The article, named “Lessons from the History of Art Crime “Saving Artifacts from Terrorists” is an adaptation of the talk, given at The Courtauld Institute at the combined Courtauld/ARCA event, "Art and Terrorism" by Noah Charney on the 26th of February. The speaker brings up one of the most actual questions, terrifying, dreadful and barbarian, regarding the art’s safety – the demolishing of art because of the terrorists’ attacks. The fact that it has been caused by humans brings even more importance to this issue, placing it on the international arena. However, the main reason to all of these crimes lies in the religious basis – still they cannot be forbidden or forgotten, as those crimes are socially unacceptable. The terroristic attacks of Taliban and ISIS, directed onto the art’s damaging, have raised the political component of the issue. Since terrorism has touched the cultural sphere of the humans’ activity – the global safety policy must be revised and improved according to the current state of events. The article describes them, leading the reader to the point of the issue. (Charney, 63 - 66)
Getting deeper into the analysis of the reading, it is important to mention that it has been written by a person, who has a profound knowledge in this particular field. Noah Charney provides the description of the real events, in order to prove the importance of the issue. Basically, this is the main idea of the article – to acknowledge the readers in the current state of events in the world of art. The writer’s objective is to bring the attention of the wide audience to the art crimes. At this point, it is worth mentioning that Noah Charney has built the bridge to audience thorough the extreme realism of the writing. Using such terms and phrases, as “we”, “an easy pairing to see ISIS and Nazis as peas in a pod”, “I hope” and others of such type create the atmosphere of trust and friendship between the writer and the reader. (Charney, 63 - 66) The most prominent role in this case has played the construction “I hope”: placing himself into the writing, the author reveals his own feelings towards the issue discussed, letting the reader know that he also has personal agitations towards the topic of the talk. This so – called writer’s trick makes the article to be much more interactive – like the real conversation. Such non – verbal communication turns dry facts into something worth being aware of.
However, the information, represented in the article is official and provides the knowledge about the real state of events; the author has managed to adapt it in such a way, that the material becomes available and reachable to the average reader, who hasn’t been acquainted with this topic before. In other words, the author directly appeals to the reader or listener, asking for attention and immediate actions. At this point, it is worth mentioning that Noah Charney doesn’t use concrete words and terms, such as “let’s”, “it is time for us” or others that engage the audience for changing the situation described. (Charney, 63 - 66)
Getting deeper into the analysis of the article, it is important to note that Noah Charney has also used generalizations, in order to enhance the meaning of the situation’s scope. For instance, such constructions, as “the world”, “terrorists” and others are indicating on the totality of the issue, as the reader would definitely think of the subject as the whole unit, but not of some particular parts of it. This is an effective writer’s method, which doesn’t break the main line of the story, its meaning and the main purpose. (Charney, 63 - 66)
All paragraphs have been built in the logical order: from the introduction part, which contains the opening story about the recent reconstruction of the artifacts, giving a brief digression to the crimes in art and terroristic attacks. Then the author provides the facts of such types of crimes, committed by other terroristic groups in different countries and periods of history, linking them to other terroristic acts. The following comparison of the art crimes of Nazis and ISIS gives a better understanding of the topic. Generally speaking, the logical chain of the article hasn’t been broken. (Charney, 63 - 66)
Noah Charney’s talk brings the audience to the gloom reality of the modern world. Even after the brief reading of the article, without getting into the deeper analysis of it, we may notice that it has been written in the aggrieved, indignant, direct, judgmental, solemn and worried tone. This fact may be proved by the few following arguments: first of all, the style of the talk, and the article, is serious and isn’t for the entertaining; second of all, the author provides the audience with the solid facts, without an attempt to embellish or mitigate the facts; third of all, the way Noah Charney has compared ISIS’s actions and terroristic attacks considering art to Nazis is an evident sign of the fact that the issue of art crimes bothers the author directly, awaking same feelings in the audience.
Despite of the fact that the article is dedicated to the extremely serious issue, the language used is simple and understandable for the average reader or the listener. As it was mentioned previously in the paper – the talk or the article has been adapted to the wide range of audience, avoiding specific terms and notions, known only in the narrow range of specialists. Plus, Noah Charney turns the message of the talk into the rich context, which gives the audience food for thoughts. (Charney, 63 - 66)
As a conclusion, it is worth mentioning that the article itself is strong and impressive, in terms of the way, in which the author has combined the formalism and accessibility of the information given. The main message has been put into the context. Still, it is understandable for the reader or the listener, engaging the person for actions. Successful author’s methods have provided him an opportunity to reach the audience directly.
Works cited:
Charney, Noah. "Lessons from the History of Art Crime "Saving Artifacts from Terrorists"." The Journal of Art Crime 15 (2016): 63-66. Academia. 12 Jan. 2017. Web. 15 Jan. 2017. <http://www.academia.edu/26329695/Review_Symposium_on_Art_and_Terrorism_Journal_of_Art_Crime_Spring_2016_107-110>.
