Pastor Seeks Help in Recovering Stolen Art

A pastor asked for help Thursday in finding four African Christian prints stolen from his South-Central Los Angeles church.

The prints, valued at $2,250, turned up missing Wednesday afternoon from the Faith United Methodist Church, 1713 W. 108th St., the Rev. M. Andrew Robinson-Gaither said.

Stolen were prints of an African image of Jesus, Joy Smith’s “Black Madonna and Child,” Cornell Barnes’ “Famous Faces” and a print titled “Crucifixion.”

“The prints are very important to us, and we hope someone will call us or the Sheriff’s Department if they know where they are,” he said.

The church “is one of the most profound Afrocentric congregations in Los Angeles,” Robinson-Gaither said. “Several years ago . . . the congregation began dismantling all the Eurocentric religious images in its facilities, long before it was popular, and replacing them with African Christian art,” he said.