Art and Crime Stories

23 August 2018

5.30pm-7.30pm

Free event

Join Penelope Jackson and Arthur Tompkins to learn about their journeys into writing about art crime, and some of the fascinating stories they’ve encountered. This visual presentation will capture local, national and international case studies.  Jackson specialises in researching and writing about New Zealand art crimes, and in late 2016 her book, Art Thieves, Fakers & Fraudsters: The New Zealand Story (Awa Press), was published.  Tompkins’ interest is in art crime during war and in early 2018 his book, Plundering Beauty: A History of Art Crime during War (Lund Humphries), was launched. Jackson is an art historian and freelance curator.  Her exhibition, An Empty Frame: Crimes of Art in New Zealand, was hosted by Waikato Museum in 2016/17.  Tompkins is a District Court Judge, formerly of Hamilton, and now based in Wellington. 

Register for the event here.

Arthur Tompkins is a District Court Judge based in Wellington.  He teaches ‘Art in War’ at the annual Postgraduate Certificate Programme in Art Crime and Cultural Heritage Protection, in Italy.  He is the author of Plundering Beauty: A History of Art Crime during War, and in 2016 edited Art Crime and Its Prevention. He is a regular contributor to Saturday Morning with Kim Hill on RNZ.  Tompkins is the chair of the New Zealand Art Crime Research Trust and a trustee of the Association for Research into Crimes Against Art (ARCA).

Penelope Jackson is an art historian and curator based in Tauranga, and author of Art Thieves, Fakers & Fraudsters: The New Zealand Story.  She has curated numerous exhibitions including three of the work of writer and illustrator Dame Lynley Dodd and the award-winning Corrugations: the art of Jeff Thomson.  More recently, her exhibition Ida Carey: A Contemporary Viewing is being hosted at Waikato Museum. The former director of Tauranga Art Gallery, Jackson has contributed to the Journal of Art Crime and Art Crime and Its Prevention. Jackson is a trustee of the New Zealand Art Crime Research Trust.