Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney Murals Art Theft: Parrish West Panel 3A

Summary: The Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney murals art theft the July 27 to 28, 2002 weekend removed the Maxfield Parrish West Wall Panel 3A and Panel 3B from view.

West Wall Panel 3A, one of two murals by Maxfield Parrish removed from West Hollywood's Edenhurst Fine Art Gallery during July 27 to 28, 2002, art heist: Federal Bureau of Investigation Art Crime Team, Public Domain, via Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)

The Federal Bureau of Investigation accords the Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney murals art theft the July 27 to 28, 2002 weekend a place midway down the FBI list of top 10 art crimes.

Maxfield Parrish West Wall Panel 3A and Panel 3B bring an estimated $5 million value to the Edenhurst Fine Art Gallery break-in in West Hollywood, California. The after-hours entry cut just two of six oil paintings on canvas from their oak frames and collected nothing else from the Melrose Avenue art gallery. Detective Scott Petz, investigator at the Los Angeles County Sheriff Department's West Hollywood Station, described the highly sophisticated theft as doable by one burglar with expertise.

Alma Gilbert, author of 13 publications on Maxfield Parrish and owner-occupant of the Parrish property The Oaks in Cornish, New Hampshire, envisioned a different, gem-related scenario.

In 1912, art patron and sculptor Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney commissioned seven panels from illustrator and painter Maxfield Parrish for her studio on Long Island; West Wall Panels 3A and 3B were completed in 1916; 1916 oil on canvas portrait of Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney by Robert Henri (June 24, 1865-July 12, 1929), Whitney Museum of Modern Art, New York City: Google Arts and Culture, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Displays conducive to group sale for $9 million to $12 million furnished reasons for featuring the east, south and west wall panels together since August 2001.

The six paintings, each 5.5 by 8.5 feet (1.68 by 2.59 meters), go with a seventh, the 5.5- by 18.5-foot (1.68- by 5.64-meter) North Wall Panel. Seven free-standing frames historically hold the east and south wall panels of 1914, the west wall panels of 1916 and the north wall panel of 1918.

Gilbert, whose Cornish Colony Gallery & Museum included the seventh wall, indicated: "You couldn't hang [any of] them on any wall. They'd bring the wall down." She judged the Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney Murals art theft "no easy task," as a contracted jewel heist that "would need a moving truck and four people."

studio for which Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney commissioned Maxfield Parrish wall panels; south facade, Roslyn, Long Island: Year Book of the Architectural League of New York (1915), Public Domain, via HathiTrust

Detective Petz knew simpler scenarios: "It was a very secure location. At least that's what they [the gallery] thought. But every location has its weak points."

Rooftops left Edenhurst vulnerable amid Melrose Avenue's antiques shops and exclusive boutiques between North Dohenyi Drive and North San Vicente Boulevard near the Pacific Design Center. One rooftop hole moved in and out ropes as hoists and ladders for motion detector disablers, cutters and canvases released from their frames and rolled up. Detective Petz noted:" Certainly, it's a very professional job. This is not some burglar who happened upon something. This was targeted, and it took some knowhow."

Gilbert observed, as Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney murals art theft motives, "They [Parrish West Panel 3A belt-embedded emerald, lapis lazuli and ruby chips] are beautiful little fragments."

J.P. (James Perry) Bryan Jr., owner of the stolen Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney West Wall Panels, also is founder and owner of The Bryan Museum, which occupies the former Galveston's Orphans Home, at 21st Street and Avenue M: Wiki name, CC BY SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Parrish West Panel 3A poses Parrish icon Sue Lewin (Nov. 22, 1889-Jan. 27, 1978), with one female and two male Florentine-attired revelers, against red-tinged Colorado mountains.

Panel 3A's urn qualifies as homage to painting commissioner Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney (Jan. 9, 1875-April 18, 1942) for her urn-studded Old Westbury studio on Long Island. The attire recalls Frederick Maxfield Parrish's (July 25, 1870-March 30, 1966) A Florentine Fete mural for the Curtis Publishing Company girls' dining room in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. J.P. Bryan, museum owner at 21st Street and Avenue M in Galveston, Texas, since October 2013, serves as Parrish West Panel 3A's and Panel 3B's owner.

Bryan and Gilbert respectively tied the Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney murals art theft motives to "There is a passion for Parrish" and to "They're nearly national treasures."

Panel 3B, one of two West Wall Panels completed by Maxfield Parrish in 1916, also was taken during the July 27 to 28, 2002, art heist: Federal Bureau of Investigation Art Crime Team, Public Domain, via Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)

Acknowledgment

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

Image credits:

West Wall Panel 3A, one of two murals by Maxfield Parrish removed from West Hollywood's Edenhurst Fine Art Gallery during July 27 to 28, 2002, art heist: Federal Bureau of Investigation Art Crime Team, Public Domain, via Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) @ https://www.fbi.gov/investigate/violent-crime/art-theft/fbi-top-ten-art-crimes/theft-of-gertrude-vanderbilt-whitney-murals

1916 oil on canvas portrait of Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney by Robert Henri (June 24, 1865-July 12, 1929), Whitney Museum of Modern Art, New York City: Google Arts and Culture, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Robert_Henri_-_Gertrude_Vanderbilt_Whitney_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg

studio for which Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney commissioned Maxfield Parrish wall panels; south facade, Roslyn, Long Island: Year Book of the Architectural League of New York (1915), Public Domain, via HathiTrust @ https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015086699413;view=1up;seq=166

J.P. (James Perry) Bryan Jr., owner of the stolen Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney West Wall Panels, also owns The Bryan Museum, which occupies the former Galveston's Orphans Home, at 21st Street and Avenue M: Wiki name, CC BY SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Children%27s-Home-George-Dealey.jpg

Panel 3B, one of two West Wall Panels completed by Maxfield Parrish in 1916, also was taken during the July 27 to 28, 2002, art heist: Federal Bureau of Investigation Art Crime Team, Public Domain, via Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) @ https://www.fbi.gov/investigate/violent-crime/art-theft/fbi-top-ten-art-crimes/theft-of-gertrude-vanderbilt-whitney-murals

For further information:

The Architectural League of New York. 1915. "South facade, Studio for Mrs. Harry Payne Whitney at Roslyn, L.I. Delano & Aldrich Architects, New York." Year Book of the Architectural League of New York and Catalog of the Thirtieth Annual Exhibtion. Vol. 30. New York NY: Architectural Press.
Available @ https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015086699413;view=1up;seq=166

Campbell, Duncan. 1 August 2002. "Thieves Sneak $5M Paintings Out of Hollywood Gallery." The Guardian > World > World News.
Available @ https://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/aug/02/arttheft.arts

Cutler, Laurence S.; and Cutler, Judy A.G. 1999. Maxfield Parrish. New York NY: Gramercy Books, Random House Value Publishing, Inc.

Garrison, Jessica. 1 August 2002. "Two Parrish Paintings Stolen from Gallery." Los Angeles Times > Collections > Los Angeles.
Available @ http://articles.latimes.com/2002/aug/01/local/me-art1

Lyman, Rick. 1 August 2002. "Maxfield Parrish Murals Stolen From Gallery." The New York Times > U.S.
Available @ http://www.nytimes.com/2002/08/01/us/maxfeld-parrish-murals-stolen-from-gallery.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 14 July 2017. "Maxfield Parrish Ascutney River Study Art Theft Recovery Anniversary." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2017/07/maxfield-parrish-ascutney-river-study.html

"Maxfield Parrish: The Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney Murals." Tyler Museum of Art > Exhibitions > Past > May 3-September 13, 2009.
Available @ http://www.tylermuseum.org/MaxfieldParrish.aspx

"Theft of Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney Murals." Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) > What We Investigate > Violent Crime > Art Theft > FBI Top Ten Art Crimes.
Available @ https://www.fbi.gov/investigate/violent-crime/art-theft/fbi-top-ten-art-crimes/theft-of-gertrude-vanderbilt-whitney-murals