ART FRAUD: THE DEVASTATING IMPACTS AND WHAT DO WE DO?

Join McMaster Museum of Art for a lecture with The Hon. Patricia Bovey about her work in international art fraud and public policy. ABOUT THE LECTURE ART FRAUD: THE DEVASTATING IMPACTS AND WHAT DO WE DO? The devastation of art fraud, whether perpetrated at home or abroad, cuts across multiple aspects of Canadian society. Art crime ravages the personal, professional and financial lives of Indigenous artists, other Canadian artists, and collectors, museums, galleries, and the wider economy. Including forgeries, theft, looting, appropriation, and copyright and intellectual property violations, art fraud is considered the third largest global financial criminal activity, responsible for yearly world-wide losses of between $6 to $8B. In Canada the annual financial cost is estimated at $600M. Impacts beyond monetary loss are likewise significant. Why are these crimes so prevalent? Who benefits? How might art crime and its consequential devastation be mitigated? We will have an open discussion of all these issues. ABOUT THE HON. PATRICIA BOVEY HON. PATRICIA BOVEY, LL.D, DCL, D.LITT, FRSA, FCMA, FDFS Patricia Bovey is an art historian, curator, emerita museum director and former member of the Senate of Canada (2016-2023) representing Manitoba. She served as director of the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria and the Winnipeg Art Gallery, and founded St. Boniface Hospital’s Buhler Gallery in Winnipeg. Her books include Pat Martin Bates: Balancing on a Thread (2013), Don Proch: Masking and Mapping (2019), and Western Voices in Canadian Art (2023). She has lectured and taught extensively on art history, particularly that of Western Canada, curating, museum and governance studies, and cultural policy, focusing currently on art and health, international art fraud and public policy, and cultural diplomacy. She has served on many arts and university boards, including the National Gallery of Canada and the Canada Council of the Arts, and chaired the boards of the University of Manitoba and Emily Carr University of Art and Design. She is currently a member of the Confederation Centre for the Arts Board, the National Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada, the Roberta Bondar Foundation, and the Royal Winnipeg Ballet Board. The recipient of many awards and honours, she has received Honorary Degrees from York University, the University of Manitoba, the University of Winnipeg and St John’s College. Light refreshments will be served. Image credit: Senate of Canada For accomodations/accessibility requests, please contact us: [email protected]