Security footage showed the moment a man put a $21,000 (17,200) glass sculpture inside his shorts at an art gallery in Florida last November.
St Petersburg Police Department shared surveillance footage on 13 January.
Officers said two men walked into the Duncan McClellan Gallery on 11 November.
One distracted the sales associate while the second removed a piece titled "Torso XI" by Latchezar Boyadjiev from a shelf and tucked it under his clothing before the pair left.
Police are searching for the man who put the sculpture under his clothing.
A second man, Willie Wilson, 45, wearing a red hoodie in the footage, was arrested and charged as a principal to grand theft greater than $20,000 but less than $100,000.
