A multimillion dollar collection of Andy Warhol portraits of Muhammad Ali and other sports superstars has been stolen from a Los Angeles home.
The 11 colour screenprints, each 40 inches by 40 inches, were taken from businessman Richard Weisman’s home sometime between September 2nd and 3rd, said Detective Mark Sommer of the Los Angeles Police Department’s art theft detail.
Ten of the portraits feature famous athletes of the 1970s, including golfer Jack Nicklaus, soccer star Pele and figure skater Dorothy Hamill. The other is of Mr Weisman, likely a commissioned portrait.
A one million US dollar reward is being offered for information leading to the return of the artwork.
The original prints were on display in Mr Weisman’s dining room and his house was locked up. It wasn’t clear exactly when the silk screen paintings were taken or how the thieves got into the home.
The theft was discovered by the family’s longtime nanny who arrived at the home to find the large prints missing from the walls. She immediately went to a neighbour’s to call police, Det Sommer said.
“This was a very clean crime,” Det Sommer said. “(The home) wasn’t ransacked.”
It wasn’t known exactly how much the prints were worth but Mr Weisman tried to sell the collection in 2002 for $3 million.
Mr Weisman’s home contained other valuable artwork but the rest of his collection was untouched.
"The theft of Warhol's ' Athlete Series' represents a profoundly personal loss to me and my family," Mr Weisman said in a statement.
Mr Weisman, who published a book about his art collection called, From Picasso to Pop, declined to comment further, saying he did not want to interfere with the investigation.
A neighbour saw a maroon van in the driveway of Mr Weisman’s home around the time of the robbery, and police are seeking more information about that, Det Sommer said.
Warhol became internationally famous in the 1960s for his image of a Campbell’s soup can, his avant-garde films and his parties that mixed celebrities, artists, intellectuals and other beautiful people at his New York studio called The Factory.
According to a catalogue of Warhol’s work, Weisman commissioned the artist in 1977 to create portraits of sports figures, including Chris Evert, Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Nicklaus, Pele, Hamill, and Ali, said Brenda Klippel, the director of Martin Lawrence Galleries in Los Angeles, which has a large collection of Warhols.
Detective Don Hrycyk said the weeklong delay in announcing the theft was to allow detectives to confirm the reward and gather descriptions and photographs of the missing artworks.
AP