During my time as Curator, Harwood Museum of Art, two paintings were stolen: March 20, 1985. Allegedly by Jerry and Rita Alter. This strange pair was featured in a documentary, The Thief Collector. Intrepid true crime investigator Lou Schachter looked into the matter after making a connection between the Alter’s stealing a Willem de Kooning from the University of Arizona Museum of Art a few months after the Harwood heist.
Look for Lou’s weekly column on Medium.
New York Times reporter Michaela Towfighi tells the story in the July 18, 2025 edition of that publication: The Familiar Fingerprints of a Forgotten Art Heist.
I certainly didn’t forget this theft and was delighted to attend the return of the paintings to the Harwood last month. The paintings were a portrait by Joseph Sharp and a landscape by Victor Higgins.