Taos Society of Artists paintings part of major art theft
Police say they ‘haven’t had a case like this in recent memory’
‘View of the Taos Pueblo’ by Joseph Henry Sharp (9.75 by 13.75 inches)
FIVE PIECES OF ARTWORK valued at more than $400,000 were reportedly stolen Dec. 14, 2022 from a truck parked at a hotel in Boulder, Colorado, according to a Jan. 3, 2023 press release from the Boulder Police Department.
Three of the artworks were by members of the Taos Society of Artists: Eanger Irving Couse, Ernest Martin Hennings and Joseph Henry Sharp. The TSA is a group of artists who are credited
with founding Taos as a significant art colony when they settled here after 1898 [see cover story, page 16.
In addition to the Boulder Police Department, members of the FBI are also involved in the investigation of the theft.
The five artworks listed by Boulder police are “View of the Taos Pueblo” by Joseph Henry Sharp (9.75 by 13.75 inches), “Laguna Pueblo” by Ernest Marin Hennings (10 by 14 inches), “Untitled Madrid Series #3” by Elaine de Kooning (8 by 9 inches), “Burnett’s
Barn” by Jane Freilicher (40 by 60 inches), and “Taos Pueblo at Night” by Eanger Irving Couse (9 by 12 inches).
“This has created quite a buzz in our art world,” said Davison Koenig, executive director and curator of the Couse-Sharp Historic Site, a specialized repository of works by two of the original TSA founders in Taos. “We even had Bonhams Auctions contact us to, you know, keep our ear to the ground, in case we see or hear anything because it’s a small art world.” Bonhams is a worldwide network of “auction houses consigning and selling fine art, collectables, motoring, furniture, wine and more,” according to its website.
Koenig said he was told the artwork was being transported from a Bonhams Auction House and “they were just on their way somewhere. I don’t have any idea [where]. Could be private owners, could be galleries.”
A Thursday (Jan. 5) story in Artforum revealed “the paintings by Couse, Hennings and Sharp were all sold by auction house Bonhams in Los Angeles this past November as part of a sale of works in the collection of G. Andrew Bjurman.”
According to a Friday (Jan. 6) story in The Santa Fe Reporter, the painting by Sharp sold for approximately $38,000, the Couse for nearly $71,000 — which The Reporter stated “was owned by Gerald Peters Gallery in Santa Fe at one point in its history” — and the Hennings for about $20,000. The TSA paintings were headed to unnamed “private owners and a gallery” in Santa Fe.
The de Kooning and Freilicher were “en route to a Colorado couple,” Artforum reported.
Koenig said the Couse and Sharp paintings were “both scenes of Taos Pueblo. It is doubtful these pieces will materialize in Taos.”
The Boulder Police statement said the theft occurred when “a company transporting several pieces of artwork across the country stayed the night at a hotel in the 5300 block of South Boulder Road. The next morning, they discovered that an unknown person(s) had cut the padlock on the truck and stolen several pieces of artwork and tools.”
Boulder Police Public Information Officer Dionne Waugh said the reason it took law enforcement three weeks to alert the public of the theft was because “detectives were following up on different leads. And, we had some other cases going on at the same time. This was just the timing of when we decided to put it out to the public.”
Boulder Police Public Information Officer Dionne Waugh said the reason it took law enforcement three weeks to alert the public of the theft was because “detectives were following up on different leads. And, we had some other cases going on at the same time. This was just the timing of when we decided to put it out to the public.”
Theft of artwork is a rarity, but it does continue to happen. “More often, thieves spot a vulnerability in a museum’s security system, steal the art, and find out later that it is harder to move than they previously thought,” an Aug. 24, 2020, Artnet News article states. Some thieves have been known to try and sell artworks to museums or ransom works to an insurance company. Then, the article adds, some try to sell it on the black market.
FBI art crime specialist Christopher McKeogh told Artnet News an “investigator’s greatest fear [is] that a thief may panic or grow frustrated and destroy a priceless work of art.”
Waugh said “that’s definitely what we’re trying to figure out, [whether] exactly if the person knew what they took or were they just breaking into a vehicle to get goods to sell. The detective (R. Montano-Banda) is working with a couple of different agencies to figure [that] out. He’s researching art theft to see how people would sell such art. And, we truly don’t know if this was just a crime of opportunity or if it was calculated more than that. That’s why we’re asking for the public’s help … It definitely is unusual. We haven’t had a case like this in recent memory.”
Koenig added, “It’s a real tragedy if those – I mean, the biggest concern is that they destroy the work or do something with it because they can’t sell it, right? And that would just be a real tragedy.”
Anyone with any information about this crime is asked to call Detective R. Montano-Banda at 303-441-1906; and reference case 22-12364.