World Famous Design Junkies » Andy’s Buddy’s Portraits Pinched!

I don’t have enough room in the apartment, so that proves it wasn’t me! Frederick R. Weisman, the man who provided the University of Minnesota a bunch o money to create the Frederick R. Weisman Art Museum on campus in 1993 (that’s how peeps in MN would know him) has had a bunch of portraits stolen. Portraits made by Andy Warhol. Weisman had this series of sports figures prints commissioned for his collection in 1977-79. One other print portrait of Weisman himself from 1986 was also stolen. Bummer!

IMPORTANT EDIT: Thanks to an important comment left by Dianne below, it’s been pointed out that due to an idiot error on my part, I identified both of these Weismans as the same person. They are TWO SEPARATE WEISMANS. The guy whose prints were stolen is a buisinessman in LA, while the Minneapolis-Museum Weisman is dead. That makes them separate people. Take heed!

Jack Nicklaus
Kareem Abdul Jabbar
Willie Shoemaker
Dorothy Hamill
Chris Evert
Pele
Tom Seaver
Rod Gilbert
OJ Simpson
Muhammad Ali
and
Richard L Weisman

Warhol’s sports superstars stolen from LA home
Sep 11, 11:47 PM EDT
By RAQUEL MARIA DILLON
Associated Press Writer

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A multimillion dollar collection of Andy Warhol portraits of Muhammad Ali and other sports superstars was stolen from a Los Angeles home, police said Friday.

The 11 color screenprints were taken from businessman Richard Weisman’s home sometime between Sept. 2 and 3, said Detective Mark Sommer of the Los Angeles Police Department’s art theft detail.

Ten of the 40-inch-square portraits feature famous athletes of the 1970s, including golfer Jack Nicklaus, soccer star Pele and figure skater Dorothy Hamill. The other is of Weisman, likely a commissioned portrait.

A $1 million reward was being offered for information leading to the return of the artwork.
…
“The theft of Warhol’s ‘Athlete Series’ represents a profoundly personal loss to me and my family,” Weisman said in a statement. Weisman, who published a book about his art collection called, “From Picasso to Pop,” declined to comment further, saying he did not want to interfere with the investigation.
…
According to a catalog of Warhol’s work, Weisman commissioned the artist in 1977 to create portraits of sports figures, including Chris Evert, Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Nicklaus, Pele, Hamill, and Ali, said Brenda Klippel, the director of Martin Lawrence Galleries in Los Angeles, which has a large collection of Warhols.

“Warhol was always a portraitist and fascinated with anyone of fame or fortune, anyone in the public eye,” Klippel said. “He wanted all of his imagery to be instantly recognizable. If Weisman was in his circle and had the money, he could commission what he wanted.”

Detective Don Hrycyk said the weeklong delay in announcing the theft was to allow detectives to confirm the reward and gather descriptions and photographs of the missing artworks.

—

AP writer Thomas Watkins in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

Why are you publishing this story when it’s already been covered by a billion other news sources in the past few minutes? …you might ask. Because I’ve got something they don’t have: big pics! Take a peek below for the largest versions of the paintings you’ll find, straight from the Los Angeles Police Department! Thanks, cops!

This post is straight outta Compton.

CLICK THE IMAGES FOR LARGER VERSIONS, SHOULD YOU DESIRE.