As the executive director of theInternational Foundation for ArtResearch (IFAR)—the respected neu-

tral voice for the art world — Dr. SharonFlescher (Fig. 1) keeps tabs on the complicatedand sometimes murky international art scene.About IFAR’s mission she says, “We operate atthe intersection of diverse art communities —museums, collectors, scholars, dealers,attorneys—and provide authoritative informa-tion…about art.” Flescher is being modest, asIFAR’s website describes this diverse, New York-based institution as “a non-profit educationaland research organization that offers impartialand authoritative information on authenticity,ownership, theft, and other artistic, legal, andethical issues concerning art.”

According to Interpol (InternationalCriminal Police Organization), art theft isthe fourth most profitable form of crimeafter drug trafficking, money laundering,and illegal arms trading. Although investi-gating art theft is no longer a primaryactivity, IFAR played a major role in devel-oping the first international archive of stolenart in the mid-1970s and is a world authorityon the subject.

In 1991 IFAR helped to establish the ArtLoss Register (ALR) and managed its U.S.operations until 1998. In affiliation with theALR, IFAR publishes its “Stolen Art Alert” inthe IFAR Journal. It is the world’s mostrespected “wanted” list of illustrated imagescovering such stolen artworks as the Sumerianartifacts looted from Iraq’s national museum,Old Master paintings, American silver,Norman Rockwell paintings, and NativeAmerican tribal objects. Statistically only

about 30 percent of stolen art is ever recov-ered. The ALR now has over 145,000 missingobjects catalogued in its database.

One such case is the armed theft at theMunch Museum in Norway of Edvard Munch’sThe Scream (Fig. 2) and The Madonna inAugust of 2004. As petrified Sundaymorning visitors watched, masked thievesheld a guard at gunpoint while looting the

masterpieces in broad daylight. Flescher pointedout for an ABC News report: “There is no legit-imate market for The Scream. It’s too iconicand well-known.” Most heists are crimes ofopportunity with unsuspecting, ill-informedpurchasers acquiring the stolen property. “Themore uniquely identifiable the object, the morefamous the work and the more publicized thetheft, the harder it is to market,” Flescher notes.

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Fig. 2: Stolen 2004; remains uncovered. TheScream, Edvard Munch (1863–1944), 1893. Oil oncanvas. © Munch Museum/Munch-EllingsenGroup/ARS 2005.

IFAR and its Director Dr. Sharon Flescherby Philip Eliasoph

Art Sleuths

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“A non-descript landscape by a less-well-knownartist might be easier to sell.”

On a larger scale are the 13 art objects andpaintings, currently valued somewhere north of$300 million, stolen from Boston’s IsabellaStewart Gardner Museum over 15 years agoand included in the database. Despite a $5million reward the whereabouts of these worksby Rembrandt, Vermeer, Manet, and Degasremain unknown (Fig. 3). “The Gardner theftis the most important art museum theft in thehistory of the U.S.,” says Flescher, “and the factthat the works are still not recovered is a tragedy.But 15 years is not that long when dealing withart theft, so there is still hope that the workswill show up, ideally in good condition.”

After the theft, United States Senator TedKennedy’s office consulted IFAR when hedrafted legislation to make theft from a museuma federal crime. Federal law now defines art theftas well as “fencing” objects “known to be stolen”as crimes, and recommends fines and impris-onment of up to ten years

One wonders what degree of punishmentwill be adjudicated in the current criminalprosecution of a renowned Cape Cod mapdealer, Forbes Smiley III, arrested last Juneand charged with stealing antique mapsvalued at $900,000. Smiley was arrested atYale’s Beinecke Library when a razor blade was discovered and a search of his briefcaseyielded maps from Yale’s collection. He madea “not guilty” plea claiming he was merelycomparing his own maps with those at Yale.

Another caper involves New Yorkgallery owner and master forger ElySakhai who was sentenced to 41months in prison for duplicatingauthentic paintings by Renoir, Monet,and Klee with estimated profits of $3.5million. “People are fascinated withstories like this case,” Flescher says.“Imagine Sotheby’s and Christie’s get-ting almost identical Gauguin flowerpaintings consigned to them in May,2000! One authentic, one fake.”

Since its inception in 1969 IFAR’s agenda hasevolved, but its Art Authentication Service hasremained a high priority. IFAR is relied on forits “reputation for objectivity, scholarship, and

independence.” Its authentication services aresought worldwide by police and governmentagencies, auction houses, dealers, collectors,

educational institutions,researchers, journalists,and individuals.

IFAR is most frequentlyinvolved with research onworks of art with question-able authenticity orattribution (Fig. 4). Theorganization will onlyexamine a work for anowner or an agent repre-senting the owner, or for a

prospective buyer with the owner’s written per-mission. Once these formalities are cleared, IFARengages an international network of eminentscholars and scientists who render objective opin-

ions independent of the marketplace. Monetaryappraisals are not given.

At the inquiry stage there is a nonrefund-able fee of $250, which is applied to the basic$2,000 cost for IFAR to undertake theresearch if the project goes forward. The feeallows IFAR to pay researchers and offer hon-oraria for the specialists. Additional chargesmay be required for technical analysis or otherwork to be undertaken with the owner’s con-sent. If IFAR gives a “thumbs down,” anowner has pretty much exhausted options toverify an artwork’s authenticity.

IFAR has written nearly 600 authenticationreports and has reviewed thousands of art-works. It first became involved in the fieldwhen it was called in to resolve the controver-sial case of the misattributions at the BassMuseum of Art in Miami Beach. With the

Fig. 1: Dr. Sharon Flescher, executive director of IFAR.

Fig. 3: Stolen 1990; remains uncovered. The Concert, Johannes Vermeer (1632–1675), 1658–60. Oil on canvas, 72.5 x 64.7 cm.

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boom in American art in the 1980s, the works ofThomas Hart Benton and other regionalist artists hadwitnessed an increase of forgeries. Despite documenta-tion, even an apparent certificate from Benton, IFAR’sevidence indicated that seven Benton works held bythe Bass were fakes. In a separate incident, when thou-sands of Salvador Dali prints appeared on the marketin the 1980s a large-scale investigation by IFARexposed them as photo-mechanical reproductions.

IFAR is also involved with ongoing World War II-era and Holocaust-related looting and restitutionissues. The plunder of Jewish collections, both privateand state owned, by Nazi officials, and the seizing ofartworks as forms of war reparation — such as the

Soviet army’s transfer of Heinrich Schliemann’sTreasures of Priam from Berlin — are longstandingIFAR concerns. More recently, the looting of theNational Museum of Baghdad prompted the IFARboard of directors to declare a resolution to “safeguardthe thousands of archaeological and cultural artifacts,monuments and sites in Iraq…to secure their long-term safety and preservation.”

“One of IFAR’s most ambitious initiative to date,”notes Flescher, “has far ranging scope and internationalimpact.” Funded in part by a National LeadershipGrant from the Institute of Museum and LibraryServices (IMLS), IFAR is undertaking to survey allinternational case law in the areas of art forgery, fraud,looting, antiquities issues, and World War II- relatedownership claims and to provide the details on its

website. Included in the survey will be the huge bodyof international legislation regarding ownership andexport laws. The object of the project, says Flescher, isto “help people navigate the rapid and complex devel-opment of law and ethical practices relating to theownership of art. This information has never beenpresented like this anywhere.”

As with all things, Flescher advises, “do your home-work and train your eye. The art world, like otherbusinesses, has many honorable people. There arethose, however, who are less than honorable. Decidewhom you can trust, and always be suspicious of ‘bar-gains’ and works without provenance.” This advice isgiven for collectors as well as those engaged in profes-

sional trade, both categories of which are included inthe list of IFAR’s clients.

In its ongoing efforts to keep the public and itsmembers — located in 18 countries worldwide —informed about issues relating to the art world, IFARpublishes its quarterly IFAR Journal (left) in whicharticles, legal issues, and current news is presented.IFAR’s interests in education also extend to conferencesand lectures. For more information or to support theseongoing missions and join IFAR, please visitwww.ifar.org or write to the International Foundationfor Art Research, 500 Fifth Avenue, Suite 935, NewYork, New York, 10110, or call 212.391.6234.Philip Eliasoph is professor of art history at FairfieldUniversity, Connecticut, and an independent consult-ant for fine art collectors.

A selection of IFAR Journalcovers.

Fig. 4 (right) : View of Heidelberg, oilon canvas, submitted to IFAR for ver-ification as a work by J.M.W. Turner,but determined not to be by him.Courtesy of IFAR.

Art Sleuths: IFAR and its Director Dr. Sharon Flescher