Holiday's won't avoid museums to get assaulted :/

Hi people! How are you doing? Are you doing well in school or work? I hope there’s no problem with anything. Well, well, well! Nowadays, isn’t it typical for us to worry about being assaulted in our homes? Especially on holidays where you can’t monitor everything that happens in your house because of all the noise and people who is celebrating outside? Yeah, and we do that since it is true that there are many thefts in holidays and so. But would you believe me if I tell you that actually it had happened to a museum before? Indeed, Oxford’s Ashmolean museum had being assaulted many times, but one time did happen during New Year’s festivities. Yes people, the 1^st of January of 2000, the painting Auvers-sur-Oise by Paul Cezanne was taken in no longer than 10 minutes during the “Happy New Year”. (THE INDEPENDENT)

Well, I have to say that even though it was a bad starter for Ashmolean museum, not only for the New Year, but also for the new millennium, the heist was well done. If you imagine a movie of art heists were there are people who walks in the roofs and then enter with a smoke canister and stuff, you’re kind of describing Auvers-sur-Oise’s theft. I found out that it is unknown if it was only one person or a gang of thieves, but it is known that either of them entered the museum through the glass roof and used a rope ladder into the gallery. It seems that they came through the roofs of the university buildings, I mean, they were literally jumping building to building so that it was easier to enter the museum and get the painting. Once they got into the museum, they used the smoke canister (that made the guards unable to watch) took the painting, and left. That’s why they weren’t able to avoid the theft to happen, and when the gas was gone, so was the thief. It was no longer than 10 minutes, at most. (BBC News)(THE INDEPENDENT)

Shocking? I think it is, I mean, it really looks like a movie or something! But what’s more surprising is that until today Paul Cezanne’s Auvers-sur-Oise painting hasn’t being founded. It is said that it cost around £3m and that it was robbed so that it can be sold to an art collector. (BBC News)

Hope you like it and found it interesting! Check that not only we can be assaulted during a holiday, but a museum too… Have a nice week and see later! :D

420 words

Stephany Gómez Oropeza
A01280160

REFERENCES.-

BBC News. Hunt for stolen Cezanne. Saturday, 1 de January de 2000. <<http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/586834.stm>>

THE INDEPENDENT. Auvers-sur-Oise by Paul Cezanne. Monday, 19 de December de 2005. <<http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/a-century-of-art-heists-520068.html>>

Buehrle Collection worst day?

Hello, how are you doing? I hope everything is okey for guys! Now, here it is another post again in Thursday, doing my weekly task but now with a different art heist. Today I’m going to tell you about something kind of similar of the last post, do you remember talked about two masked thieves entering with guns and taking two paintings to a waiting car? Well now I’m going to tell you about something happened in the private Buehrle Collection… where FOUR oil paintings were stolen. Maybe you already know them or maybe not, they were: Cezanne's The Boy in the Red Vest, Degas' Viscount Lepic and His Daughters, Monet's Poppies Near Vetheuil and Van Gogh's Blossoming Chestnut Branches. (TVNZ)

The heist happened during broad daylight, but almost in time for when the museum closes; three masked men entered with their handguns and went to get the paintings from their places. Thankfully there wasn’t any person hurt or killed. Then, each of the rubbers took the paintings to a white car waiting for them. The theft happened a Sunday and the paintings were stolen from the private Buehrle Collection and what’s most incredible, or should I say surprising, is that, as the head of investigations for the Zurich police, Peter Rueegger said: "This is the biggest robbery in Switzerland in an art museum and one of the biggest art robberies in Europe" (Rueegger, TVNZ) And I have to admit he got a point in that, I mean, four paintings in one try! And what’s most, the amount estimated to be paid for the paintings is $160 million US dollars… $160 millions! Can you believe that? (TVNZ)

And that was it guys! Thanks so much for reading today’s post and sorry this time it was shorter than the usual, but well, once in a time is fine. I’ll post next week, so comment until then!! :D

Words: 316

- Stephany Gómez Oropeza (A01280160)

BIBLIOGRAPHY.-

TVNZ. “Thieves nab $207 million in art heist.” onenews. 12 de February de 2008. <http://tvnz.co.nz/view/news_world_story_skin/1578908>.

Art heist of Munch's The Scream and Madonna

 

Hi guys! How are you doing? I’d like to apologize since last week I didn’t add a post, but don’t worry! Now I bring more information about another art heist. Now, I think almost everybody know about Edvard Munch’s The Scream painting, the one in the picture in the right.  Now you remember? Nice, but I’ll also tell about other art heist that actually happened at the same date, at the same museum, and at the same corner. Edvard Munch’s Madonna, not the singer we now but the painting, just in case you were wondering about that (the picture in the left). If you find this kind of shocking, then let me warn you that this theft is different than the last ones -Mona Lisa and The Duke of Wellington-. (BBC News)

 How so? Well, first than all, I got to tell you that there are two versions of this theft, one says that the thieves just took the paintings and left a note saying something like “Thanks for the poor security”, and went out to a car that was waiting them. (Iqbal) The other version is the one I’m going to tell you. I trusted more this version because the information I found out about it was from BBC News and CNN and so, that were published either on the same date of the theft or the day after. I’m telling you this so that, if you look for information and you get the other version, or if someone randomly tells you about this story, then you could know the truth, what really happened.

Okey then, moving on, let’s continue with the theft. This theft is different than the last ones because, first, both paintings weren’t simply taken and tucked under the jacket of the person who stole them or so… no, they were taken at gunpoint by the thieves. Both paintings were stolen in Sunday, 22 August 2004, in broad daylight. It seems there were two mask robbers that entered from the cafeteria of the museum and directly went to where the paintings were placed (looks like they already knew about them). There, some witnesses said one man was pointing at them with the gun, as in controlling them, while the other one snatch the paintings off the wall, and finally both got out to a waiting car. The thing here I thought was the most surprising was that the paintings were hung on with nothing else but wires, there wasn’t neither an alarm when taking them, nor there were any guards near the paintings, there weren’t hard security, considering they are kind of cultural treasures.  (BBC News) (CNN)

Jorunn Christofferson, an officer from the museum, said that they were more concern about the visitors than of the theft. You know, even if it looks like an excuse, I think this was a really good decision, because we all know that the paintings can be localized in the future, but lives don’t. But still both paintings were found (thanks to a witness that identified the car that was waiting the thieves), and returned in the same day. The only problem was that the paintings were cut in pieces, like if the thieves were thinking that if they were caught, they at least would have some pieces to sell them. There were no injuries and no shots were fired. (Christofferson) (BBC News)

I hope you all enjoyed it, and sorry that it was really long, but I still think it is a very interesting story. Post you next week… Comments! :D

Words: 592

Stephany Gómez Oropeza 

A01280160

Heist of Goya's portrait of The Duke of Wellington

Hello people!  

Well, as promised here it is another great post about art heists. I hope you’ve read my last two posts, especially the last one because this one has some details similar to Mona Lisa’s theft. For example, and this may be nothing but I thought it is interesting, the Mona Lisa was stolen 100 years ago and Goya's portrait of The Duke of Wellington was stolen 50 years after that and check this out: both of them where actually stolen the same day: August 21^st ! Looks like a taboo date or something… just kidding. Moving on, this The Duke of Wellington theft occurred kind of a similar way as Mona Lisa’s, but instead of slipping it under his coat, the thief took it from the National Gallery and literally climbed through a bathroom’s window and left. As simple as it sounds. (Nairne)

This was a huge shock to the National Gallery since they just paid around $392,000 to an American buyer who wanted to take the painting to the USA, so after the almost lost painting due to this incident and then the actually stolen painting most have being really frustrating for the gallery. But after stealing the painting Kempton Bunton, a retired bus driver and the thief, also asked for an amount of money like the last one, and just said that he wanted that money for charity. (Iqbal)

Can you believe him? Bunton explained in the first of a sequence of posts on August 31^st, that he didn’t wanted to sell the painting, but still he asked around $392,000 not for the painting, but for charity. As for that, he didn’t receive the money, but he still gave Goya’s The Duke of Wellington painting 4 years later, voluntarily. At first the police didn’t knew who the thief was, since Bunton sent a claim ticket to London’s Daily Mirror so that they could pick up the painting, but some weeks later they he offered himself to the police too.  (Listverse) (Iqbal)

And after all the problems the National Gallery had, Kempton Bunton was kept in prison just for some months, and that because he kept refusing to pay his fee. Quite shocking, isn’t it? After having this famous painting stolen and kept by four years, the police only decided to put him in prison for not even a year. But well, that’s how some governments control their problems. (Nairne)

What do you think? Did liked it? I hope you did. So, please look forward for my next post, next week! Thank you all.

Bibliography.-

Iqbal, Nosheen. guardian.co.uk. Thursday 19 de February de 2009.  http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/gallery/2009/feb/19/greatest-art-heists-in-pictures#/?picture=343500666&index=1.

LISTVERSE. Art & Literature. 29 de August de 2007. http://listverse.com/2007/08/29/top-10-art-thefts-of-the-20th-century/.

Sandy, Nairne. guardian.co.uk. Friday 5 August 2011.   http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2011/aug/05/art-theft-duke-wellington-goya.