February 20, 2020
A Russian art gallery says one of its
security guards has vandalised an avant-garde painting on loan from the
country's top art repository by drawing eyes on the picture's deliberately
featureless faces. The Yeltsin Center in Ekaterinburg
said the vandalism of the painting Three Figures, by Anna Leporskaya, occurred
on December 7.
With the pen, the 60-year-old added eyes to Anna Leporskaya’s Three Figures on his first day at the gig. The incident has spawned debate across social media, but the vandalism itself seems to be less complex than the art world wants it to be. The guard, in an interview with a Russian newspaper, said he was mostly just confused.
Leporskaya painted Three Figures between
1932 and 1934, and before the vandalism it was insured for $1.4 million. The
painting has since been returned to the State Tretyakov for a quick restoration
that is estimated to cost 250,000 roubles ($4,600). Meanwhile, protective
screens were installed over the remaining artworks on display at the Yeltsin
Center.
The Yeltsin Center said the painting had
been sent for restoration to the State Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow, which owns
it.
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