Stolen Norman Rockwell paintings recovered
mothra...@hotmail.com
stolen from an art gallery in Minneapolis, where they were on loan from
the calendar company that owned them. The paintings were originally
created as calendar art for the Boy Scouts and another seasonal
calendar. The stolen paintings included "The Spirit of 1976," which
shows five Boy Scouts posed similarly to the figures in the famous
"Spirit of '76" painting, "So Much Concern," the same five Scouts
planting a tree, "A Hasty Retreat," two men and a dog running from a
swimming hole clutching their clothes (not the dog--he has his coat on);
"Lickin' Good Bath" (which was not described in the news story but which
I bet involves a dog and a tongue); "She's My Baby" also not described;
and a pair of pictures "Before the Date--Cowboy" and "Before the
Date--Cowgirl" whose subjects I'd just as soon not think about, thanks.
What amuses me is that these pictures by perhaps *the* quintessential
"American" artist ended up in Brazil, of all places.
The first two recovered (the "Lickin'" and "Baby" pictures) were brought
to a Philadelphia art dealer in 1999 by a Philadelphia native who was
living in Brazil. He had bought the paintings legitimately and wanted
to sell them through the dealer. The art dealer in Brazil who had sold
him the paintings was identified and questioned. He first said that
he'd received the two paintings from a man who'd owed him money.
Authorities later learned that in 1994 the Brazilian art dealer had
contacted the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge MA to offer "The
Spirit of 1976" and "So Much Concern" for sale. The museum refused and
contacted the Minneapolis gallery from which the paintings had been
stolen.
Several years later, the dealer wrote to the Minneapolis gallery, which
bought back the two "Date" pictures.
After the first two pictures were recovered, in 1999, US officials began
negotiations with Brazil to get back the remaining paintings. But what
really spurred their return was the ratification in February 2001 of a
mutual legal-assistance treaty between the US and Brazil.
In September, Brazilian cops searched the art dealer's house and
business and learned that the three remaining Rockwell paintings were
hidden in a farmhouse outside Rio de Janeiro. And Assistant US DA and
an FBI agent assisted in the interview of the dealer and brought the
paintings to Philadelphia. The dealer can't be extradited,
though--Brazil is still the place to go, I guess, to escape prosecution
in the US. And the statute of limitations has expired on the robbery
itself, although the DA said a 1994 federal law against trafficking in
cultural or historical artifacts could be applied.
Martha