A multimillion-dollar Roy Lichtenstein painting that disappeared 42 years ago has popped up in a Manhattan warehouse — and its owner is trying to make sure it doesn’t pull another vanishing act.
“Electric Cord” was last seen in 1970 when owner Leo Castelli sent the piece by the pop-art prince out to be professionally cleaned. It was never returned, and the fate of the painting was a mystery — until last week.
That’s when Castelli’s widow, Barbara Castelli, got a call from the Roy Lichtenstein Foundation saying the piece had turned up at a high-end art storage warehouse on the East Side, where someone was trying to sell it.
She asked for a restraining order barring the estimated $4 million painting from being moved from the Hayes Storage Warehouse until she can get her day in court, saying in court papers that she’s “deeply concerned” about the possibility of the artwork, “which is an American treasure by an artist native to Manhattan, again disappearing, perhaps to never be seen again.”
Justice O. Peter Sherwood signed off on Castelli’s temporary court order freezing the painting’s location pending a hearing with the warehouse people and “John Doe” on Monday.
Amye Austin, an operations supervisor at Hayes, declined to comment.
Leo Castelli, who put on Lichtenstein’s first solo exhibit at his gallery in 1962, bought “Electric Cord,” a painting of a tightly wrapped electric cord, in the 1960s for $750, the court papers say.
In January 1970, he sent the piece out to be cleaned by a well-regarded restorer named Daniel Goldreyer. But instead of returning the painting, Goldreyer told Castelli the work had been lost.
Lichtenstein, who’s known for his dotted comic book-like panel works, died in 1997, and Leo Castelli died in 1999. The work was officially listed as “lost/stolen” in the international Art Loss Registry in 2007.
Then last week, James Goodman Gallery owner James Goodman called the Lichtenstein foundation to say he’d been told by a “third party” that the painting was at Hayes Storage, and asked if they’d authenticate the work, the court filing says. A rep for the foundation then tipped off Barbara Castelli.
Goodman told The Post he had no idea that the painting might have been stolen, and that the current owners claimed to have an invoice showing the piece was purchased from Leo Castelli.