The Art of Crime

Thanks to the efforts of renowned Mexican muralist Diego Rivera, Leon Trotsky gained political asylum in Mexico. In early 1937, the Russian revolutionary moved in with the painter and his wife, Frida Kahlo, at the Blue House on the outskirts of the Mexican capital. A torrid drama ensued, in which Trotsky betrayed his benefactor, at great risk to his own safety. Show notes and full transcripts avai...

In 1858, actor-manager Laura Keene bought exclusive rights to Tom Taylor's comedy, Our American Cousin, which became the smash hit of the decade. On April 14, 1865, Keene was performing the play at Ford's Theatre when John Wilkes Booth shot Abraham Lincoln. As the assassin fled and the playhouse descended into pandemonium, Keene endeavored to manage the crisis.  Show notes and full transcripts ava...

The first in a series of bonus episodes related to the theme of assassins will drop on Wednesday, September 13. To tide you over until then, I'm pleased to present two episodes of the History Daily podcast. History Daily generously featured an episode of The Art of Crime a few weeks back, so I wanted to return the favor. This History Daily episode is about the Antwerp diamond heist of 2003, one of...

The first in a series of bonus episodes related to the theme of assassins will drop on Wednesday, September 13. To tide you over until then, I'm pleased to present two episodes of the History Daily podcast. History Daily generously featured an episode of The Art of Crime a few weeks back, so I wanted to return the favor. This episode is about the mystery of D.B. Cooper. On November 24, 1971, an un...

In this episode, we look back on the crimes we covered this season and consider what we've learned about the nature of assassination, especially when artists are in the picture. Show notes and full transcripts available at www.artofcrimepodcast.com.  If you'd like to support the show, please consider becoming a patron at www.patreon.com/artofcrimepodcast. 

On April 14, 1865, Abraham Lincoln attended a performance of Our American Cousin at Ford's Theatre in Washington. John Wilkes Booth shot him in the middle of the show and escaped from the playhouse, after which a dramatic manhunt ensued. His crime would not only cost him his life but forever tarnish the name of Booth, which had previously belonged to the nation's most celebrated theatrical dynasty...

John Wilkes Booth hailed from America's most celebrated theatrical dynasty. At the height of his powers, his father, Junius, ranked as the greatest Shakespearean in the country, and John's older brothers, Junius and Edwin, also achieved fame. After an unpromising professional debut, John lived up to the family name, rising to stardom. With the outbreak of the American Civil War, however, he eventu...

Apart from creating exquisite music, goldwork, and statuary under the patronage of Pope Clement VII, among other notables, sixteenth-century Renaissance man Benvenuto Cellini had a special talent for making enemies. One professional rivalry even ended in murder, in the middle of a busy street. After getting imprisoned for a crime he never committed, Cellini found himself the target of a brazen ass...

In 1949, a man claiming to be a doctor walked into a Tokyo bank. By the time he walked out, he had stolen 160,000 yen and left ten people dead or dying inside. Given the speed and sophistication of the killings, police assumed they were looking for a trained assassin. Instead, their investigation led to an unassuming landscape painter named Sadamichi Hirasawa.  Show notes and full transcripts avai...

After serving in WWI, German painter Otto Dix rose to fame in the 1920s partly through his unflinching portrayal of modern warfare and the toll it took on the human body. However, these themes landed him on the blacklist following the Nazi seizure of power in 1933. After a no-name carpenter masterminded—and nearly pulled off—a daring attempt on Hitler's life in 1939, the Nazis came knocking at Dix...

After the assassination of his mother, Agrippina, Nero threw himself into the performing arts like never before, training to become both a musician and a tragic actor. He even toured Greece to compete in its famous sports and arts festivals. As Nero's megalomania and abuses of office grew more outrageous, however, a group of conspirators plotted his assassination.   Show notes and full transcripts...

Nero became emperor of Rome in 54 A.D., largely thanks to the scheming of his mother, Agrippina. The teenaged ruler showed promise early on, yet major flaws swiftly revealed themselves, including an obsession with becoming a musician. As his enemies multiplied, Nero retained power by brutal means. In 59, he ordered one of the most notorious assassinations of the century, inspired by a special effe...

When Valerie Solanas moved to New York in the early-to-mid 1960s, she wanted nothing more than to become a writer. Within a few years, she approached perhaps the most admired—and reviled—artist in the United States, Andy Warhol, proposing that he produce her pipe-bomb of a comedy, Up Your Ass. Though promising at first, their relationship went south, and in 1968, Solanas walked into Warhol's studi...

A diehard Communist, David Alfaro Siqueiros fought in the Mexican Revolution in the mid-1910s. Over the next several decades, he would revolutionize the theory and practice of muralism in Mexico and abroad, largely inspired by his radical politics. In 1940, his political convictions led to a less honorable enterprise when he spearheaded an assault on the home of Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky...

Season 2 of The Art of Crime explores a new theme. Listen to this trailer to find out what it is! Show notes and full transcripts available at www.artofcrimepodcast.com. If you'd like to support the show, please consider becoming a patron at www.patreon.com/artofcrimepodcast.

Thanks to everyone who submitted questions! Let me know if you'd like to hear more AMA episodes in the future at artofcrimepodcast@gmail.com. If you'd like to support the show, please consider becoming a patron at www.patreon.com/artofcrimepodcast. 

Arthur Conan Doyle rose to fame as the inventor of Sherlock Holmes. Not unlike his literary creation, Doyle had a knack for making inferences about others based on observation alone and even brought that talent to bear on real-life criminal cases. He also weighed in on the Ripper killings, drawing curve-ball conclusions about how the murderer committed his crimes. Show notes and full transcripts a...

In 1884, the Reverend Samuel Barnett and his wife, Henrietta, founded Toynbee Hall, a charitable institution meant to improve the lives of Whitechapel residents. From its inception, Toynbee Hall offered both arts education and programming. The Ripper's victims died within walking distance of its doorstep, and Bruce Robinson believes that the Hall was essential to Michael Maybrick's s plan to get a...

In 1913, Marie Belloc Lowndes published her novel, The Lodger, inspired by a story that painter Walter Sickert heard from his landlady. At one point, the heroine attends a farcical inquest, during which a witness offers bogus testimony. This fictional debacle resonates with one of the more bizarre episodes in the Whitechapel murders. Show notes and full transcripts available at www.artofcrimepodca...

In 1910, Dr. Hawley Harvey Crippen poisoned his wife, Cora, and fled to Canada with his mistress in disguise. Detective Walter Dew, who cut his teeth on the force while hunting for the Ripper in 1888, donned a costume of his own as he pursued the fugitives. Like the Whitechapel murderer, Crippen is dubiously said to have procured his disguise from wigmaker and costume designer Willy Clarkson. Show...

We look back at the artists we've covered this season and consider what we've learned about the Whitechapel murders and the theories they've inspired. Why are artists so popular as Ripper suspects? Show notes and full transcripts available at www.artofcrimepodcast.com.  If you'd like to support the show, please consider becoming a patron at www.patreon.com/artofcrimepodcast. 

Singer and composer Michael Maybrick was the Victorian equivalent of a pop star in 1889 when his older brother, James, died under enigmatic circumstances. In 2015, writer and director Bruce Robinson nominated Michael as the Ripper, based on what he believes happened to James as well as Michael's involvement in the Freemasons, one of the most secretive and talked-about fraternities in Victorian Eng...

One of the most important painters of his generation, Walter Sickert gravitated toward scenes of low life and at times depicted women who appeared to be dead. In the 1970s, a man purporting to be Sickert's illegitimate son implicated the painter in the Whitechapel homicides. Sickert has since become a favored Ripper candidate and has received more attention as a possible perpetrator than any other...

When the Prince of Wales, later King Edward VII, hired the brilliant James Kenneth Stephen to tutor his eldest son, Prince Eddy, Stephen and his student became fast friends. Some believe they were more than friends. After publishing two volumes of poetry, Stephen suffered a mental breakdown in 1891. Based on what happened next, Stephen's tantalizing relationship with Eddy, and violent themes in hi...

Lewis Carroll was teaching math at Oxford when he befriended Alice Liddell, a colleague's daughter. Even though their friendship ended in scandal, it led to one of the most beloved children's books of all time, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. In 1996, psychotherapist Richard Wallace accused Carroll of committing the Whitechapel murders, claiming to have discovered compromising anagrams in Carrol...