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conoclasm is defined as the act of breaking or destroying images, especially religious ones. The first recorded act is in Exodus 32 where Moses comes down from the mountain and smashes the statue the Israelite had made while he was off chatting with God on top of the mount.

It could be argued that this same religious fervour that drove Moses to break the statue is similar to the drive behind most art crimes today. Discounting attacks on art that are directly related to religious iconography, many attacks involve either an artist who is acting on behalf of their own artistic ideals (which itself could be seen as a belief system comparable to a religion) or a person who attacks an icon of the culture we live in such as a Rembrandt or Picasso, that themselves are worshipped in a manner otherwise reserved for religious worship.

My interest in iconoclasm peaked after reading various news reports in the daily papers, however there is a noticeable lack of online resources compiling the instances of attacks against art. By no means do I claim this listing complete, but it is slowly growing so please feel free to forward myself any reports of art crimes you are aware of.

For the purpose of this site, the parameters set for what constitute an "art crime" involve those acts within the confines of a museum or gallery space where a work is willfully damaged. Acts of vandalism outside these confines, may be reduced to an act of hooliganism whether or not that was the intended aim especially when they lack a raison d'être. Most of the crimes documented involve a considerable risk of retribution against the perpetrators if caught (although rarely is a sever punishment dealt) and indeed in most instances no attempt of escape is sought.

It is also interesting to note that "ore than half such attackers have been detained under the Mental Health Act the rest are seemingly artists or religious fanatics.

There is no doubt that as a cultural practice, iconoclasm is an intriguing phenomenon, and hopefully these pages serve to fill the void of information on this subject somewhat and can be equally entertaining and informative.

-Damien Frost