Russia, security worker vandalizes work in a museum. Fired and sued

At the Boris Yeltsin Center in Yekaterinburg, Russia, aRussian avant-garde work by artist Anna Leporskaya was vandalized by a security guard: the painting depicts three faceless figures, and the latter, hired by a private company, drew eyes on two of the faces with a ballpoint pen on his first day on the job.

The painting dates from 1932-1934 and was insured for an estimated $1 million. Visitors to the exhibition at which the painting was on display noticed the addition in early December; after careful analysis, museum conservators were able to determine that the person who had done the vandalism had caused some of the pigment on the left face to crumble, and that, fortunately, he had not caused irreparably significant damage with too much pressure applied to the surface. The work was removed and returned to the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow, which owns the painting. Protective screens have also been installed over the artworks on display.

The restoration, already underway and paid for by the insurance company, was estimated by experts to be about $3,300 and can be done without further compromising the canvas.

The security officer who scrawled the work has been fired, and after the news became public, the Minister of Culture of the Russian Federation filed vandalism charges for damage to cultural heritage property and criminal proceedings were initiated.

Pictured is the vandalized painting.

Russia, security worker vandalizes work in a museum. Fired and sued

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