Iconic photo of Winston Churchill stolen in Canada
[ad_1]
A famous photographic portrait of Winston Churchill was stolen and then replaced with a copy in a luxury hotel in Ottawa.
In Canada, a famous photographic portrait of Winston Churchill was stolen and then replaced by a copy in a luxury hotel in Ottawa, announced this week the establishment, which launched an appeal to the public to find the work.
It took several months for the employees of the Château Laurier to realize that the frame of the copy, badly fixed, was different from those of the other portraits exhibited in the room of renowned photographer Yousuf Karsh. But it only took a few days for the many photos of the work sent by former customers to help management estimate the date of the theft to within a week and a half, the director of the museum told AFP. hotel, Geneviève Dumas.
Read alsoWinston Churchill, painter conquering the Southern Enlightenment
“Someone probably wanted this photo, either for their private collection or to sell.“, added the director, for whom the work is priceless. However, estimated at 100,000 US dollars, the portrait depicting the British leader after his address to the Canadian Parliament in 1941 would have been stolen between December 25, 2021 and January 6, 2022.
Iconic shot
This picture “is part of Yousuf Karsh’s story, the hotel’s story as well as Canadian and British wartime history“, underlined Geneviève Dumas, who says to herself”deeply saddened by this shameless theft“. The snapshot is one of Winston Churchill’s most iconic and even features on £5 notes. It shows the British leader in the Canadian Parliament Buildings in Ottawa, moments after Yousuf Karsh pulled a cigar from his mouth. “He looked so belligerent he could have eaten me“said the photographer, according to his website.
Known for his portraits of many personalities such as Martin Luther King, Albert Einstein, Ernest Hemingway and Queen Elizabeth II, Yousuf Karsh was very attached to the Château Laurier. After fleeing the Armenian Genocide and taking refuge in Canada, he and his wife lived there for 18 years. His very first exhibition was presented there in 1936 and his studio was established there until 1992. The artist died in 2002.
Following the theft, the hotel had the portrait authenticated as fake before filing a complaint. Ottawa police have launched an investigation and are reviewing CCTV footage. But identifying the thief may be difficult, argues Geneviève Dumas, who recalls that health restrictions were still in place at the time and that the author was surely wearing a mask.
[ad_2]
Source link
