Brazilian police apprehend one of two suspects who stole Matisse artworks in a daylight heist

SAO PAULO (AP) — Brazilian authorities said Wednesday that one of the two suspects behind a brazen daylight robbery over the weekend in Sao Paulo remained at large following a heist that included eight works by French artist Henri Matisse.

The other suspect was apprehended on Monday, Sao Paulo state’s secretariat for public safety said. The artwork, which also included five pieces by Brazilian artist Candido Portinari, has not been recovered.

Footage from security cameras distributed by authorities following the heist at the Mário de Andrade library in the Brazilian city on Sunday, the last day of an exhibition featuring the two artists, shows the suspects handling the artworks and leaning them against a low wall.

One suspect can be seen balancing them on his head and running.

The heist came less than two months after thieves stole more than $100 million in crown jewels from the Louvre Museum in Paris.

The stolen Matisse pieces on display were part of a copy of “Jazz,” a limited edition book of prints first published in 1947 of which there are 270 in total, according to official documents.

The cover — where Matisse’s name and the title appear in black, looping calligraphy — was stolen, as was the cut-out known as ‘circus.’

Matisse prints can be worth up to $15,000, said Wiona Raba, a manager at the Art Loss Register. Engravings by Portinari can go for up to $2,000 but do not come to the international market frequently, she added.

Brazil has notified Interpol about the theft, in case the prints are smuggled out of the country.

The artworks were on display as part of the ‘From book to museum’ exhibition in collaboration with Sao Paulo’s Museum of Modern Art, that ran from Oct. 4 to Dec. 7. It consisted mostly of works from the 1940s and 1950s and a selection of books representing modern production during the same period.

Sao Paulo’s secretariat of culture said the exhibition was insured by the best policy available, the displayed works were protected by steel cables and the library has a security camera system.

The library did not close following the robbery.

Matisse, who died in 1954, is one of France’s most treasured artists and the leading figure of Fauvism, a modern art movement characterized by intense colors and strong, expressive brushstrokes that broke from the 19th-century Impressionist tradition.

Raba, from the Art Loss Register, expressed hope the Matisse prints and the Portinari works will be recovered.

“Even if the police don’t immediately track down these works, hope is not lost,” she said.