Remembering Tom Hoving
We were sad to learn thatTom Hovingpassed away today. The former director of New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art was an art world insider, an expert on art fraud and forgery, and one of thebest storytellersto come by our studio.
Hoving was our go-to guy when art scandals bubbled up. Last year we tracked him down on a kayaking vacation when hundreds of federal agents swooped down on art collections and museums California with warrants for looted and smuggled art.
His uncanny ability to identify a fake ancient Greek sculpture made him the star of the opening story in Malcolm Gladwell’s Blink. But Hoving admitted to getting taken too. ‘If you don’t get fooled you’re not doing your right job as a collector…Need, speed, and greed is why you get stung.’
The story you just read is available to read for free because thousands of listeners and readers like you generously support our nonprofit newsroom. Every day, the reporters and producers at The World are hard at work bringing you human-centered news from across the globe. But we can’t do it without you: We need your support to ensure we can continue this work for another year.
When you make a gift of $10 or more a month, we’ll invite you to a virtual behind-the-scenes tour of our newsroom to thank you for being with The World.