Stolen Chagall Print
This heist has a little less elegance, finesse, and creativity than some others that we’ve talked about before but I’m pleased to say that I actually get to bring you a happy ending today!
September 25, 2023
Early in the morning of September 25, around 2:00am, two men approached the Carleton’s Fine Arts gallery in midtown Manhattan and smashed the exterior glass doors with a hammer. I told you, not the most creative entry we’ve ever seen. But it got the job done and they grabbed a Marc Chagall lithograph titled Eve worth over $100,000.
The break in and the thieves getaway was recorded by security cameras so we have a play by play of the events. The two men approached the building, one started using the hammer to break the glass, once he broke through they grabbed the print. Meanwhile a third man brought their getaway car to the front of the building from around the corner where they had stashed it; a dented 1996 Honda Accord. It was raining as they slid the framed print into the backseat of the car and they were away.
The gallery’s owner Charles Saffati said “the Saint Regis is down the block. You got the Palace Hotel. You got the Peninsula Hotel. It’s a very high-end area. You got Trump Tower two blocks away. A lot of police in that area too, so they have to be very brazen to come and do something like that.” (Cassady, 2023). He also added that the robbery forced the gallery to upgrade their security system, install new security glass on the storefront, and added 24 hour armed guards. He complained about the expense but is it not worth it?
The Investigation and Aftermath
Of course this was immediately reported to the police and they conducted an investigation, even releasing a photo of the suspects, from the security footage, to the public in an attempt to identify them.
More than a month after the robbery the three suspects were still at large until December of 2023 when two men were arrested for the crime, the third man remains on the run. Both men have been charged with burglary and possession of stolen property and one of them was also charged with criminal mischief.
Saffati said he thought it was a joke when police called him to say they had recovered the print, “this is like winning the lottery” (Cassady, 2023). Eve is once again on display at the gallery but now protected by the juiced up security systems, glass, and armed guards.
Works Cited
Cassady, Daniel. “Marc Chagall Print Stolen from a New York Gallery During a Smash-and-Grab Heist”. ArtNews. 2023. https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/marc-chagall-lithograph-stolen-midtown-gallery-carlton-fine-arts-1234686477/
Schrader, Adam. “A Stolen Chagall Print has been Returned to a New York Gallery”. ArtNet News. 2024. https://news.artnet.com/art-world/stolen-marc-chagall-print-returned-2428919
Schrader, Adam. “Police are Searching for Thieves who Stole a $100,000 Chagall Print”. ArtNet News. 2023. https://news.artnet.com/art-world-archives/search-by-police-for-100000-chagall-print-2394307