After 30 years, museum gets stolen piece by modern master
PHOENIX — More than three decades after thieves made off with a valuable painting from the University of Arizona Museum of Art, officials say they have recovered the long sought piece from an antique dealer in New Mexico.
Curators at the museum that was home to Willem de Kooning’s “Woman-Ochre” spent years hoping to get it back after two people stole the painting the day after Thanksgiving in 1985.
That dream finally came true when furniture and antique dealer David Van Auker called the museum from Silver City, New Mexico. Marketing Manager Gina Compitello-Moore said Auker bought the painting at an estate sale and later began researching it when he read an article about the heist that depicted an identical looking piece.
“When I got the phone call, this is literally the phone call I’ve been dreaming of — is somebody calling my phone and saying I think I have your stolen painting and that’s what he said,” museum curator Olivia Miller said.