Скачать или смотреть AP correspondent Warren Levinson tells the story of Tres Personajes, a Mexican work of art that was

(23 Oct 2007) EM4629
HEADLINE: Art moves from the trash heap to Sotheby's
CAPTION: AP correspondent Warren Levinson tells the story of Tres Personajes, a Mexican work of art that was stolen in 1987 and found 16 years later on a New York sidewalk. (Oct. 23) 2007
15:55:55
00:04:52
[Notes:ANCHOR VOICE]
((VIDEO: painting)) When Sotheby's auctions this painting next month, it figures to fetch around a million dollars. Not bad for a canvas a ((VIDEO: Gibson walking)) Manhattan woman fished out of the trash.
SOT ELIZABETH GIBSON, found stolen painting (2) 5:52 ``I just said, I don't understand it, but it's a very powerful piece of art.''
STANDUP WARREN LEVINSON, The Associated Press (2) 8:30 ``Four years ago, Elizabeth Gibson was out for her morning coffee. Ordinarily, she would have turned that way, toward the river. But something drew her in this direction instead, It was a missing masterpiece, wedged in between a couple of garbage bags, leaning up against this fire hydrant.''
The work, Tres Personajes, was produced in 1970 by the Mexican abstract painter Ruffino Tamayo. It was sold for 55-thousand dollars in 1977 and stolen from a storage warehouse in Houston ten years later.
In a sense, August Uribe of Sotheby's has been looking for it ever since.
SOT AUGUST URIBE, senior vice president, Sotheby's (1) 4:14:10 ``In 1987, one of my first jobs as a lowly gallery assistant, I was given the task of preparing the postcard announcing this painting's theft... ((VIDEO: painting or Sotheby's cutaway))
...Even though the postcard went to all corners of the globe, there were no leads.''
((VIDEO: Gibson at hydrant))
Gibson found the painting in March of 2003. But it wasn't until this spring, after four years of blind alleys and bad leads, that she got it to the auction house.
For her pains, she gets the satisfaction of reuniting long-lost art with its owners -- the 1987 reward money -- 15-thousand dollars -- plus a little more.
SOT ELIZABETH GIBSON (1) 4:46:50 ``I never even thought another thing about making a penny more than the reward. But just about a week and a half ago, Augie said to me, `oh, by the way, when we auction it, we're going to give you something, too.' Do the right thing for the right reasons, even if it takes a few years, and good things will happen.''
Uribe will run the Latin American art auction November 20th, where Tres Personajes will be a highlight. Meanwhile, he's keeping an eye peeled on Manhattan curbs.
SOT AUGUST URIBE (1) 4:23:27 ``I'm always looking for things on the street. I've never had the good fortune of finding something like this. But the story certainly keeps one's hopes up.
Authorities say they still don't know who stole the painting. Uribe says he thinks the thief wanted it to be found. That's why it was left outside the trash bags instead of inside. Still, it was only about 20 minutes away from being picked up for the landfill.
STORYLINE

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