Alexander “Sacha” Newley, the artist son of Joan Collins, was left outraged and embarrassed when he discovered that three of his paintings, worth £50,000 ($62,000), were stolen on their way to one of his collectors’ homes.
The artworks were shipped from Newley’s New York apartment to the residence of entrepreneur Ivan Massow in Sussex, England, this past summer, the Daily Mail reports. The crates containing the pieces, however, were only opened a few weeks ago, because the house was undergoing renovations, and builders were in the house.
When Massow got round to opening the crates, he discovered that the three works he had purchased—two self-portraits of Newley and another depicting a card game with the devil as one of the players—weren’t there.
Alexander Newley, Ivan Massow 1 (1992). Courtesy the artist.
Massow told the Daily Mail that he plans on claiming on insurance, but that circumstances of the theft—he doesn’t know whether the paintings were stolen while in transit or once they arrived at his house—make it difficult to determine who might be responsible for it.
Apparently, the collector has found a silver lining to the theft.
“I told Sacha it was a compliment to have his work stolen. It’s a validation of my taste in art,” he told the Daily Mail.
Newley is the second child that Collins had with Anthony Newley, also a British actor, although a rather less successful one than his famous third wife.
Alexander Newley with one his subjects, “Poirot” actor David Suchet. Photo via the artist’s Facebook page.
The artist was born in 1965 in New York, and began painting in earnest at age 18. He specializes in portraits and seems heavily influenced by his British forebears Lucian Freud and David Hockney.
Newley’s sitters tend to be in showbiz, and include the actress Judi Dench, actor Christopher Reeve, directors Billy Wilder and Oliver Stone, and, of course, his mother.
According to the Daily Mail, however, he now has plans to paint president-elect Donald Trump.
Newley is currently the subject of a solo show, titled “Portraits in Character,” at the Crypt in the St Martin-in-the-Fields church in London, through November 21.