A major heist has been perpetrated in a hotel in Canada where a famed photographic portrait of Winston Churchill has been lifted and replaced by a phony.
The famous photo in question:
From The Guardian:
Police in Canada are investigating the "brazen" heist of a famed Sir Winston Churchill portrait after the original photograph was mysteriously swapped for a fake.
Last week, an employee at the Château Laurier hotel in Ottawa, noticed something amiss with a portrait known as the "Roaring Lion" which was taken after the wartime leader addressed the Canadian parliament in 1941.
The frame on the photograph didn't match the other five portraits in the room, all of which had been taken by the acclaimed Canadian-Armenian portraitist Yousuf Karsh, whose subjects included Martin Luther King Jr, Albert Einstein, Ernest Hemingway and Queen Elizabeth II.
So some thief walks into the Fairmont Hotel with a framed print of the Churchill photo, complete with fake signature, then swaps it out for the original photo, frame and all, and walks out of the hotel completely undetected.
Apparently, there are still real art thieves in the world.
And it's not even known when the heist took place.
The hotel contacted Jerry Fielder, who oversees Karsh's estate, to assess the signature on the suspect print.
"I've seen that signature for 43 years. So it took me just one second to know that someone had tried to copy it," Fielder told the Guardian. "It was a fake."
Once the theft was discovered, the Ottawa police were notified and began investigating.
"We are deeply saddened by this brazen act," the Fairmont hotel said in a statement, adding that it was proud of its "stunning" collection of Karsh prints.
It is unclear when the print of Churchill, which has hung in the hotel for 24 years, first went missing.
Wouldn't it be amazing if it was stolen 20 years ago and no one noticed until now?
"Obviously, this theft was very carefully planned. I don't know if someone, some super-fan, maybe, wanted this to hang in their living room. But it's also very valuable. I assumed it was stolen for its value," said Fielder.
No prints of Karsh's work have been allowed since his negatives were given to Library and Archives Canada in the 1990s.
"We don't allow reproductions," said Fielder. "We don't allow copies."
The story of this famed photograph is quite the story in and of itself. The story really captures the personality of Churchill as well as the photo does.
"For the kinds of people that he photographed, they could spot a sycophant or a phoney a mile away. And when you were with Yousuf, you knew right away he was the real thing. And I think it allows people to feel that they can be themselves," he said. "He just had a way with people and putting them at ease,"
The image of a scowling Churchill was an "exception", said Fielder.
After watching Churchill give an "electrifying" speech to the Canadian parliament in 1941, Karsh waited in the speaker's chambers for the chance to take a portrait of Churchill and the Canadian prime minister, Mackenzie King.
But when the two entered the room with arms linked, Churchill "growled", Karsh later recalled.
"I timorously stepped forward and said, ‘Sir, I hope I will be fortunate enough to make a portrait worthy of this historic occasion.' He glanced at me and demanded, ‘Why was I not told?'"
Karsh recalled Churchill lighting a fresh cigar, puffing it "with a mischievous air" and then relenting to allow a single photograph.
"I went back to my camera and made sure that everything was all right technically. I waited; he continued to chomp vigorously at his cigar. I waited. Then I stepped toward him and, without premeditation, but ever so respectfully, I said, ‘Forgive me, sir,' and plucked the cigar out of his mouth. By the time I got back to my camera, he looked so belligerent he could have devoured me. It was at that instant that I took the photograph."
The photographer snatching Churchill's beloved cigar and then capturing his scowl afterward, that raw emotion, is absolutely perfect and captures Churchill so well.
The theft of this artwork is a tragedy. Hopefully, the police can track down the culprit.
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