TOP Transcarpathian artists popular with the robbers

Transcarpathian art is in demand not only at auctions or among private collectors but also in the black market. On the other hand, there is a belief that if someone fishes for a painting, it is really valuable. So, what paintings are of great interest to the criminals? We made a kind of TOP 10 highly demanded Transcarpathian artists whose paintings are often stolen

 

Yosyp Bokshai

“Carpathian Village”, “Mountain River”, “Early Autumn”, “Botanical Garden” are not just picturesque names.  It’s the list of stolen works of the founder of Transcarpathian painting Yosyp Bokshai. Tracks of these paintings have long been lost on the black market and they can, obviously, be found only in closed collections.

In total, starting from 2007 until now, the mass media reported on numerous thefts of more than 30 artist’s works from private collections. They were stolen from various places: Uzhhorod Castle, galleries, private houses. Thus, the work “Kamianets Village Skalka” (1942) was stolen from the old woman in Uzhhorod. The robbers got into her apartment on Zahorska street through the open window. The painting “Jesus Christ (Shroud of Christ)” was stolen in Tiachiv – it was taken out together with the window. In 2014, according to reports, it was stolen 13 works of Yosyp Bokshai from the country house of one of the high-ranking politicians in Zhdeniievo village, Volovets district of Transcarpathia. No tracks have been found yet…

Adalbert Erdeli

Adalbert Erdeli's works are also in great demand among the criminals. Unfortunately, such a great interest resulted even in tragic accidents. Thus, Erdeli's works were also stolen from the art gallery in Peiterfolvo village in 2002 as well as from the above mentioned country house of V. Medvedchuk. 

The apartment of the artist, where his wife lived alone, was robbed twice. At first, it was nicked out 4 paintings, and in September 2004, the number increased to 48. Moreover, the last crime struck with its cynicism. Thieves removed the iron grates on the windows, got into the house, tied up the 88-year-old Mahdalyna Erdeli with electric cable and cut the canvases from the frames. Meanwhile, the heart of the woman gave out and she died. The artist's paintings, which according to the experts are estimated at more than 1 mln. dollars disappeared. After some time, they were returned in a strange way – the unknown people threw them directly into the courtyard of the house of A. Erdeli. It is said that no one wanted to buy the paintings related to the murder not to give himself away. That's why the robbers did not manage to cash in.

Zoltan Sholtes

Even the highly secure government offices do not scare (but they should at least) the robbers. Thus, the work of the Honoured Artist of Ukraine Zoltan Sholtes was literally stolen from under the nose of the chairman of the Transcarpathian Regional State Administration. In July 2006, the offenders stole a painting of Sholtes directly from the building hall – it hung on the wall next to the governor's office. It is about the work “Spring in the Carpathians” painted in 1972. It depicts the Transcarpathian landscape. At that time, its market value was about 5 thousand dollars.

How could they manage to get through the guard? It is not clear. Moreover, to carefully pull a painting out of the frame takes much time. It can be concluded that robbers knew the exact time when no one appeared in the hall. And this is not a single case of the artist’s works disappearance. Such paintings as “Road, Autumn Landscape”, “Autumn Landscape, Abyss”, “Ancient Church on the Hill, Autumn Landscape”, “Mountain River”, “Garden”, “Winter Mountains” have long been missing…

Yurii Herts

The works of another well-known Transcarpathian artist Yurii Herts drew the attention of robbers as well. In summer 2006, unknown people robbed his studio: they took the paintings “Carpathian Autumn”, “Carpathian Rhapsody”, “Verkhovyna”, “Birth”, “The Feast of the Temple in Verkhovyna”, “Nevytskyi Castle”, and “Carpathian Motif”. According to experts, these are the best works of the artist over the past 20 years. The artist even put forward a version of who could do it. It turned out that the day before, unknown people who introduced themselves as the owners of a Kyiv gallery had come to his studio in an apartment building on Lermontov street. They asked for several works for the exhibition. But probably they just studied the situation: where the things were and how quickly they could escape. Just imagine, they did everything like in the movie – broke three locks, took everything and ran away. They did not even raise any suspicion among neighbours who, as it turned out, did not sleep all the night. At that time the value of the stolen works amounted to about 40 000 euros.

Fedir Manailo

The fate of the masterpiece “Beech Forest” of another local genius Fedir Manailo is interesting as well. It was stolen from the regional museum of local lore at the Uzhhorod castle. As the police suggest, a thief came to the museum like an ordinary visitor, then he hid there in an inconspicuous niche and waited until the institution was closed. And at night, he got out of his shelter, cut the paintings out of the frames and went down from the second floor through the window (there were no grates). Lost in the labyrinths of the black market is one more artist’s work – “Haymaking”.  It was stolen from the private collection in Uzhhorod during the Easter holidays when the owners were not at home.

Mykhailo Sapatiuk

Another artist whose works are also popular with the thieves – Mykhailo Sapatiuk. At least 5 paintings of the artist disappeared only in 2007 – 2008. However, one of them – “Autumn” – was found at last. It turned out that they were stolen from the owner when he was taking a shower. It was the artist’s neighbour who did it. He sold the stolen work for 225 dollars to a local collector, although it cost 5 times more. Three years later it was reported that the list of stolen works was supplemented by the painting “Mountain Landscape with the River”. By the way, “Autumn” was returned to the author, unlike other works that disappeared in an unknown direction…

Adalbert Boretskyi

Robbers are also interested in the works of the student of Erdeli and Bokshai – Adalbert Boretskyi. The family of the People's Artist of Ukraine Klara Baloh came under their attack. Two men broke into their apartment, beat her and her husband, and stole 4 paintings of the Transcarpathian artists, among which there were Boretskyi’s works. Moreover, 3 years ago, another one painting of the artist entitled “A Date” disappeared from the country house of V. Medvedchuk.

Anton Kashshai

The masterpieces of Anton Kashshai also attracted the attention of thieves. Three years ago, such paintings as “Still Life” and “Winter Landscape” disappeared from a private collection. What is interesting, several works were found. Thus, the stolen painting “Forest” was discovered by the police officers in one of Kyiv's art salons. However, the offenders were not found. The owner of the gallery assured the police that he bought the painting from an unknown person on the market.

A true detective story can be written about the painting “An Early Spring”.

An “art lover” noticed this work along with the other seven paintings in the hall of one of the large enterprises. He took a kind of creative approach to the theft: he took photos of the canvases, ordered their copies from local painters, and then, for several nights, he snuck into the building and replaced them. But because of his carelessness, he was caught by the police. It was the work of A. Kashshai that the thief was going in a taxi with. The car was stopped by the traffic police and they noticed a thing covered in a cloth in the passenger's back seat. Thus, the robber was detained. As it turned out, he was about to sell the painting of Kashshai for only 600 USD and other 7 works he had sold for 5 000. Among them, there were the works of Kontratovych, Mykyta, Sholtes.

Works of the People’s Artist of the Ukrainian SSR Andrii Kotska were stolen as well. Among them – “A Girl from Verkhovyna”, “Mountain Village”, “A Girl” and “Flowers in a Vase”.

What became of Gabriel Gluck's work “Dobriany Bulls” is also unknown.

P. S. During the robberies, there were curious cases as well. Thus, in 2008, the robbers decided to steal works of art from the hotel in Velykyi Bereznyi region. They took 8 paintings. It was reported that among those paintings there was one of the famous Mihály Munkácsy. However, it turned out that all the stolen works were just replicas, that is, masterfully (or not) performed copies. However, the robbers were punished after all …

Text: Denys Fazekash

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