The Purloined Rockwell - Stolen in St. Louis in '73. Found today -- on Steven Spielberg's wall

riverfronttimes.com ^ | February 28, 2007 | Kristen Hinman

[HAL9000]

Excerpt -

Academy Award-winning director and producer Steven Spielberg has turned over to federal authorities Russian Schoolroom, a 1967 oil on canvas by Norman Rockwell that was filched from a Clayton art gallery in 1973, according to the FBI.

No charges have been filed in the case, and federal officials say they have no evidence that Spielberg knew the painting had been stolen when he purchased it in 1989.

"It appears that he is an innocent buyer," says St. Louis-based FBI agent Frank Brostrom, a member of the agency's Art Crime Team, who initiated the investigation. Spielberg is an avid Rockwell collector who helped fund the construction in 1993 of the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, and who joined its board of directors this past September. According to a December 3 article in the Washington Post, Rockwells from Spielberg's collection adorn numerous rooms in his office compound at Universal Studios in Hollywood.

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[msnimje]

Priceless.

[GOPJ]

Soielberg is an "avid" Rockwell collector and he doesn't know it was stolen?

Hey, he's a liberal elite. He don't have to follow no friggin laws. Laws is for da little people.

[GraniteStateConservative]

Bravo.

[msnimje]

I don't know whether Spielberg sits around Googling anything

How about when he help build the ROCKWELL museum. Think he might have heard about it then?

Google or not, these guys research the art the buy especially when they are fans of the artist. Also when the insure the piece.

[A knight without armor]

LOL!

[woofie]

Its not bad but it aint Picasso

[HAL9000]

[tubebender]

Bttt...

[Richard Kimball]

I'm a Rockwell fan, and have studied him quite a bit. Read a book he wrote, hs biography, and have several books of his prints. I was unaware of the theft of this painting. Why would Spielberg deliberately buy a stolen painting when he's got the funds to buy the legitimate paintings?

He owns multiple Rockwell paintings, and purchased this one in 1989, well before the internet was in common use. At that time, the first attempt to index ftp sites, Archie, was just being developed. You couldn't Google things back then. I find it entirely plausible that he purchased the painting, and discovered it much later. That was a great spoof of ET stealing it, though.

[Richard Kimball]

That is wickedly funny.

[Calvin Locke]

It's hard for me to believe [that] Spielberg [is] an aficionado of Norman Rockwell.

[festus]

Spielberg -- an "avid" collector -- never bothered to google his own Rockwell picture?

Well it was hard to do this in '89 as Al Gore was just inventing the internet and search engines weren't yet around

Who can say before the era of the internet how much info would be available on stolen paintings.

I'll give him the benefit of the doubt here.

[EDINVA]

Rockwell's paintings are all so Americana, I really am surprised that Spielberg is a collector, much less an avid collector.

[ArmstedFragg]

I tend to agree with you. For Spielberg, a hundred grand is only marginally higher than the cost of wallpaper.

[Brad from Tennessee]

I like Ellie Siskind. The portraits of single figures
uses a syndrome of intimate mood, subtle emotion and common memories, with masterly color, texture and setting. All Siskind's work is infused with the artist's affectionate fascination and perhaps love for the subjects. All these components make the median come to life.

[ApplegateRanch]

Headline should read:

Steven Stealberg Euphemizes His Way Out of Charges

[hedgetrimmer]

Looks like Aptos High School.

[Enchante]

Also when they insure the piece.

That point raises a BIG question -- surely such wealthy collectors insure their art -- but any appraiser or insurance company would have known it was stolen -- so did Spielberg NOT insure this piece??? That might indicate guilty knowledge.

[WorkingClassFilth]

It figures that he'd have a stolen painting of children being brainwashed in a commie school.

[all_mighty_dollar]

Sounds more like he was concerned the sniffing was getting too close and made a preemptive strike.

Wonder if Speilberg PO'ed anybody in the recent weeks?