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A small-town couple left behind a stolen painting worth over $100 million — and a big mystery
https://www.washingtonpost.com ^ | 8/3/18 | Antonia Farzan

Posted on 08/05/2018 9:50:52 AM PDT by BBell

Jerry and Rita Alter kept to themselves. They were a lovely couple, neighbors in the small New Mexico town of Cliff would later tell reporters. But no one knew much about them.

They may have been hiding a decades-old secret, pieces of which are now just emerging.

Among them:

After the couple died, a stolen Willem de Kooning painting with an estimated worth of $160 million was discovered in their bedroom.

More than 30 years ago, that same painting disappeared the day after Thanksgiving from the University of Arizona Museum of Art in Tucson.

And Wednesday, the Arizona Republic reported that a family photo had surfaced, showing that the day before the painting vanished, the couple was, in fact, in Tucson.

The next morning, a man and a woman would walk into the museum and then leave 15 minutes later. A security guard had unlocked the museum’s front door to let a staff member into the lobby, curator Olivia Miller told NPR. The couple followed. Since the museum was about to open for the day, the guard let them in.

The man walked up to the museum’s second floor while the woman struck up a conversation with the guard. A few minutes later, he came back downstairs, and the two abruptly left, according to the NPR interview and other media reports.

Sensing that something wasn’t right, the guard walked upstairs. There, he saw an empty frame where de Kooning’s “Woman-Ochre” had hung.

At the time, the museum had no surveillance cameras. Police found no fingerprints. One witness described seeing a rust-color sports car drive away but didn’t get the license plate number. For 31 years, the frame remained empty.

In 2012, Jerry Alter passed away. His widow, Rita Alter, died five years later at 81.

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...


TOPICS: Arts/Photography
KEYWORDS: arizona; jerryalter; newmexico; ofarizona; ritaalter; stolenpainting; tucson; willemdekooning
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Interesting story. Sounds like they stole the painting and kept it for whatever reason. Maybe they liked it? The painting is not to my taste but my daughter says' I have no taste.
1 posted on 08/05/2018 9:50:52 AM PDT by BBell
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To: BBell

“Woman-Ochre” by Willem de Kooning. (Courtesy of University of Arizona Museum of Art)

2 posted on 08/05/2018 9:51:38 AM PDT by BBell
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To: BBell

$160 million for that?


3 posted on 08/05/2018 9:53:12 AM PDT by HartleyMBaldwin
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To: BBell

Not something I’d want on my wall, but then I prefer rifles to paintings for wall hangings anyway


4 posted on 08/05/2018 9:55:03 AM PDT by from occupied ga (Your government is your most dangerous enemy)
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To: BBell

Kept in the bedroom? Nightmare fuel.


5 posted on 08/05/2018 9:56:32 AM PDT by P.O.E. (Pray for America)
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To: BBell

I will vouch for myself....I have no art taste, but this is something that I could paint with a half-bottle of rum in my system. How it’s worth $100-million is a mystery to me.

My gut feeling is that they had viewed the tasteless art 30 years ago, and just thought for a joke....they’d steal it. They obviously knew the value.


6 posted on 08/05/2018 9:56:42 AM PDT by pepsionice
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To: BBell

160 million....for that.....words fail me


7 posted on 08/05/2018 9:58:08 AM PDT by Guenevere
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To: HartleyMBaldwin

As Kryten once observed “I think I feel a Jackson Polluck coming on.”


8 posted on 08/05/2018 9:58:12 AM PDT by Rurudyne (Standup Philosopher)
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To: BBell

I could do that!

If I dd would I get $160mm? How about $80mm? Would you belive $8mm? Ok, how about $8 thousand?


9 posted on 08/05/2018 9:58:27 AM PDT by Sequoyah101 (It feels like we have exchanged our dreams for survival. We just have a few days that don't suck.)
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To: HartleyMBaldwin

Insurance fraud.


10 posted on 08/05/2018 9:58:59 AM PDT by Lurkina.n.Learnin (Wisdom and education are different things. Don't confuse them.)
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To: BBell
Art????? Worth "160 million"....Why?...and this is female???


11 posted on 08/05/2018 10:03:07 AM PDT by caww
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To: caww
and this is female???

Yes. I see hooters.

I'd hit that painting.

12 posted on 08/05/2018 10:05:16 AM PDT by Lazamataz (The New York Times is so openly dishonest, even their crossword puzzles lie.)
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To: caww

OMG, do you mean to tell me that they stole Michelle Obama's Official White House Portrait?

13 posted on 08/05/2018 10:05:37 AM PDT by BlueLancer (Antifa and Social Justice Warriors (SJWs) = SturmAbteilung)
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To: BBell
The painting is hideous. These folks should receive posthumous honors for doing the world a favor by keeping this monstrosity out of sight.

Seriously, though, considering their travel budget and cash net worth, they may have had a side 'business' of art theft. Perhaps they bit off more than they could chew with the de Kooning and found it too hot to fence.
14 posted on 08/05/2018 10:08:55 AM PDT by irishjuggler
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To: BBell

Art-lovers? As in, saving the world from that anti-art horror?


15 posted on 08/05/2018 10:09:41 AM PDT by dangus
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To: Lazamataz
Here's your hooters!


16 posted on 08/05/2018 10:10:16 AM PDT by BBell
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To: BBell

How big is this painting? I know his work pretty well and often those pieces are pretty big. You just can’t put it in your purse and walk off. So that part of the story confuses me.

It’s not a bad de Kooning: action painting, guys. Yes, and the hooters are obvious. He worked along with Pollock. There is a good deal of energy and complexity of space in these works, but, yes, it helps to take a course in modern art to really understand it (if not necessarily like it).


17 posted on 08/05/2018 10:10:48 AM PDT by Republicanprofessor
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To: Lazamataz
"I'd hit that painting. "

There's a possible explanation for them having it....a sex aid, eh?

18 posted on 08/05/2018 10:12:13 AM PDT by blam
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To: BBell
I'm going to ask the New Mexico police to thoroughly search that house. Because my favorite painting went missing years ago. Maybe it's there too.


19 posted on 08/05/2018 10:13:44 AM PDT by Leaning Right (I have already previewed or do not wish to preview this composition.)
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To: BBell
You cretins have no respect for art nor do any of you know true beauty. It's just like you knuckle dragging cretins to disparage the vision and spirit displayed by great artists to fill the world with beauty and serenity!

/sarcasm

20 posted on 08/05/2018 10:13:58 AM PDT by Thumper1960 (Trump-2020)
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