On January 12, the theft of a photograph was noted at the European House of Photography, located in the Marais district of Paris. The Parisian reveals today that the author of the mischief was none other than a 77-year-old former curator, obviously still an art lover. It was a photo of the famous Ukrainian photographer Boris Mikhailov.
The photograph, stolen from a wall on the second floor of the exhibition, was under plexiglass, confirms a spokesperson for the museum. It is part of the “Diary” series, a collection of 80 hand-coloured works, which as a series has an insurance value of 500,000 euros (the print alone is worth less). It was the surveillance cameras that allowed the investigators to flush out the criminal. After boarding the print, the latter made a trip to the bookstore to buy the catalog of the exhibition. The credit card identified the thief who was arrested and taken into custody.
All’s well that ends well for the victims. But this thief seems to particularly appreciate the artists of the gallery Suzanne Tarasieve, gallerist sadly deceased on December 23 at the age of 73, who represents the Ukrainian Boris Mikhaïlov. The investigation into this theft revealed that this somewhat overeager art lover also stole a small canvas by the painter Romain Bernini from this gallery in the Marais… Last September, the gallery team filed a complaint for the theft of this painting. During his interrogation, the photography enthusiast himself confessed to this first theft. Strangely, a month later, he had returned Romain Barnini’s painting by post. The photograph of Boris Mikhaïlov was also returned to the MEP on Friday.