Noah Charney: "Traffickers, Thieves and Forgers in the World of Art"

Open VISIONS Forum Lecture Series
3 p.m., Sunday, March 24, 2013
Fairfield University's Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts
Tickets: $45

World-renowned expert in the field of art crime, Noah Charney, presents a lecture entitled "Traffickers, Thieves and Forgers in the World of Art" at 3 p.m., Sunday, March 24, 2013, at Fairfield University's Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts as part of its signature lecture series, Open VISIONS Forum. Best-selling author and educator, Noah Charney lectures internationally in the subjects of art history and art crime. He is a Visiting Lecturer for Brown University abroad programs and Adjunct Professor of Art History at the American University of Rome. He holds Masters degrees in art history from The Courtauld Institute and University of Cambridge and a Ph.D. from University of Ljubljana. Dr. Charney is the founder of the Association for Research into Crimes against Art, ARCA, a non-pro?t organization which works to promote the study and research of art crime and cultural heritage protection (www.artcrimeresearch.org).

Dr. Charney will be introduced by Christopher "Kip" Bergstrom, Deputy Commissioner of the CT Department of Economic and Community Development. Following Dr. Charney's presentation, there will be an informal conversation and discussion with Philip Eliasoph, Ph.D., OVF moderator and professor of art history at Fairfield University, and Jill Deupi, Ph.D., director of Fairfield University's Bellarmine Museum of Art and assistant professor of art history. Moffly Media is the exclusive magazine sponsor for the 2012-13 Open VISIONS Forum series. Single tickets are $45.

"Dr. Charney's fascinating research provides important new insights into the problematic realm of art theft, which impacts society at large in surprisingly direct ways," said Dr. Jill Deupi. "Beyond the loss of priceless treasures and the shared cultural memories these works embody and preserve, such crimes are often part of a much larger, more menacing web of criminal activity, including the illegal trafficking of drugs and firearms. These are not, therefore, the 'victimless' crimes that they are commonly said to be. Dr. Charney's research, like the on-going work of ARCA and his many, finely-crafted written works, casts this situation in a new and clarifying light."

Dr. Charney is the author of numerous academic and popular articles, including a regular column in ArtInfo called "The Secret History of Art" and a weekly interview series in The Daily Beast called "How I Write."  His first novel, "The Art Thief" (Atria 2007), is currently translated into seventeen languages and is a best-seller in five countries. The Financial Times called it "an engaging whodunit." USA Today said: "Fascinating details about Caravaggio and Vermeer, the lucrative business of art forgery and the sophisticated thieves who steal priceless paintings." And the Rocky Mountain News opined: "Descriptively brilliant and filled with witticisms, this fine romp features a clever and well-drawn cast of characters, as well as educates readers about real masterpieces and the artists behind them."

Noah Charney is the editor of an academic essay collection entitled "Art & Crime: Exploring the Dark Side of the Art World" (Praeger 2009) and the "Museum Time" series of guides to museums in Spain (Planeta 2010). His is the author of a critically-acclaimed work of non-fiction, "Stealing the Mystic Lamb: the True History of the World's Most Coveted Masterpiece"(PublicAffairs 2011), is a best-seller in two countries that tells the story of the most frequently stolen artwork of all time, "The Ghent Altarpiece" by Jan van Eyck. The Sunday Times UK calls it "an intriguing blend of reportage and art history, providing what is in effect a remarkable "biography" of this beautiful and tough survivor [The Ghent Altarpiece]. And the Christian Science Monitor explains: "In scrupulous detail, Charney divulges the secrets of the revered painting's past, and in doing so, gives readers a history lesson on art crime, a still-prospering black market. His latest book is "The Thefts of the Mona Lisa: On Stealing the World's Most Famous Painting"(ARCA Publications 2011). Upcoming books include "The Book of Forgery" (Phaidon 2014) and "The Invention of Art" (Norton 2015)

"Noah Charney is the Sherlock Holmes of art theft," said Mark Lamster, author of "Master of Shadows.""Beyond his great sleuthing prowess, he writes with the simple grace of a novelist and the erudition of a scholar." Guillermo Solana, Director of the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid, notes "Noah Charney is an important bridge between museums and the general public."

Dr. Charney's work in the field of art crime has been praised in such forums as The New York Times Magazine, Time Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, BBC Radio, National Public Radio, El Pais, Vogue, Vanity Fair, and Tatler among others.  He has appeared on radio and television, including BBC, ITV, CNBC, and MSNBC, and is in constant demand as a lecturer. Mr. Charney lives in Italy and Slovenia.

Tickets are available through the Quick Center Box Office: (203) 254-4010, or toll-free 1-877-ARTS-396 (1-877-278-7396). Tickets can also be purchased online at www.quickcenter.com.

The Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts is located on the campus of Fairfield University at 1073 North Benson Road in Fairfield, Connecticut. Entrance to the Quick Center is through the Barlow Road gate at 200 Barlow Road. Free, secure parking is available. Access for people with disabilities is available throughout the Quick Center for audience members and performers. Hearing amplification devices are available upon request at the Box Office. Fairfield University is located off exit 22 of Interstate-95. For further information and directions, call (203) 254-4010 or 1-877-278-7396, or visit www.quickcenter.com.

Image: Noah Charney. Photo by Urska Charney.

Media Contact: Mike Horyczun, (203) 254-4000 ext. 2647, mhoryczun@fairfield.edu

Posted on March 05, 2013

Vol. 45, No. 209

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In My Words: It's not the end of the world

In a newspaper column, Associate Professor Tony Crider looks back on the media buzz surrounding the Maya prophecy that didn't come true.

Associate Professor Tony Crider

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The following column was written recently for the Elon University Writers Syndicate.

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It's not the end of the world
By Tony Crider - acrider@elon.edu

New-age authors have been trying to convince us for decades that the Maya civilization predicted a “harmonic convergence” during our lifetimes.

Then a media blitz on the Maya took a darker turn three years ago with the release of “2012” starring John Cusack. The movie’s promotional campaign and subsequent television shows seem to have convinced many people of a Maya doomsday prophecy for the end of this year.

Google searches for “mayan 2012” surged the same month the movie came out, and according to market research company Ipsos, roughly 12 percent of Americans believed there was such a prophecy.

Concerns over the Maya, or the fiscal cliff, or peak oil, or zombies have led a growing number of us to stockpile food, guns and other supplies to prepare for the imminent End Of The World As We Know It. Occasionally, these “preppers” believe in what becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Thirty-eight members of the Heaven’s Gate cult were convinced by Marshall Applewhite in 1997 that the world was about to end. Their escape plan? Mass suicide.

It is both easy and common to convince people of extremely foolish ideas. In 2001, the FOX network aired the special, “Conspiracy Theory: Did We Land on the Moon?”, featuring an “analyst and engineer” named Bill Kaysing. It failed to mention that Kaysing had no training in science or engineering. With his degree in English, he proofread, edited and formatted documents for scientists and engineers building the Saturn V rockets.

The misleading claims from this show have been debunked repeatedly by both astronomers and even other television shows. NASA, however, largely ignored the Apollo hoax believers. How could anyone believe that the Apollo moon landing was faked? Surely no one would take this seriously.

And yet one out of four young Americans surveyed since the show’s airing doubt Neil Armstrong walked on the Moon.

NASA learned from its earlier mistake and has been proactive this time around. The agency released a short YouTube video, “Why the World Didn’t End Yesterday,” to explain that neither the Maya nor modern scientists have doomsday predictions for this month and that the ancient calendar simply begins again just as our own calendar rolls over every New Year’s Day.

The world is not going to end in 2012. At least, probably not.

On any given day there is some miniscule chance that life on Earth could be decimated. Arguably the most probable threat is from large asteroid impacts. Small asteroids hit the Earth all of the time, but the “mile-wide” ones, like the one that wiped out the dinosaurs, are rare.

Since the 1990s, NASA has used robotic telescopes and spacecraft to search for potentially hazardous asteroids. While most of them have been found, there are some still out there that haven’t been seen by astronomers yet.

In early December, a previously unknown small asteroid named “2012 XE54” whizzed by Earth at distance that was closer than our Moon. It is small enough to fit neatly on a typical suburban house lot. It was not discovered until just before passing the Earth, a reminder that we need to keep observing the skies.

Fortunately for us, modern telescopes have improved our chances at spotting an asteroid before it hits us. The odds of an unknown asteroid wiping out humanity on some arbitrary date are very low, about the same as two players each drawing a royal flush while playing straight poker.

I still am somewhat reluctant to point out this very encouraging statistic. After all, the headline “Astronomer Claims Asteroid Might Destroy Earth” could sell a lot of papers.

Tony Crider is an associate professor of physics at Elon University.

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Elon University faculty with an interest in sharing their expertise with wider audiences are encouraged to contact Eric Townsend (etownsend4@elon.edu) in the Office of University Communications should they like assistance with prospective newspaper op/ed submissions.

Viewpoints shared by this syndicate are those of the author and not of Elon University.

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by Eric Townsend, Staff Last Updated - 12/21/2012

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