Stolen Works
On Nov. 17 2005 from the museum two works, a Jackson Pollock painting and pop artist Andy Warhol’s 1984 Le Grande Passion, were stolen in a robbery involving ladders and a careful plan of attack. Despite efforts to retrieve the works by both the FBI and the Scranton police, nothing has been returned to the museum. After the theft there was some controversy relating to the origin of the Pollock. The Everhart Museum released a statement saying museum officials believed the stolen painting was an authentic Jackson Pollock and the painting’s owner lent it in good faith. The museum’s insurance broker called the Pollock piece a fake after appraisers could not authenticate it.
The Everhart continues to identify the painting as Mr. Pollock’s 1949 Springs Winter. The lender of the work said the correct title is Winter in Springs.
Read more about this topic: Everhart Museum
Famous quotes containing the words stolen and/or works:
“In relation to God, we are like a thief who has burgled the house of a kindly householder and been allowed to keep some of the gold. From the point of view of the lawful owner this gold is a gift; From the point of view of the burglar it is a theft. He must go and give it back. It is the same with our existence. We have stolen a little of God’s being to make it ours. God has made us a gift of it. But we have stolen it. We must return it.”
—Simone Weil (1909–1943)
“Artists, whatever their medium, make selections from the abounding materials of life, and organize these selections into works that are under the control of the artist.... In relation to the inclusiveness and literally endless intricacy of life, art is arbitrary, symbolic and abstracted. That is its value and the source of its own kind of order and coherence.”
—Jane Jacobs (b. 1916)