Picasso Found in Vacant Apartment After Eight Years
A Picasso print stolen from a Milwaukee art gallery in 2018 was discovered eight years later not far from home.
Eight years ago, in February 2018, a signed print of Picasso’s etching “Torero,” numbered nine out of thirty, disappeared from an art gallery in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Gallery co-owner Bill DeLind told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that the print, valued between $35,00 and $50,000, “just walked off the wall.”
There were no leads, and an offer of a $10,000 reward for information expired in May 2019. Earlier this month, however, the print was located surprisingly close to home.
Landlord Timothy Dertz was cleaning out an apartment in the Bay View neighborhood of Milwaukee after an eviction. Consulting an antique dealer about some items the tenant had left behind, he learned that a picture on the apartment wall was a Picasso print. When Dertz looked up the artwork to find out what it might be worth, he saw the story of the theft and realized the print needed to go to the police.
The Milwaukee Police Department issued a press release stating that the etching had been turned in on August 5 and authenticated as the stolen print on August 6. They contacted DeLind, who says he “was overwhelmed” by the news. “I thought I’d never see this again,” he said to news station WISN.
Dertz told WISN that the picture “was in a weird spot” in the apartment and “looked like it had been there a long, long time because it had collected tons of dust.” But that worked out to its advantage; DeLind called its condition “perfect,” noting that “it still had the glass in front of it to protect it” and “The frame was in good shape.” It even had the sticker from DeLind Fine Art Appraisals on the back.
The Milwaukee police have declined to answer questions from news outlets about whether there will be a criminal investigation. There is a six-year statute of limitations on theft and property crimes.
For now, everyone involved is pleased that the print has been found. The police have praised the decision to do “the right thing” and return it. According to AP News, DeLind says that the former co-owner of the gallery, who passed away in February, “would have been over the moon.” The print “was special to him,” and he would ask the police to publicize the theft every year in case it brought in any new information.
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