Polícia de Nova Iorque pede ajuda na investigação do roubo de obras de Andy Warhol e Lichtenstein

25.12.2010

Polícia pede ajuda ao investiga roubo de obras de Andy Warhol e Lichtenstein na residencia de 5 andares no Meatpacking Dsitrict, Nova Iorque, que pertence ao colecionador de artes Robert Ramanoff.

Foto: obra "Superman", "The Truck" by Andy Warhol

NEW YORK - A polícia está procurando ajuda para recuperar obras de arte de Roy Lichtenstein e Andy Warhol que foram furtadas de um apartamento arrombado em Nova York. Os ladrões entraram no imóvel após quebrarem uma parede.

Eles também levaram uma pintura a óleo de Carl Fudge e outros objetos de valor durante o feriado de Ação de Graças, no fim de novembro. A polícia não havia divulgado o crime até que resolveu pedir ajuda da população, na noite de quinta-feira.

"Um suspeito desconhecido entrou no apartamento através de uma parede num corredor e retirou os objetos de arte, relógios e outras joias. Um gravador de imagens ligado a câmeras de observação dentro do apartamento também foi levado", informou a polícia em um comunicado.

O prejuízo total é estimado em cerca de 750 mil dólares, segundo o jornal The New York Post, que citou fontes não identificadas.

As obras de Warhol levadas foram "Superman", "The Truck" e "Camouflage", composta de oito serigrafias. De Lichtenstein foram furtados "Thinking Nude" e "Moonscape", ambos parte de series limitadas de 40. Um multimplo semelhante foi vendido recentemente por $85,000 na Christie's. Apintura de Carl Fudge é intitulada "Live Cat."

New York Police is asking for help in order to find Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein stolen pieces

New York Police is asking for help in order to find Pop art stolen pieces from art collector Robert Rmanoff flat.

Image: "Thinking Nude" by Lichtenstein

NEW YORK — Authorities are ramping up their effort to solve a Manhattan mystery: Who drilled a hole into the home of a beef fortune heir and stole a collection of iconic artworks by Roy Lichtenstein and Andy Warhol?

The culprits also made off with surveillance video footage that might have caught them in the act.

The New York Police Department released images of the art on Thursday, hoping someone might help solve last month's crime in the trendy Meatpacking District by recognizing works like a well-known Lichtenstein print called "Thinking Nude."

Authorities estimate the five-story apartment was burglarized sometime during Thanksgiving week, when owner and art collector Robert Romanoff was away.

Calls to Romanoff's home went unanswered Friday.

Also taken from the building was a Lichtenstein print called "Moonscape," the Carl Fudge oil painting "Live Cat," the Warhol prints "The Truck" and "Superman," and a set of eight signed Warhol prints from 1986 called "Camouflage." They're among the artist's last works before his death the following year.

Authorities estimate the artworks, plus stolen Cartier and Rolex watches and other jewelry, are worth about $750,000.

The Romanoff home is in a neighborhood filled with old warehouses and meatpacking companies now turned into retail and living space, restaurants and boutiques.

Police say the thief drilled a hole through the wall of a hallway sometime between Nov. 24 and 28.

Lichtenstein, who died in 1997, created "Thinking Nude" in 1994 — one of 40 limited-edition works that are part of his "Nudes" series based on comic-book illustrations.

A similar print recently sold for about $85,000 at Christie's, according to the auction house's website.

Warhol's "Superman" print is part of his 1980s "Myths" series featuring fictional characters with mass-cultural appeal, including Mickey Mouse and Uncle Sam.

Romanoff is heir to a beef company fortune that started as a New York City meat store opened by his immigrant relatives in 1905. He's now president of the New Jersey-based Nebraska Meat Corp., one of the country's biggest distributors of smoked meat that for years owned property in the Meatpacking District.