Thursday, August 17, 2017

How did $100 million de Kooning painting end up in a home in tiny Cliff, New Mexico?

SILVER CITY — Now that a $100 million stolen painting is back at the University of Arizona, authorities are still tackling the question of who took the valuable work by Willem de Kooning 31 years ago. And just as mysteriously, how did the abstract oil painting of a nude woman end up in the home of a quiet, retired couple in Cliff, New Mexico, population 293? H. Jerome "Jerry" and Rita Alter, the deceased couple who owned the ranch-style home where the painting was found, were an unassuming pair who kept to themselves and loved to travel to exotic places, said people who knew them. They co-authored three books, one about traveling, another about poetry and a twist on Aesop's Fables. Cliff is a "blink and you miss it" town 225 miles east of Tucson, with an elementary school and high school, a gas station, restaurant, post office and laundromat. The Alters' ranch-style home sits just north of Cliff. Property records show the couple purchased the 20-acre parcel in 1974, and the three-bedroom, two-bathroom home was built in 1979. Ruth Seawolf, a broker at My Real Estate Company in Silver City, said a man contacted her to put the property up for sale after his aunt passed away a little over a month ago. She declined to name the aunt or nephew because the FBI is investigating the painting's disappearance and recovery. But she said he told her there was a lot of stuff in the home, and he was looking for help with the contents. "The email he sent me said, 'Ruthie, I've gone through the home, and I don't think there is anything of value, but help yourself.' "...more

No comments: