Update II: Stolen Warhols

The Los Angeles Times has an update on the recently stolen series of Andy Warhol athlete silk screens.  As you may recall, we the AW Blog last updated this story the owner of the silk screens, Richard Weisman of Los Angeles recently canceled his insurance policy and the $1 million reward he offered the art was stolen.

Weisman infers in the article that he believes the LA police should spend more time looking for the thieves and the art instead of looking at him and his motivations.  He also stated he canceled his insuracne because he did not wish the insurance company to pry into his private life.

Richard L. Weisman, the noted art collector who made news recently when he decided to forgo a multimillion-dollar insurance policy for stolen art, had some critical words for the LAPD detectives investigating his case.

“Maybe if they would do their job … and spent some time looking for the art instead of being accusatory of the person who had it stolen, they might actually find it,” Weisman said in an interview last weekend.

The art world was set abuzz in early September with word that a series of original works by Pop Art icon Andy Warhol had been stolen from the walls of Weisman’s home on Los Angeles' Westside.

None of the other expensive artwork hanging on adjoining walls was disturbed, and there was no sign of forced entry into the home. In all, 11 brightly colored silk-screen paintings were gone -- 10 portraits of famous athletes and one of Weisman, 69, who was a friend of Warhol's and commissioned the series in the late 1970s.

Some experts estimated each piece to be worth at least $1 million. Then, last week, the Seattle Times confirmed with Weisman that he had canceled the $25-million insurance policy covering the Warhols. LAPD Det. Mark Sommer, who makes up half of the department’s two-man art theft detail, called the turn of events “curious” in an interview with the Los Angeles Times, saying that “we’d like to talk to him about it."

To read the full LA Times article, click HERE.