Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Art Theft: Degas Dancers

Summary: The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum art theft March 18, 1990 nets an etching, two bronzes, five oils and five works on paper, including two Degas dancers.

"Program for an Artistic Soirée I," 1884 charcoal on white paper by Edgar Degas, born Hilaire Germain Edgar de Gas; one of two dance studies removed from second-floor Short Gallery during March 1990 Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum art heist: Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum art theft March 18, 1990, acknowledged the abundance of dancing and racing in Degas artworks by acquiring one Degas procession, two Degas dancers and two Degas jockeys.

The museum in the Fenway neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, historically boasts in its Degas collection one extant oil on canvas and five missing works on paper. The oil on canvas still counts among the artworks in the first-floor Yellow Room whereas the second-floor Short Gallery no longer claims any Degas on paper. The art-grabbing, frame-cutting, glass-breaking movements of two thieves dressed in Boston police uniforms dislodged the five Degas works from custom-designed display cabinets in the Short Gallery.

Motion detectors expose extractions of a Chinese object and Dutch artworks from the Dutch Room and a French object and French artworks from the Short Gallery.

"Program for an Artistic Soiréee II," 1884 charcoal on buff paper by Edgar Degas; second of two dance studies stolen during March 1990 Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum art theft: Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Curatorial Department furnishes online images and information concerning the etching, two bronzes, five works in oils and five works on paper.

The curatorial records give artist creation dates, artwork descriptions, dimensions and titles and Museum identification numbers for all Blue Room, Dutch Room and Short Gallery casualties. They have the two parts to the Study for the Programme de la soirée artistique du 15 juin 1884 (Galerie Ponsin) identified as 3.l.o.96 and 3.l.o.97. They identify the medium for both parts of the Study for the Program of the Artistic Evening of June 15, 1884 as black chalk on paper.

Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum art theft extractions, if not severe exile, jeopardize Degas dancers in the first study on white paper and the second on buff.

Edgar Degas emerging from Paris's public facilities in photograph by Count Giuseppe Napoleone Primoli (May 2, 1851-June 13, 1927), in 1889, about five years after the self-termed realist’s June 15, 1884, dancer charcoals: Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The first part of the study for the artistic evening program of June 15, 1884 knows dimensions of 9.69 by 12.38 inches (24.6 by 31.4 centimeters).

The Curatorial Department lists dimensions of 10.5 by 14.81 inches (26.6 by 37.6 centimeters) for the second study by Edgar Degas (July 19, 1834-Sept. 27, 1917). The segment on Short Gallery losses in the theft section of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum website makes provenance and purchase records available for both studies. It notes the purchase of Edgar Degas works on paper through Fernand Robert, Mrs. Gardner's "art-buying agent and exporter" at 30, Rue Joubert in Paris, France.

A shipping receipt offers purchase dates and prices on six Degas works, including the Degas dancers, 71 years before the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum art theft.

Art buyer and exporter Fernand Robert’s Degas purchases for Isabella Stewart Gardner happened at the fourth and final sale of Degas artwork held by renowned French gallerist Georges Petit (March 11, 1856-May 12, 1920); Georges Petit (center) with sculpture in auction at Hotel Drouot (Hôtel des ventes de Drouot), Paris; watercolor by Jean Louis Lefort (1875-1954): Ader Paris, CC BY SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The Robert shipping receipt packages into one crate six Degas "drawings" from the Georges Petit (March 11, 1856-May 12, 1920) auction July 2 to 4, 1919.

The Robert itemization quantifies for crate #148 two Degas drawings each, under the numbers #66, 258 and 429 valued at 2,750,660 and 2,800 French francs. The receipt dated July 10, 1919, reveals inclusion of John Singer Sargent's (Jan. 12, 1856-April 14, 1925) Madame Gautreau Drinking a Toast from 1882 to 1883. The portrait of Virginie Amélie Avegno (Jan. 29, 1859-July 25, 1915), banker Pierre Gautreau's wife and Sargent's Portrait of Madame X from 1883 to 1884, survives.

The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum art theft of the Degas dancers thrusts responsibility for testifying to Degas' dance-related artistry upon Portrait of Joséphine Gaujelin from 1867.

The Degas drawings shared a shipping crate with “Madame Gautreau Drinking a Toast,” 1882-1883 oil on wood by John Singer Sargent, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, first-floor Blue Room: Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

"Program for an Artistic Soirée I," 1884 charcoal on white paper by Edgar Degas, born Hilaire Germain Edgar de Gas; one of two dance studies removed from second-floor Short Gallery during March 1990 Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum art heist: Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Degas_-_Program_for_an_artistic_soiree_1.jpg

"Program for an Artistic Soiréee II," 1884 charcoal on buff paper by Edgar Degas; second of two dance studies stolen during March 1990 Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum art theft: Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Degas_-_Program_for_an_artistic_soiree_2.jpg

Edgar Degas emerges from Paris's public facilities in photograph by Count Giuseppe Napoleone Primoli (May 2, 1851-June 13, 1927), in 1889, about five years after the self-termed realist’s June 15, 1884, dancer charcoals: Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Primoli-DegasinParis.jpg

Art buyer and exporter Fernand Robert’s Degas purchases for Isabella Stewart Gardner happened at the fourth and final sale of Degas artwork held by renowned French gallerist Georges Petit (March 11, 1856-May 12, 1920); Georges Petit (center) with sculpture in auction at Hotel Drouot (Hôtel des ventes de Drouot), Paris; watercolor by Jean Louis Lefort (1875-1954): Ader Paris, CC BY SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:L’intérieur_de_l’hôtel_Drouot_lors_d’une_vente_dirigée_par_Me_Lair-Dubreuil,_par_Jean_Lefort.JPG

The Degas drawings shared a shipping crate with “Madame Gautreau Drinking a Toast,” 1882-1883 oil on wood by John Singer Sargent, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, first-floor Blue Room: Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Madame_Gautreau_Drinking_a_Toast.jpg

For further information:

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Boston Landmarks Commission. Report on the Potential Designation of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum as a Landmark under Chapter 772 of the Acts of 1975, as Amended.
Available @ https://www.cityofboston.gov/images_documents/ISGM%20Study%20Report%20as%20Amended_tcm3-39717.pdf

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Available via FBI @ https://archives.fbi.gov/archives/boston/press-releases/2013/fbi-provides-new-information-regarding-the-1990-isabella-stewart-gardner-museum-art-heist

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Available @ http://www.vermeer-foundation.org/

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Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2017/02/isabella-stewart-gardner-museum-art_10.html

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Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2017/02/isabella-stewart-gardner-museum-art.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 17 February 2017. “Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Art Theft: Napoleonic Flag Topper.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2017/02/isabella-stewart-gardner-museum-art_17.html

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Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2017/01/isabella-stewart-gardner-museum-art_20.html

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Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2017/01/isabella-stewart-gardner-museum-art_13.html

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Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2017/01/isabella-stewart-gardner-museum-art.html

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Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2017/01/isabella-stewart-gardner-museum-art_27.html

Mashberg, Tom. March 1998. "Stealing Beauty." Vanity Fair > Culture.
Available @ http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/1998/03/biggest-art-heist-us-history

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Available @ http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/01/arts/design/isabella-stewart-gardner-heist-25-years-of-theories.html?_r=0

Murphy, Shelley. 17 March 2015. "Search for Artworks from Gardner Heist Continues 25 Years Later." Boston Globe > Metro.
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Available @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrPqiGIJYYs

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Available @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irBRWMMHOI8

Williams, Paige. March 2010. "The Art of the Story." Boston Magazine > Gardner Museum > Gardner Museum Theft.
Available @ http://www.bostonmagazine.com/2010/03/gardner-heist/3/