Epis: 354- the Art Thief, the remarkable story of art history's most prolific stealer, with author Michael Finkel
Michael Finkel discusses the remarkable story of St\xe9phane Breitwieser, the subject of his recent book, The Art Thief, including:
The genesis of the book project, starting with a three-paragraph article, and eventually turning into a 10+ year-project; the style and methods of theft that Breitwieser and his partner, Anne-Catherine Kleinklaus, put to work; Michael\u2019s favorite Breitwieser crimes; his widely oscillating perception of Breitwieser, from a selfish brat to \u2018the best art professor I\u2019ve ever had;\u2019 \xa0how Breitwieser protected both Anne-Catherine and his mother by lying on their behalf, but ultimately told the truth to authorities when it came to his own role in the crime sprees; Breitwieser\u2019s Icarus-like trajectory playing out over several years as a result of his increasing addiction to art theft; a teaser of an ongoing plot point related to one of the Art Thief\u2019s main characters, one which may very well be revealed in the soft cover release of the book; and how what Breitwieser and Christopher Knight, the protagonist of Finkel\u2019s earlier book, The Stranger in the Woods, have in common is that they\u2019re extreme outliers who make their own rules.