Museum to feature artist's take on stolen Gardner works
Artist recreated stolen works through drawings, animated version of the security camera tape
A Massachusetts art museum is offering visitors a unique glimpse of the 13 masterpieces stolen more than a quarter century ago from the Gardner Museum in Boston.
The exhibit opening Tuesday at the Mead Art Museum in Amherst, Mass., is the work of San Francisco-based artist Kota Ezawa.
According to the museum, the artist has recreated the stolen works through a series of drawings set in glowing light boxes, including cartoon-like versions of paintings by Vermeer, Rembrandt and Manet.
The unusual exhibit also includes an animated version of the security camera tape from the Gardner Museum on the night before the $500 US million theft.
Thieves dressed as Boston police officers snatched three Rembrandts, a Johannes Vermeer, an Edouard Manet and five Edgar Degas works from the Gardner Museum in March 1990. It remains the largest unsolved art heist in U.S. history.
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In 2015, authorities released grainy museum security camera surveillance video from the eve of the heist and appealed anew to the public for help in finding the artworks.
