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

Summary: The Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney murals art theft of Parrish West Panel 3A and Parrish West Panel 3B is unsolved since the July 27 and 28, 2002 weekend.

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

The Federal Bureau of Investigation accepts on the FBI's top 10 art crimes list the Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney murals art theft in West Hollywood, California, the July 27 to 28, 2002 weekend.

The theft of Maxfield Parrish West Panel 3A and Maxfield Parrish West Panel 3B in a single weekend bears an estimated value of $2.5 million each. It concerned none of the other panels at Edenhurst Fine Art Gallery in Melrose Avenue's posh district between North Dohenyi Drive and North San Vicente Boulevard. Tom Nunziato, attorney for the gallery displaying fine arts and antiques since 1970, described the Los Angeles County Sheriff Department's determination of the theft as pre-planned.

A rooftop hole enabled entry and exit of one burglar, or more, with equipment to elude motion detection systems and extract the canvases from their frames.

Maxfield Parrish's West Wall Panels 3A and 3B, painted in compliance with a seven-panel commission from Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney in 1912, were completed in 1916; "Three-quarter length portrait of Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney (Mrs. Harry Payne Whitney) wearing a jeweled gown and tiara and holding a peacock feather fan," ca. 1916 photograph by Baron Adolf De Meyer (Sep. 1, 1868-Jan. 6, 1946); Frances Benjamin Johnston Collection, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, Washington DC: No known restrictions on publication, via Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Online Catalog (PPOC)

Maxfield Parrish West Panel 3A and Parrish West Panel 3B form a series with one north, two east and two south wall panels of framed canvases.

All seven panels go under the name of their commissioner, Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney (Jan. 9, 1875-April 18, 1942), for her Old Westbury estate on Long Island. They held historic roles as wall panels for the reception room of the Whitney studio designed by Delano & Aldrich, architectural firm in New York City. They indulged Chester Holmes Aldrich's (June 4, 1871-Dec. 26, 1940) and William Adams Delano's (Jan. 21, 1874-Jan. 12, 1960) interspersing openings on all walls but one.

The Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney murals art theft jeopardizes the historic togetherness, except during Edenhurst's six-panel exhibition since August 2001, of the seven 5.5-foot- (1.68-meter-) high panels.

In 1912 Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney commissioned seven wall panels for her Long Island studio from American illustrator and painter Maxfield Parrish; north-looking view from Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney's studio window, Roslyn, Long Island: Year Book of the Architectural League of New York (1915), Public Domain, Google-digitized, via HathiTrust

Maxfield Parrish West Panel 3B knows the same 8.5-foot (2.59-meter) width as the other six oils on canvas kept alongside walls interspersed by doors and windows.

Art historians list the 18.5-foot- (5.64-meter-) wide North Panel, on the only unbroken wall, as Frederick Maxfield Parrish's (July 25, 1870-March 30, 1966) longest single work. All seven panels model Florentine-attired revelers, to memorialize Florence, Italy-born family friend Wilson Eyre, Jr. (Oct. 30, 1858-Oct. 23, 1944) and two of the painter's accomplishments. They nod to Maxfield Parrish's illustrations for Edith Wharton's (Jan. 24, 1862-Aug. 11, 1937) Italian Villas and Their Gardens and oil on canvas A Florentine Fete.

The Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney murals art theft obliterates the artistically, historically continuous 1914-completed east and south, 1916-painted west and 1918-realized north wall panels commissioned for $16,000.

Florentine influences on Maxfield Parrish's two West Wall Panels, completed in 1916, also appear in "A Florentine Fete," painted between 1910 and 1916 by Maxfield Parrish: Public Domain, via Wikioo The Encyclopedia of Fine Arts

Alan Farancz Conservation Studio's cleaning and stretching in 1998 put Maxfield Parrish West Wall Panel 3B and the other panels in tiptop condition for public display.

The Cornish Colony Museum quantified as record-breaking New Hampshire-hosted viewings of Parrish's 40- to 60-layered, glazed colors in Stanford White-conceptualized (Nov. 9, 1853-June 25, 1906) frames. It resulted in relocating the east, south and west panels to California for public display prefatory to expected group sale for $9 million to $12 million. No evidence suggests why one burglar, or more, slipped through a roof hole to separate just two of the six murals from their Dale Shafman-designed frames.

The Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney murals art theft turned owner J.P. Bryan's marketing strategies from Houston Texas into diasporas for Parrish West Panel 3A and Panel 3B.

West Wall Panel 3A, one of two murals by Maxfield Parrish removed from West Hollywood's Edenhurst Fine Art Gallery during the Saturday, July 27, to Sunday, July 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:

Panel 3B, one of two West Wall Panels completed by Maxfield Parrish in 1916, also was taken during the Saturday, July 27, to Sunday, July 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

Maxfield Parrish's West Wall Panels 3A and 3B, painted in compliance with a seven-panel commission from Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney in 1912, were completed in 1916; "Three-quarter length portrait of Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney (Mrs. Harry Payne Whitney) wearing a jeweled gown and tiara and holding a peacock feather fan," ca. 1916 photograph by Baron Adolf De Meyer (Sep. 1, 1868-Jan. 6, 1946); Frances Benjamin Johnston Collection, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, Washington DC: No known restrictions on publication, via Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Online Catalog (PPOC) @ http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2004676398/

In 1912 Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney commissioned seven wall panels for her Long Island studio from American illustrator and painter Maxfield Parrish; north-looking view from Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney's studio window, Roslyn, Long Island: Year Book of the Architectural League of New York (1915), Public Domain, Google-digitized, via HathiTrust @ https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015086699413;view=1up;seq=160

Florentine influences on Maxfield Parrish's two West Wall Panels, completed in 1916, also appear in "A Florentine Fete," painted between 1910 and 1916 by Maxfield Parrish: Public Domain, via Wikioo The Encyclopedia of Fine Arts @ https://wikioo.org/paintings.php?refarticle=8BWUTC&titlepainting=Florentine%20Fete&artistname=Maxfield%20Parrish

West Wall Panel 3A, one of two murals by Maxfield Parrish removed from West Hollywood's Edenhurst Fine Art Gallery during the Saturday, July 27, to Sunday, July 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. "View From Studio Window, Looking North, Studio for Mrs. Harry Payne Whitney, Delano & Aldrich Architects, New York." Year Book of the Architectural League of New York and Catalog of the Thirtieth Annual Exhibition. Vol. 30. New York NY: Architectural Press.
Available @ https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015086699413;view=1up;seq=160

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. 21 July 2017. "Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney Murals Art Theft: Parrish West Panel 3A." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2017/07/gertrude-vanderbilt-whitney-murals-art.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

Wharton, Edith. 1904. Italian Villas and Their Gardens. Illustrated with Pictures by Maxfield Parrish and by Photographs. New York NY: The Century Company.
Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/italianvillast00whar