A painting depicting three faceless figures that is valued at roughly $1 million was defaced when a security guard allegedly drew eyes on two of the figures.
Officials at the Yeltsin Center in Yekaterinburg in central Russia announced Monday they believe the perpetrator was a private security guard who, during his first day on the job, added eyes to the faceless figures with a ballpoint pen. He has since been fired, and the Three Figures painting, done by Anna Leporskaya between 1932 and 1934, has been sent back to Moscow for restoration.
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Update: Leporskaya’s painting was vandalized by a Yeltsin Center security guard, the center’s executive director announced. The unnamed guard, who is roughly 60 years old, was said to have committed the crime on his first day of work https://t.co/fLf0zuqMYW
— The Moscow Times (@MoscowTimes) February 8, 2022
“We inform you that during the investigation, the person who painted the eyes on the figures in the painting by Anna Leporskaya was identified — this is an employee of a private security organization that carries out security activities of the Yeltsin Center,” the museum said in a statement to the Daily Mail.
The painting is insured for nearly $1 million and was on loan from the State Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow. The damage will be remedied with a restoration expected to cost over $3,000, according to the Moscow Times.
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“The painting is being restored, the damage, according to the expert, can be eliminated without consequences for the work of art,” the Yeltsin Center told the Daily Mail, adding that both the center and local law enforcement are investigating the incident.
Two visitors first reported the additions to the Soviet-era avant-garde image in December. It was on loan as part of an exhibit titled “The World as Non-Objectivity: The Birth of a New Art.”
