April 20, 2013, 4:00 p.m.
Heists, stings and wiseguys…all part of the dangerous struggle between international stolen-art criminals and law enforcement agencies around the world, will be the among the topics of a lecture by Bob Wittman, former FBI agent and founder of that Bureau’s National Art Crime Team, on Saturday, April 20, at 4:00 p.m. Presented as part of the Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum’s Green Critics’ Lecture Series, Mr. Wittman’s talk will take place at the Wertheim Performing Arts Center, across the street from the Frost, on the FIU Campus.
Mr. Wittman was called “a living legend” by the Wall Street Journal, and the Times of London dubbed him “the most famous art detective in the world.” He served for 20 years as the FBI’s investigative expert in art theft and recovery, and he authored the 2008 New York Times bestseller Priceless: How I Went Underground to Rescue the World’s Stolen Treasures.
In March of this year, the FBI held a news conference to announce that it felt it had finally identified the criminals behind the 1990 heist at the Isabelle Stewart Gardner Art Museum in Boston. This was the single largest art theft in U.S. history, with an estimated five hundred million dollars value placed on the stolen works, which included paintings by Vermeer, Rembrandt, Degas and Manet. FBI agent Wittman, operating under the assumed name of Bob Clay, was deeply involved dealing with international criminals trying to sell these stolen works for years, including a sting operation conducted partly in Miami; Wittman is uniquely qualified to describe the dangerous criminals involved and how this operation was conducted, and will do so in his lecture on April 20. He also headed other undercover stolen-art recovery operations, working with U.S. and international police agencies, over the course of his career with the FBI, and will discuss some of these as well.
Mr. Wittman’s lecture will be immediately followed by a wine and hors d’oeuvres reception at the Frost Art Museum. This reception will also serve as the preview reception for the latest exhibition opening at the Frost, Spanish Colonial Art: The Beauty of Two Traditions. All of these events are open to the public and free of charge.
Wertheim Performing Art Center at FIU
10910 SW 17th Street
Miami, FL 33199
305.348.2890
thefrost.fiu.edu
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