Museum of the Missing is a fantastic book, one that I highly recommend for any fan of art. As the title suggests, Haupt looks at the stories surrounding works of art (paintings mostly) that have been stolen. Some have been located, some are probably lost forever. I suppose I never really thought about why people steal paintings, besides simple monetary value. But there seem to be all sorts of reasons -- a 3,000 pound Henry Moore sculpture was likely stolen for the value of its bronze. Seriously, thieves stole it in the middle of the night and probably melted it down. Can you imagine?
But Haupt also points out that people are often able to steal these works because they're so poorly guarded. And I realized how many times I have been in museums, especially in South America and Eastern Europe, where that's totally true, where no one else is walking the floor and there aren't any cameras. In fact, I have used that to my advantage...to take photographs without having paid the b.s. photo fee at the desk. But it would never have occurred to me to steal a piece of art. And that was a strange, self-affirming realization...thank god, it never has occurred to me.
So anyway...Museum of the Missing, I highly recommend it. It's just a fascinating look at all these individual stories about classic works of art that you'll never really be aware of, because they're gone. Imagine if the Mona Lisa had been stolen as plunder 400 years ago, imagine what we'd all have lost. It just seems crazy.
Book #4: Dedication by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus
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