A beforehand unknown portray by Summary Expressionist painter Jackson Pollock was seized throughout an anti-organised crime raid in Sofia, Bulgaria, officers mentioned this week. The portray dates from 1949 and may very well be price as much as €50m, in accordance with consultants cited by Bulgarian Nationwide Radio. Authorities haven’t launched an outline or {photograph} of the work.
The portray was found throughout a joint operation between Bulgarian and Greek anti-organised crime forces coordinated by Europol, in accordance with BNR. Sister raids additionally befell in Athens and on the island of Crete. Three Greek residents and one Bulgarian citizen have been detained over the operation. 5 further work by what the BNR describes as “distinguished artists” had been found in the course of the stings.
The alleged Pollock portray has been handed over to specialists from the Nationwide Artwork Gallery in Bulgaria, in accordance with Bulgarian information company Novinite. On the again of the canvas is a dedication to the American actress Lauren Bacall that seems to have been written by Pollock himself, Sofia’s deputy metropolis prosecutor Desislava Petrova mentioned throughout a press convention Wednesday (22 March), in accordance with the BTA, the nationwide Bulgarian Information Company.
“Devoted to my very proficient and expensive buddy Lauren Bacall, Completely happy Birthday,” the inscription on the again of the portray reportedly reads. The message is dated 16 September 1949, which was Bacall’s twenty fifth birthday, prosecutors mentioned. Bacall was a famous artwork collector, and objects from her assortment of artwork and jewelry offered for a collective $3.6m at Bonhams New York in 2015 after her demise the yr earlier than. No Pollock work had been included within the sale.
The prosecutor’s workplace mentioned the portray has ever been catalogued and has not been registered as lacking, in accordance with the BTA.
Essentially the most beneficial Pollock portray to ever promote at public sale, Quantity 17, 1951 (1951), fetched $53m ($61.2m with charges) in the course of the first of two court-ordered auctions of Linda and Harry Macklowe’s artwork assortment in November 2021. Final Might, Pollock’s Quantity 31 (1949)—accomplished the identical yr because the alleged Pollock present in Bulgaria—offered at Christie’s New York for $47m ($54.2m with charges).
