$3 Million Matisse Painting Recovered By FBI Agents
Posted by: Art-N-Literature.com
ABCNews.com reports that Henri Matisse’s 1925 “Odalisque in Red Pants” has been recovered by FBI agents acting as art collectors at the Loews Hotel in Miami Beach. The $3 million painting was taken almost 10 years ago and switched with a counterfeit at a Venezuelan museum.
A woman and a man reportedly attempted to sell the painting to FBI agents for $1.5 million, although the Miami division of the FBI could not confirm or deny this information at this time.
The original painting had been on display at the Sofia Imber Contemporary Art Museum in Caracas since 1981. The only time it ever left the museum was when it was loaned to a Spanish exhibition in 1977. However, an email message in 2002 between an art collector and the museum’s director about a rumor that the Matisse painting was for sale prompted the discovery that the one on display in the museum was a counterfeit.
The fake painting looks nearly identical to the real one save for the shadow on the woman’s left arm. Todd Cronan, a professor of art history at Emory University in Atlanta, told ABCNews.com that in the fake painting the body merges with the background, “something Matisse refused to do in this period.”
According to the newspaper El Mundo, the painting might have been switched during the Spanish exhibition loan in 1977; however the Sofia Imber Contemporary Art Museum could not confirm this information.
A massacre in a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado
The nation woke up to shocking news of a shooting in Century 16 Movie Theater in suburban Aurora, a suburb of Denver, Colorado. Shooting took place just after midnight at the midnight screening of the new Batman movie, “The Dark Knight Rises”. It killed 12 people and injured 59 others is one of the most deadly massacre in the U.S. history. The gunman is in custody and the authorities have identified him as James Holms. He is a 24 year old PhD student in neuroscience at the University of Colorado, Denver who is about to drop out of the program. Apparently, his parent lives in San Diego, California where the gunman went to school. According to the news reports, the gunman has no criminal history and the only violation is a speeding ticket a year ago. The gunman carried three guns which are legally purchased within last few months, used chemical gas and wore a mask and a bulletproof west and other gear.
Colorado is on the edge since the April 20, 1999, Columbine High School massacre that killed 12 students, one teacher and injured 21 other students. The most recent massacre is sure to bring the gun control debate to light.