Talking books

“And for ten days and nights I wrenched and slapped and sanded until, with the flood still running through my head, the canvas put the holy fear of God in me, made the bloody hair on my bloody neck stand up on end.”

Artists Butcher Bones describing the production of his McCahon-like painting If you have ever seen a man die in Peter Carey’s Theft: a love story

When art goes to the movies

Another movie featuring an art heist is about to hit New Zealand, this time from Danny Boyle. Trance starts with a painting being snatched mid-auction and hidden away somewhere. Its hiding place is the question that drives the rest of the story.

The nicked work looks like the Goya's Witches in the air that is (in the real world) safely on display at the Prado Museum in Madrid. Boyle probably picked this painting because it shows a typical Goya character with his head wrapped in a sheet  to block out the obscene sight of witches dining (you have to figure Magritte probably saw this painting too). Anyway, the blindfold is a neat metaphor for the amnesia that propels the thieves to hire a hypnotist to prize the whereabouts of the painting out of the recalcitrant mind of one of the gang. It’s that sort of film. You can watch the trailer and pretty much the whole of the heist stuff here.

Images: Top Goya Vuelo de brujos (Witches in the air) 1797-98. Lower, the auction room heist and removing the painting from the frame shot in the storerooms of the V&A. Click on images to enlarge.

Heists in the news

Art administration won the day last month when Italian police stopped a couple of guys in a car and found a Morandi in the boot. As both the men had criminal convictions it seemed a little suspicious, so the police searched their ‘business premises’. That turned up a Balthus, a Warhol and a Leger amongst others. No matter, the two continued to steadfastly insist the paintings belonged to them. Then one of the police looked at the back of one of the paintings. ‘Tate” said the label for a touring exhibition. It turned out the lender was in fact collector Paola Folon of Monaco who now has his paintings back again.

Art heist

As you know any news about art gallery signs are right up OTN’s alley and you should check your own alleys to see if this one has been dumped there. This particular art sign has been reported stolen from Hugh Brading’s Warkworth Gallery at 160 Matakana Road (scene-of-the-crime map here). We’re figuring it’s tucked up next to that missing horse in a millionaire’s secret art collection somewhere in Argentina. Could be wrong.

Photo: Hugh Brading

The Tissot Identity

You can imagine our surprise when searching around the FBI art theft site (if only they had RSS) to discover the Auckland Art Gallery featured in the recovery section. There, in the bowels of the FBI, is the story of the theft of James Tissot’s Still on top in 1998. Described by the FBI as a “dramatic heist” they go on to detail the event with Ludlam-like breathlessness. “Armed with a SAWED-OFF-SHOTGUN and a crowbar! a career criminal BURST through the main doors of the gallery. He KNOCKED a security guard to the floor, tore the painting from its frame, and ran!!!! to a waiting motorcycle with the SIX-MILLION!! dollar painting UNDER HIS ARM.” (italics, exclamation marks and capitalisation are ours).

For those wanting the happy ending, the FBI continues, “A ransom demand was made from the thief for the return of the painting, but it was recovered eight days later in Waikaretu, New Zealand. The painting was badly damaged during the theft and a two-year restoration project was needed to repair the damage.” Given the image of the Tissot on the FBI page it was a miracle anyone found it at all. You can see an unscrambled version of the work here.
Image: Tissot’s Still on top as featured on FBI Art Theft.