Displaying items by tag: robbery

A brazen art crime has been uncovered in Uzbekistan. As the "Guardian" initially reported, several employees from the Uzbek State Art Museum have been found guilty of systematically selling original artworks and replacing them with fakes over a 15 year period.

Mifayz Usmanov, the chief curator of the central Asian country's premier art museum, was sentenced to nine years behind bars for his involvement in the daylight robbery. Two restorers were sentenced to eight years each.

A high-end art dealer was robbed at knifepoint in his Upper East Side pad by a handyman who took off with some cash — but left a showroom full of pricey artwork on the walls, officials said.

Paul Quatrochi, whose stable of wealthy collectors includes Penthouse publisher Bob Guccione, Baron Heinrich von Thyssen and Austrian Princess Michaela von Hapsburg, said he had a knife pressed against his throat for nearly 30 minutes while his guest rifled through his pockets and stole $300 in cash.

The presumed mastermind of a brazen art theft from a French Riviera museum involving four paintings by Monet, Sisley and Breughel denied any role as he went on trial on Monday.

The Miami-based Bernard Ternus, who is in his sixties, was sentenced in the United States to five years in prison in 2008 over the theft at Nice's Jules Cheret museum a year earlier.

Transferred to France last year after serving his sentence, Ternus -- who is being held in custody -- told the court in Aix-en-Provence in southern France that he had been framed.

Two signed works by contemporary British artist Damien Hirst were stolen from the Exhibitionist Gallery in London. The works, which are from Hirst’s colorful spot paintings series, are worth around $54,000.

Officials believe that one person carried out the robbery and gained entry into the gallery by forcing open the front doors. It appears that the suspect had specifically targeted the two paintings.

Hirst, who rose to fame in the 1990s, is believed to be the richest living artist.  

Romanian prosecutors are seeking a maximum sentence for Radu Dogaru, the man who admitted to stealing seven masterpieces from Rotterdam’s Kunsthal Museum on October 16, 2012. If Dogaru receives the maximum sentence for “aggravated theft,” he will spend 20 year in prison. The thief’s lawyer, Catalin Dancu, is hoping that Dogaru receives a “balanced sentence” of no more than 7 years. The verdict will be announced on November 26, 2013.  

Six Romanians, including Dogaru, are on trial over the theft, which left the world stunned earlier this year. Among the paintings stolen were masterpieces by Pablo Picasso, Paul Gauguin and Claude Monet. The trove, which is estimate to be worth $24 million, has not be returned.

Many fear that Dogaru’s mother burned the paintings in order to protect her son. She initially admitted to destroying the works but later retracted her statement. Experts from Romania’s National History Museum retrieved ash from Dogaru’s stove that included the remains of three oil paintings and nails from frames used before the end of the 19th century. A separate investigation into the possible destruction of the artwork is ongoing.  

Radu Dogaru, the Romanian man who admitted to stealing $24 million worth of art from the Kunsthal Museum in Rotterdam, threatened to sue the institution for making the robbery too easy. Dogaru is one of six Romanians on trial for last year’s heist, which shook the art world.

On Tuesday, October 22, Dogaru told the court, “I could not imagine that a museum would exhibit such valuable works with so little security.“ Dogaru’s lawyer, Catalin Dancu, claims that the Kunsthal could be found guilty of negligence since their security system failed, allowing the thieves to make off with the artworks.

Last October, Dogaru and his accomplices made off with Pablo Picasso’s Tete d’Arlequin, Claude Monet’s Waterloo Bridge, London and Charing Cross Bridge, London, Henri Matisse’s La Liseuse en Blanc et Jaune, Paul Gauguin’s Femme devant une fenetre ouverte, dite la Fiancee, Meyer de Haan’s Autoportrait, and Lucian Freud’s Woman with Eyes Closed. Following the heist, rumors began to circulate that Dogaru’s mother, Olga, had incinerated the stolen paintings in her stove in an attempt to protect her son. Olga Dogaru later retracted her statement although fragments of oil paintings were found in the ashes in her stove. On Tuesday, Dogaru told the court that, “the paintings were certainly not destroyed. I don’t know where they are but I believe they have been sold.” A separate investigation into the possible destruction of the artwork is underway.

Doguru’s next hearing is due on November 19. He faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

On Tuesday, August 13, 2013 a Bucharest court adjourned the trial of six Romanians charged with stealing seven paintings from the Kunsthal Museum in Rotterdam. Immediately following opening proceedings, the court president postponed the trial to September 10^th, allowing more time for legal issues, such as bail requests, to be examined. Although short, the suspects’ court appearance was not uneventful.

Shortly before the hearing opened, Ragu Dogaru’s lawyer offered on behalf of his client to return five of the stolen works in return for being tried in the Netherlands rather than Romania where punishments for robbery are more severe. Earlier this year rumors began to circulate that Dogaru’s mother, Olga, had incinerated the stolen paintings in her stove in an attempt to protect her son. While it has not been confirmed that Dogaru is actually in possession of any of the masterpieces, his offer could suggest that five of the works are still intact.

Last October, the thieves made off with Pablo Picasso’s Tete d’Arlequin, Claude Monet’s Waterloo Bridge, London and Charing Cross Bridge, London, Henri Matisse’s La Liseuse en Blanc et Jaune, Paul Gauguin’s Femme devant une fenetre ouverte, dite la Fiancee, Meyer de Haan’s Autoportrait, and Lucian Freud’s Woman with Eyes Closed. The works were on loan from the Triton Foundation to celebrate the Kunsthal Museum’s 20^th anniversary.

The total value of the haul, which is being called the “theft of the century” in the Netherlands, is $24 million according to prosecutors. Despite their high value and incredible importance, none of the paintings were equipped with alarms.

On Sunday, July 28, 2013, a gunman sneaked into the posh Carlton Intercontinental hotel in Cannes, France, held up a diamond show and made off on foot with $136 million worth of jewels. It was the biggest heist to take place in Cannes, a notorious hot spot for the rich and famous, in years.

Current investigations show that the suspect acted alone and wore a scarf, hat and gloves to disguise his identity. The thief entered through the hotel’s ground floor showroom, held up some of the show’s staff with a handgun, grabbed the valuables, and exited through a side door that led to a side street. The entire holdup took approximately sixty seconds and occurred while three security guards looked on.

The jewels were on display as part of a presentation highlighting the Leviev diamond house, which is owned by Israeli billionaire Lev Leviev. The show was slated to remain on view at the hotel through the end of August. The Carlton, a Cannes landmark, was famously featured in Alfred Hitchcock’s To Catch a Thief starring Grace Kelly and Cary Grant. The hotel is celebrating its 100^th anniversary this year.

Investigations are still underway and French authorities are currently reviewing surveillance video footage.

Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum announced that it will host the exhibition Last Seen by the French artist Sophie Calle beginning on October 24, 2013. The show will feature works created by Calle in 1991 in response to the Gardner’s tragic heist, which took place the year before. New works created in 2012 will also be on view.

The exhibition presents 14 photographic and text based works divided into two categories. The first series includes pieces created shortly after the heist, which saw the theft of 13 works by Vermeer, Rembrandt, Édouard Manet, Edgar Degas, and others. The second series was created at the Gardner Museum while Calle was revisiting her earlier project.

Soon after the heist, Calle interviewed curators, guards and other staff from the Gardner in front of the museum’s stark walls. Years later she repeated the process but this time, in front of the empty frames that the Gardner later hung. She asked her interviewees what they remembered of the missing works and what they saw when they looked at the blank frames. She used text from the interviews and her own photos to create visual interpretations of loss and memory. Pieranna Cavalchini, the Tom and Lisa Blumenthal Curator of Contemporary Art at the Gardner, said, “This exhibition is a poignant reminder of just how much power art and a great artist like Sophie Calle can yield in bringing life, energy and beauty to what is in essence a never-ending story of loss.”

Last Seen will be on view at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum through October 24, 2014.