The São Paulo Civil Police recovered eight works by French painter Henri Matisse that had been stolen from the Mário de Andrade Library, in the center of São Paulo, in December. The pieces were located in a residence in São Bernardo do Campo, in Greater São Paulo.
Police recover eight Matisse works stolen from SP library
The São Paulo Civil Police recovered eight works by French painter Henri Matisse that had been stolen from the Mário de Andrade Library, in the center of São Paulo, in December. The pieces were located in a residence in São Bernardo do...
They were with an armed man, identified by investigators as responsible for keeping the material for the alleged mastermind of the crime. The man considered to be responsible for the robbery had already been arrested in April by the Rio de Janeiro authorities.
- A woman being investigated for her role in the case is also in custody.
- Investigations indicate that those involved acted in an organized manner, with planning and division of functions to carry out the theft, receive the pieces and try to insert them into the...
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According to the police, the engravings, belonging to the “Jazz” series, are valued at approximately US$200,000. They were with an armed man, identified by investigators as responsible for keeping the material for the alleged mastermind of the crime. He was arrested.
The man considered to be responsible for the robbery had already been arrested in April by the Rio de Janeiro authorities. A woman being investigated for her role in the case is also in custody.
Investigations indicate that those involved acted in an organized manner, with planning and division of functions to carry out the theft, receive the pieces and try to insert them into the illegal works of art market.
The crime occurred on December 6, when two armed men entered the Mário de Andrade Library and took 13 works that were part of an exhibition. In addition to the eight engravings by Matisse now recovered, five illustrations by Candido Portinari were stolen, which remain missing.
During the action, the criminals captured a security guard and an elderly couple who were visiting the exhibition. They then placed the works in a canvas bag and left the building through the main entrance.
Two days after the robbery, a suspect was arrested in the center of São Paulo. He was identified based on investigative work and analysis of security camera images.
The pieces were part of the exhibition “From book to museum: MAM São Paulo and the Mário de Andrade Library”, composed mainly of works from the 1940s and 1950s.
Among the highlights was “Jazz”, by Henri Matisse, a work published in France in 1947. According to the auction house Christie’s, there are 250 signed copies of the series.
The exhibition catalog presents “Jazz” as one of the outstanding works from the final phase of Matisse’s production. The artist began developing the book in 1943, a period in which he had reduced mobility following medical procedures and began creating compositions with cut paper, a technique that became associated with the expression “painting with scissors”.
The five works by Candido Portinari taken in the same robbery were illustrations produced for special editions of “Memórias Póstumas de Brás Cubas”, by Machado de Assis, and “Menino de Engenho”, by José Lins do Rego. To date, these pieces have not been recovered.
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