes "ranks third in the list of criminal trades," with many cases going unreported. The recent robberies of approximately $2 million in paintings from South Africa's Pretoria Art Museum is one example of the crimes' international pervasiveness. Not only does this incident highlight how widespread art theft is, however, but also the rising value of South African art that tempts thieves into such bold maneuvers.

As the leader of law firm Sheppard Mullin's Transactional Entertainment, Media, and Technology Practice Group, lawyer Robert Darwell has extensive experience with art theft cases around the world. He had just returned from Art Basel Miami Beach when he spoke with Art van Africa about crime in the art industry in this exclusive interview. He puts dramatized elements into perspective while pointing out commonly unknown aspects about art theft.

AvA - How pervasive is art theft today? How does it rank among other forms of crime?

RD- "In terms of dollars a year it's pretty significant. I think it's in the $6 billion per year range. The feeling amongst people is that art crime is on the rise but it's a little bit hard to tell if that's actually the case because the crime seems kind of sexy and they get a lot of media coverage. Even the one in South Africa that wasn't as high value as some of them but still pretty significant — $2 million — gets a lot of local and international press and publicity. It's because it's become more covered lately — it might even seem to be that there is more crime than there has been. It might very well be kind of at the same level and there's just a greater awareness of it. Sometimes with that greater awareness comes the fact that more people kind of learn how easy it is, that there are valuable works hanging in hotel lobbies or that underfunded museums have gaps in their security. So the coverage could be fueling a bit more of this type of crime."

AvA - Historically what types of art have been most common among thefts?

RD - "There is a wide gamut, but the ones that thieves historically target tend to be the household names. There is recognition because of course there is the increased value associated with it. Picasso has had the most works stolen, Dali, Andy Warhol, Rembrandt — those types of works and paintings are more commonly taken. At the same time, those are the hardest ones to dispose of, especially because it's gotten more challenging in the last decades. With the Art Loss Register, if something is taken, it gets logged and so you can't just offload a Picasso. Or even display your newly purchased painting if you're a buyer. But still, for the most part those are the ones that do get taken."

AvA - Are there particular genres right now that are being specially targeted?

RD - "To the extent that there is a new trend, I would say objects that are made of metal. There's been a lot more thefts of bronze and copper. The value of metal has gone up so they could be cut into pieces and sold for scrap. There was one stolen in the UK — Henry Moore's 'Reclining Figure' — a two-ton object that was pretty much broken down and sold for scrap. It's easier to dispose of something like that. You can't refashion or retool your Picasso. But could you melt down something into bronze and copper? Sure."

AvA - Does it influence a very valuable artwork's market when it is stolen? For example, $2 million worth of South African paintings were recently stolen in Pretoria. Though most have been recovered, could the African art market be influenced at all?

RD - "Maybe for the particular piece itself it could add a bit of allure or history to it, like when the Mona Lisa was stolen in the early 1900s. But for the ones in South Africa, it would have a significant influence if a large majority of a particular artist's work was taken such that the remaining ones become all the more rarer. But taking one Picasso won't do it. If there's a fire that wiped down 40 Monets or a flood damaged and destroyed 20 Rembrandts — that would then increase the value of the remaining paintings. But taking one particular piece by an artist here or there won't influence the market so much.

It might influence the market if there's a movie-like story with the hype. Throughout the years, because I also do a lot of motion picture work, movies have been fascinated with that kind of entrapment and people love watching it. That's not how most of the art crimes are. They're either just thugs coming in or holding up an armed security truck, something like that. Or, most frequently, it involves some sort of insider information, like access to inside information about a museum."

AvA - Many of us have come across art theft in entertainment, like the movie Ocean's 12. Can you tell us of actual incidents involving important works?

RD - "You'll read about most of them in the news, like when 'The Scream' and the 'Madonna' were taken in Oslo. Every couple of years there's been a significant one.

You don't really hear much of art theft throughout the Middle East and Asia though, where there a lot of big collectors and museums, and that's maybe because they have newer facilities. It's a little off-topic but another area of art theft that people don't think the touch about is the looting and stealing of art and antiquities whenever there's a war or conflict. In Iraq and Afghanistan, some of the places that get hit are museums and public statues. I remember the chaos following Saddam Hussein falling and people were real everywhere and there was complete civil unrest. There was a great deal of loss and theft of works of art and national treasures during that time. Who knows exactly who did it? It could be the local people who took advantage of the crisis situation or it could have been people who were there to topple the government. We don't think of that as much, and it's much more tragic. You lose a large percentage of national treasures that way."

Originally published in Art Van Africa

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.