FBI restores paintings missing from New Mexico Art Gallery

The FBI recently reclaimed four paintings from the Harwood Art Museum of Taos, University of New Mexico forty years ago.

Victor Higgins’ oil paintings Aspen (c. 1932) and portraits of Joseph Henry Sharp Cheyenne, Oklahoma, also known as Indian boy (c. 1915) was stolen from the institution in March 1985, which was “mainly a public library of a museum on the second floor.”

According to the university, the FBI investigation was conducted in late 2023 by Los Angeles-based investigative journalist Lou Schachter. Schachter said he found “substantial evidence” that he had discovered two thefts with Willem de Kooning’s Willem de Kooning’s The Flem the Flyem theem the flyem the kooning’s The Filem the Fillem deem de kooning’s The Filem the Fillem deem de kooning’s the Fielem. female (1954-55) From the University of Arizona Museum of Art. The artwork returned to university in 2017 in a 32-year refrigeration case and conducted a 2022 documentary behind the Rita and Jerry Alter in Cliff, New Mexico, which includes a still photo showing Higgins’ sneaky paintings, Shorty paintings in the couple’s living room.

The call prompted Leherissey to lead an arts restoration task force focused on collecting other evidence, including dozens of documents and notifications regarding thefts in national and international arts lists, to ultimately file a March 25, 2024 with FBI Special Agent Susan Garst.

“Scottsdale Auction House sold two Harwood paintings in 2018, thanks to Schachter’s early investigation: Higgins’s Aspen Priced at $93,600 and Sharp Oklahoma Cherokee AKA Indian Boy Wearing Full Skirt For sale for $52,650. It is worth noting that Scottsdale Auction House Autumn landscape and Indians in the hood of warAccording to the University of New Mexico story about the theft, it is not considered a champion of the artist in any document.

The paintings were found on May 12, restored and returned to the Harwood Museum of Art and were unveiled publicly at a press conference on June 6.

“It was a joy and a profound relief – welcoming Victor Higgins and Joseph Henry Sharp to these works by Harwood,” Leherissey said in a press statement. When the theft occurred in 1985, Leherissey was at elementary school, as well as regulars at the Harwood Public Library and its small art gallery. “This kind of homecoming is not much of a significance, not only to our employees, boards and members, but to Taos’s entire art and cultural community.

It is worth noting that theft Aspen and Cheyenne, Oklahoma, also known as Indian boy It took place nine years before the theft of a large-scale artwork (18 USC 668) in 1994. The statute makes federal crimes the object of stealing any cultural heritage from a museum or library.

The Harwood Museum of Art is now on display Aspen and Cheyenne, Oklahoma, also known as Indian boyand other works in the collection of two painters, as well as their new program “The Return of Taos Treasure”.

Sharp is a founding member of the Taos Artists Society, and Higgins is also an influential member. Higgins was also a member of the founding committee of Harwood in 1923.