• Submitted by: manso
• Society
• 08 / 16 / 2010

---

Authorities are investigating the attempted sale of stolen Cuban paintings and questioned a man Saturday.

A 78-year-old Miami man was questioned by police after he allegedly tried to sell seven stolen Cuban modernist paintings to a Coral Gables gallery.

Ramon Cernuda, owner of Cernuda Art gallery, agreed to meet with a man Thursday who identified himself as Jorge S. Villalba. Villalba reminded Cernuda that they had met years ago as members of the Cuban exile community in Miami.

Villalba displayed photographs of what he said was among 100 paintings owned by a New York dealer he represented.

He offered to sell the seven-painting lot for $85,000.

But Cernuda recognized the photos from an FBI report and called police.

REAL PRICES

When the man returned accompanied by a woman Friday, Cernuda examined the artwork, confirming that they were indeed the stolen paintings in the FBI report.

He suspects that at least four of them were forgeries.

Cernuda said he would have considered buying one of the paintings under different circumstances. Had one of them -- ``Ravanet'' 1969 by Domingo Ravanet -- been real, it would be worth $10,000, he said.

The abstract oil-on-canvas painting used fluid greens, browns and oranges and ``gives you the sense you're imagining a dream,'' Cernuda said.

All seven paintings, also by Cuban modernist vanguards from the mid 1900s, would be worth about $90,000 if they were all originals, he said. But the frames of each painting had been removed, causing about $100,000 in damage, he said.

When he confirmed the paintings were stolen, he gave his assistant, Emily Codik, a verbal cue to call the police: ``Proceed to prepare coffee for the visitors.''

STALLING

Cernuda haggled with the couple while he waited for the police to arrive.

Then, the police burst in, and the woman reached inside her red leather purse, Cernuda said. An officer asked her to take her hand out of the bag. She said she was searching for her cell phone to make a call.

``I was surprised at their self-control,'' Cernuda said.

Miami police said they questioned the man, but no charges have been filed. The investigation is continuing.

The paintings were among 32 that were reported stolen from a Miami storage unit last month. It's not clear whether they were authentic.

Among the artworks that were missing were works by Rene Portocarrero, Amelia Pelaez, and Mariano Rodriguez.

The storage unit was owned by Rafael Diazcasas of New York and Blas Reyes of Miami, police said. The padlock on the unit, at 4920 NW 7th Street was broken, and two people were captured on surveillance video taking the paintings on July 16.

Cernuda sympathized with the art dealers whose paintings were stolen.

``I hope if that ever happens to me, someone would cooperate and help me recover the works,'' he said.


BY REBECCA HUVAL
[email protected]

Source: Miami Herald