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Marc Chagall Painting

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James parker
Marc Chagall Painting

The $1 million "Study for Over Vitebsk" painting by Marc Chagall was stolen from the wall and smuggled out on June 7, 2001, during a lively cocktail reception at the Jewish Museum in New York City.A St. Petersburg private collection had loaned the painting, which was being shown in a temporary exhibition titled "Marc Chagall:Works from early Russian collections56 works by Chagall, including Chagall painting, drawings, and murals for the Moscow State Jewish Chamber Theatre, that he completed between 1908 and 1920, were on display in the exhibit.A single screw was discovered on the floor in front of the space where the painting had been hanging, indicating that it had been forcibly removed from the wall. This suggests that the theft occurred between the beginning of the cocktail event on June 7 and the morning of June 8.It was 8 by 10 inches and could have easily been hidden in a briefcase or under a coat.Chagall created the painting "Study for Over Vitebsk" in 1914.It was a canvas oil painting that showed a man with a walking stick and a beggar's bag floating over Chagall's Russian hometown of Vitebsk.It represented the situation of the Eastern European Jewish populace who was being compelled to consistently move.Shadows surround the suspended figure, giving the impression that he is disappearing.As if they don't matter, his facial features are hard to make out.Chagall probably wanted to show the world how it felt to be outside of a culture that was marginalized and how it felt to be cut off from the community and the world when people were being persecuted.This work was a draft for Over Vitebsk, a larger, similar piece that was made in the same year.A Hint is Found A few days after the theft, the Museum received a ransom note dated June 12, postmarked in the Bronx, from an organization that was previously unknown to the F.B.I. and the local police. They called themselves the International Committee for Art and Peace, and they only had one request: that the Chagall work be delivered safely.They did not demand a lot of fame or money;They wanted peace between Israelis and Palestinians in the Middle East, a request that the Jewish Museum could not control.They did not specify the specific peace conditions that would guarantee the safe return of the Chagall painting, nor did they indicate which side they sympathized with.In addition, the letter made the sincere claim that the work was "being taken care of" and offered an apology to the Museum for the embarrassment that this incident had caused."The Museum's address was handwritten on the envelope, despite the fact that the letter was typed.The entire went through broad scientific assessment prior to being delivered.In conjunction with the authorities in the area, the Museum promptly offered a $25,000 reward to anyone with information that could help locate and recover the Marc Chagall work.The Recovery The painting was not discovered until February 2002 in a Topeka, Kansas, postal office.The painting was unrecognizable to the postal worker who opened the package for investigation because it was marked as undeliverable.The employee, however, accessed the F.B.I.'s website for stolen art once the numerous museum and gallery stickers on its backside were revealed.The Kansas City F.B.I. was notified when they discovered a picture that matched the description "Study for Over Vitebsk."The painting was returned to the Jewish Museum in Manhattan on February 21, 2002, Some Say at that time its fake chagall painting but when it was examined by Bella Meyer, the famous artist's granddaughter and leading authority on his work.She proved that it was real.The painting is currently in good spirits in the Russian Museum in St. Petersburg



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James parker
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