“The Most Famous Art Detective in the World” – with ex-FBI Legend Robert Wittman

SpyCast

Summary

Robert Wittman (Website; Twitter) joins Andrew (Twitter; LinkedIn) to discuss his career and the FBI’s Art Crime Team. Bob recovered over $300 million worth of stolen art and cultural property over the course of his career.

What You’ll Learn

Intelligence

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• How the FBI’s Art Crime Team (ACT) was formed
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• The intelligence angle when investigating provenance
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• Living and working undercover abroad
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• Museums & Intelligence
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Reflections

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• The importance of cultural property
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• Questions of ownership and belonging
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And much, much more …

Quotes of the Week

“The motivation for writing the book was to get the word out how important cultural heritage is. It really is important to make the public realize that this is an important program that should be supported by law enforcement both local and federal.” – Robert Wittman.

Resources

SURFACE SKIM

*Featured Resource*

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• Priceless: How I Went Undercover to Rescue the World’s Stolen Treasures, R. Wittman (Crown Publishing, 2011)
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*SpyCasts*

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• The Gambling Capital of the World: Intelligence, Las Vegas Style! with James Lockhart and Keith Michaels (2023)
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• Venice’s Secret Service with Ioanna Iordanou (2023)
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• 70th Anniversary of James Bond, Special with Alexis Albion on 007 (2023)
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• How Artificial Intelligence is Changing the Spy Game with Mike Susong (2023)
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*Beginner Resources*

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• Why art gets stolen time and again, R. Pryor, The Art Newspaper (2020) [Short article]
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• FBI Art Theft Program, FBI, YouTube (2013) [6 min. video]
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• What is cultural property?, Information and Heritage Inspectorate (n.d.) [Short article]
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DEEPER DIVE

Primary Sources

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• Crystal Sphere, Collection of the University of Pennsylvania Museum
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• Mask of the Man with the Broken Nose, Collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art
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• Christ in the Storm on the Sea of Galilee, Collection of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
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• The Concert, Collection of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
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• The Rosenberg Diary, Collection of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
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• Museums and the theft of works of art (1973)
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*Wildcard Resource*

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• Can you identify famous pieces and artists like an art detective?
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• Take this Google Arts & Culture quiz to see if you’re cut out for the job!
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