As art masterpieces become more desirable, better security against thieves and tricksters is required.
The theft of well-known Indonesian artist Affandi’s Self-Portrait With Pipe (1973), which was sold at the Sotheby’s Hong Kong auction for 5 billion rupiah in May 2014, was solved with the arrest of two suspects in May this year.
According to the Indonesian mass media, the electrician contracted to the owner’s family and his driver hatched a plan to have the painting duplicated in 2006. They first spirited the original from the gallery near the owner’s house in Pondok Indah, South Jakarta, to an art forger and, within hours, hung back the duplicate on the wall space where the original was, without anybody being any the wiser.
Police have arrested the two suspects but at press time, were still looking for the art forger.
The original owner, former Indonesian Coordinating Minister of Economy, Finance and Industry Widjodjo Nitisatro, had since bequeathed the work to his only daughter, Widjajalaksmi Kusuma Ningih, before he died on March 9, 2012.
Widjajalaksmi was unaware of the theft until her daughter saw an image of a similar painting which sold at Sotheby’s for 5 billion rupiah (RM1,367,375). Her husband lodged a police report after they brought in Affandi’s granddaughter, Selarty Venetzia, an expert in authenticating Affandi’s works. She certified the work in their possession to be a fake.
