Judith H. Dobrzynski
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Judith H. Dobrzynski is an American journalist and instructor in journalism[1]. She is currently a freelance writer who has contributed articles on culture, the arts and business topics to The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and several magazines.
Until recently, she was executive editor and managing editor of CNBC, the cable television business network. She has been editor of the Sunday Money & Business section of the Times and a senior editor of Business Week.
[edit] Career
Dobrzynski, in the 1980s, while she was at Business Week, was one of the first journalists to write about activist shareholders and the importance of good corporate governance.
While Dobrzynski was an arts reporter at the Times, she wrote an investigative article about the exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art of paintings owned by Rudolph Leopold, a Viennese doctor[2] It told the story of "Portrait of Wally" by Egon Schiele, which had been taken from its Jewish owner in the Nazi era and later purchased by Leopold. Soon after the story was published, the Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau started proceedings to help restore the piece to descendants of its owner. After years of legal wranglings, the ownership of the painting is still in contention.
Nevertheless, the outrage that followed Dobrzynski's articles helped persuade Austria to change its laws. Austrian Culture Minister Elizabeth Gehrer specifically mentioned uproar about "Portrait of Wally" when she sent a draft law on the restitution of art confiscated by the Nazis to Parliament in 1998[3].
Dobrzynski has also written many other articles about Nazi-looted art.
In May 2000, Dobrzynski began a series of articles in the Times about art fraud on eBay auctions[4], which later lead to an investigative piece disclosing the widespread practice of shill bidding on eBay[5]. That story prompted the F.B.I. to step in, and resulted in the prosecution of several shill-bidders. One, Kenneth Walton, eventually wrote a book called Fake: Forgery, Lies & eBay[6] in which Dobrzynski is a character.
[edit] Personal
Dobrzynski grew up in Rochester, New York and received an honors degree in journalism from Syracuse University.
[edit] Notes
- ^ Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism faculty webpage
- ^ Dobrzynski, Judith H. "A Singular Passion for Amassing Art, One Way or Another." The New York Times, 24 December 1997.
- ^ Perlez, Jane. "Austria Moves Toward Returning Artworks Confiscated by Nazis." The New York Times, 11 September 1998.
- ^ Dobrzynski, Judith H. "Online Bid Soars to $135,805, Provenance Not Guaranteed." The New York Times, 9 May 2000.
- ^ Dobrzynski, Judith H. "The Bidding Game: In Online Auction World, Hoaxes Aren't Easy to See." The New York Times, 2 June 2000.
- ^ Kenneth Walton website
