Masters Programs on Art Crimes and Provenance

[Bryce Chatwin]

Hello, I'm looking for a good master's program in Art History that focuses on art crime and provenance of artworks. I'm hoping I can find something that will give me experience to track down lost and stolen works or verify and authenticate the origins and originality of artworks. I'm hoping to get into questions and conversations about ethics with museums, foreign policy and laws, along with other memorandums and treaties signed that affect the status of artworks. I know this is very specific, I'm not sure if there are a lot of programs out there for this, but any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance. 

I also happen to have an anthropology degree which helps with the forensics side of things when it comes to some of these issues. I find the study of behaviors of humans very interesting as well, which is why I think studying provenance, and theft is interesting to not only obtaining stolen works back, but to understand the social, political, and environmental pressures that could have led to the sticky provenance or outright hijacking of artworks. 

Bryce

[roving99]

I’m not sure if there is a program that does this. It’s quite a niche field.  You may need to build your own degree at a school that offers law, forensics, art history, and museum studies altogether, especially since your career goal similarly isn’t a position that just exists - you’ll need to build a brand for yourself and market yourself as such, I think it will end up being like a private investigator type of situation, and you may need those credentials as well. 

[rohcoco]

There are a few faculty who specialize in this area. Unfortunately, the only recognized Pg Cert in Art Crime, Trafficking and Antiquities was terminated in 2020 (after I was accepted ) at the University of Glasgow. There are still profs there who work in this, but Dr Donna Yates and Dr Erin Thompson are big leads in this field. Netherlands and NY. From my research, the path is usually anthro or law into art history, so as an art historian it's been extremely slim pickings in finding programs that suit my education base. Queens U in Canada has a great conservation program that includes provenance etc. There is a prestigious program in Italy, https://www.artcrimeresearch.org/ but it is on hold until it can be held in person.

This is also a good resource to start with https://itsartlaw.org/art-law-resources/courses-and-programs-worldwide/