Unseen

Art and Crime in Australia

Penelope Jackson

$39.99

Paperback

Forthcoming
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English

Monash University Publishing
01 November 2025

Forgery, falsification & theft of artworks; History of Art & Design Styles; Painting & paintings; Biography

A riveting look at art thefts, fakes, forgeries, vandalism, 'disappeared works' and more

The Australian art world is often host to crime, including theft, fraud and forgeries. Unseen offers a unique insight into art crime in Australia from colonisation to today, focusing on those stories that have often escaped mainstream attention. From the many offences committed against William Dobell's work (including a painting listed on the FBI's National Stolen Art File since 1949) to the mysterious re-emergence of Rupert Bunny's Girl in Sunlight twenty-three years after it disappeared, from fraudulently sold Aboriginal art to climate activists spray-painting a famous Frederick McCubbin, Australian art has been a hotbed of revolt, recrimination and even robbery since European contact.

This is the story of art at the nexus of culture and commerce: art plus money can lead to deceit and dashed dreams. Unseen captures the stories of many artworks, artists and collectors at the centre of our nation's most enduring art scandals. It also looks at works hidden from public sight, now deemed colonial embarrassments or curatorial burdens, that were once of social and cultural significance. Ultimately, it explores how our conception of artistic value changes over time, and what that reveals about Australian society.

'No one knows more about art crime in Australia than Penelope Jackson. She's the continent's go-to scholar and teller of riveting tales within this subgenre. I eagerly anticipate each of her books, and this one is brilliant. The perfect read for anyone interested in cultural heritage crimes in the land down under.'

Dr Noah Charney, bestselling author of The Thefts of the Mona Lisa

'Throughout Unseen the reader is taken on a journey through aspects of Australian art crime from its earliest days of settlement to contemporary events. In her writing, Jackson seeks to redress the parallel paths Australian art history and Australian art crime have taken: to present an ""intercourse"" between the two.'

Dr Pamela James, Adjunct Fellow, Art Crime and Art History, University of Western Sydney

By: Penelope Jackson
Imprint: Monash University Publishing
Country of Publication: Australia
Dimensions: Height: 234mm, Width: 153mm,
ISBN: 9781923451902
ISBN 10: 1923451901
Pages: 336
Publication Date: 01 November 2025
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

Dr Penelope Jackson MNZM is an award-winning art historian. She has published three books about art crime, including The Art of Copying Art (Palgrave Macmillan), which won Best Book in the 2023 Art Writing and Publishing Awards in the Art Association of Australia and New Zealand. A former public art gallery director and curator, Jackson was awarded a Sir William Dobell Fellowship at the Australian National University in 2024 and was made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2023 for her services to art crime research and the visual arts. She is an Adjunct Research Associate at Charles Sturt University.