In a daylight robbery on Sunday, two armed thieves stole eight prints by Henri Matisse and at least five engravings by Brazilian modernist painter Cândido Portinari from the Mário de Andrade Library in São Paulo.
The works were part of “From Book to Museum,” an exhibition that closed on Sunday and that was presented in collaboration with the São Paulo Museum of Modern Art. The exhibition, which focused on art linked to books, included examples of artworks and artist books by Férnand Leger, Hélio Oiticica, José Antonio da Silva, and Lygia Pape, among others.
The thieves, who entered the library around 10:00 am, held up a security guard and an elderly couple before grabbing the artworks and fleeing on foot, according to a report by Le Monde. The building is equipped with security cameras, and São Paulo police say they have already identified one of the suspects. It is not clear whether that suspect has been apprehended.
According to the New York Times, it is still not known which pieces by Matisse and Portinari were stolen. However, a copy of Matisse’s 1947 artist book Jazz was on display in the show. Comprising 20 pochoir prints (hand-painted stencil prints) based on the artist’s cutouts, it was published in a limited edition of 100. The library has not commented on the estimated value of the missing works, but in 2021 a copy of Jazz sold at auction for $774,000.
The São Paulo heist is the latest in a number of thefts of cultural objects that have happened around the world this year. In October, thieves stole nine pieces of jewels from the Louvre, valued at $102 million. A few days prior, more than 1,000 objects owned by the Oakland Museum of California were stolen from an off-site storage facility, though the theft was not revealed after the Louvre theft.
