Willem de Kooning's painting Woman-Ochre, which was unceremoniously and viciously removed from its frame and stolen from the University of Arizona Museum of Art (UAMA) over 30 years ago, will be on display at the Getty Center in Los Angeles in the upcoming exhibition Conserving de Kooning: Theft and Recovery. The painting, which was completed around 1954-55, was severely damaged during the heist and required extensive conservation work once it arrived at the Getty. In a press release, Ulrich Birkmaier, senior paintings conservator at the Getty Museum, said, "The painting came to us in very poor shape." "The ruthless manner in which it was ripped from its lining resulted in severe paint flaking and tears, not to mention the damage caused by the blade used to slice it from its frame." Bringing a painting from such a bad state to a point where it can now be safely exhibited is a huge accomplishment."
Woman-Ochre was stolen from the UAMA on Thanksgiving Day, 1985, in broad daylight. When the museum opened at 9 a.m., a man and a woman followed a staff member inside. While the women were distracting a security guard, the man ripped Woman-Ochre from its frame, tore it from the backing, and rolled it up quickly. The couple left the museum in under 15 minutes.
According to a Getty press release, David Van Auker, Buck Burns, and Rick Johnson purchased the painting, along with other items, from the estate of a deceased couple in Cliff, New Mexico, in August 2017. They displayed the work at their nearby Silver City store, Manzanita Ridge Furniture & Antiques. Two years prior, the UAMA, in collaboration with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, began publicizing the theft's 30th anniversary, which made an impression on the public. When customers began to question the painting's authenticity, Van Auker began to investigate his purchase. He eventually linked it to the decades-old crime and contacted the UAMA, who retrieved the photograph. "We are overjoyed that the Getty generously agreed to collaborate with the University of Arizona and undertake the complex conservation work that our de Kooning so desperately required," says Andrew Schulz, vice president for the arts at the University of Arizona. "Woman-Ochre is a crown jewel in the University of Arizona Museum of Art's collection, and we can't wait to have it back in our galleries this fall." Meanwhile, we eagerly await the upcoming Getty exhibition and the opportunity to share this extraordinary work—and its equally extraordinary story—with a wide audience."
The painting will be on display at the Getty Center this summer, from June 7 to August 28, before returning to the University of Arizona in fall 2022. The Thief Collector, a feature documentary about the theft directed by Allison Otto, will be released in 2022.
Selena Mattei