‘Bored’ man draws on $1.4m artwork on first day of job

A bored security guard ruined an artwork worth $1.4 million on his first day of work. Can you spot what he did?

It was only his first day on the job, but somehow a security guard managed to become so bored he found himself doodling on a $1.4 million painting.

Artist Anna Leporskaya’s Three Figures painting, made in the early 1930s, was on loan to the Yeltsin Center in Yekaterinburg, Russia, when the man reportedly took a ballpoint pen to the work and added small eyes to two of the blank faces.

The painting was on loan from the State Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow and was insured for just under $1.4 million (75 million roubles). However, restoration is only expected to cost about $4650 (250,000 roubles).

The Yeltsin Center said the culprit was an employee of a private security organisation and the damage was done in early December.

Two visitors to the exhibition had reported the strange addition to the painting.

'Three Figures' painting before. Picture: The Art Newspaper Russia / Yeltsin Center

'Three Figures' painting after being defaced. Picture: The Art Newspaper Russia

“The work was inspected by the restorer of the State Tretyakov Gallery the very next day and sent to Moscow,” a statement seen by Britain’s Daily Mail this week said.

“The painting is being restored, the damage, according to the expert, can be eliminated without consequences for the work of art.

“The Yeltsin Center refrained from commenting on this situation in hot pursuit, as an internal investigation of the incident and interaction with law enforcement agencies were underway.”

According to Russia’s The Art Newspaper, management of the cultural space waited two weeks to report the vandalism to the police and law enforcement agencies had refused to open a criminal investigation until intervention by the culture ministry.

It has since been revealed a man who was about 60-years-old had become “bored” and drawn on the painting, on only his first day working there.

Anna Leporskaya was born in 1900 and died in 1982. She was a student of renowned Russian avant-garde artist Kazimir Malevich.