Video: Conserving a Stolen de Kooning

Olivia Miller: The thing that really stands out to me about the story is that it, it's turned into this incredible story of human redemption, because it was such an awful theft. You know, this painting stolen from the public.

Narrator: Willem de Kooning was an abstract expressionist painter throughout the 20th century. Woman-Ochre is a classic example of his style. Finished in 1955, the painting was donated to the University of Arizona and became one of its most renowned works. In November 1985, William de Kooning's famed Woman-Ochre was cut from its frame by two thieves in the University of Arizona, Museum of Art. The thieves were never apprehended, and the painting was not seen again, until...

Miller: It started with the phone call. A man named David Van Auker. He was in Silver City, New Mexico, who said he had the painting.

Narrator: The painting was purchased by David Van Auker and in an estate sale in 2017. David went online to research the painting, after two exorbitant offers to purchase it. He found the news story and immediately called the University of Arizona.

Miller: After a very long 36 hours, we made our way to finally see the painting. It was 11 o'clock at night on a Friday. I had never seen the painting in person before. So, the only physical object I knew was the empty frame with the wax lining and the edges.

Miller: And the only image I had at the painting were very bad slides, you know that we had in the collection. And so I didn't fully have a grip on what this painting actually looked like in person. But I knew instantly when I saw it, that it was, it was the painting and it was, I mean I was really speechless. I was sort of numb at that point because it was so just so surreal.

[Excited group chatter]

Miller: The following Monday is when there was a police entourage that escorted it back to the University of Arizona. One of the memories that really sticks out to me from that day is, our registrar Kristin Schmidt, it was her first time seeing the painting. And so opening the crate and seeing her face when she saw the painting for the first time, she teared up and was just completely silent, and that was a really incredible moment.

Nancy Odegaard: So I think we'll just look at it first kind of walk around it.

Miller: It took about two hours for Dr. Nancy Odegaard, who is the Conservator at the Arizona State Museum on campus, to do her examination of the painting.

Odegaard: There's actually evidence of that.

Miller: I was very antsy. Just waiting for her to say, yes, this is it. This is it. Even though I knew it, you know, I really needed her to say it.

Odegaard: Luckily we actually have the full two canvas and can actually be reunited.

Miller: Lots of the damage was very clear but I didn't have a full understanding of just how bad its condition was. And so we knew that this would be a big undertaking and that, and that it would need to leave the museum. We made the decision to send it to The Getty after consulting with a number of de Kooning experts. They put us in touch with an expert on de Kooning's methods and materials, who said, "You know you might wanna reach out to The Getty and see if this is a project that they would be interested in."

Tom Learner: Well, I remember when I first went to see the painting I'd seen slides and images, it was quite hard to fathom the true extent of the damage in fact. It was an extraordinarily powerful painting, very, very strong image despite all the damage that had been inflicted on it. It was in your face. It was very, very obvious what had happened to it. You didn't need any special way of looking or lighting or magnification, but when you used that magnification and lighting and shown lights across the surface from behind the canvas, the extent of the cracking was extraordinary.

Laura Rivers: When the painting first arrived, the most essential thing was to examine it and to understand the state of the painting, and to use the information learned during the examination to formulate a plan.

Ulrich Birkmaier: So that should be pretty visible on the...

Miller: Yeah, it is.

Birkmaier: This particular treatment posts some particular challenges since the damages are relatively complex and multifaceted. Each step had to be very, very carefully considered, particularly as it affects the following steps in the treatment course. So we have to address structural as well as aesthetic aspects.

Learner: And when we first took on this project, I think I had a fairly clear idea in mind of the potential that The Getty could bring to this project, so clearly it needed treating. One of the things I wasn't anticipating was the way that some of the analysis impacted the conservation treatment so directly. And that's fantastic when we get that collaboration going and that sort of connection.

Rivers: Which I actually was..

Learner: In this case, we found this particular red pigment, it's quite a fugitive dye, called rhodamine red. We can detect it because of a tiny trace of tungsten, which is an element that our x-ray fluorescence instrument can pick up very, very nicely. There was a really close collaboration where the scans of tungsten, to give a sense of where this rhodamine was impacted, the specific solvent used for cleaning that actual area. So, that was completely unexpected and actually, it's a joy when that happens because you really feel this is science not working together, it's not just sort of part of providing a service.

Miller: Seeing the painting in various stages of the conservation process, it's really watching it come to life. There's more texture. The colors are more vibrant. And so it's been a really, really incredible process to be able to check in on every now and again.

Rivers: In every conservation project there is a moment where the painting begins to supersede the damage that has been done to it. And those who see the painting are struck by the painting itself and not by the damage.

Miller: Once the painting returned, we have had nothing but wonderful interactions with people. You know, people who wanted to return the painting to the museum, the wonderful team at The Getty who has, you know, I mean, we're so grateful for all the people that we've gotten to meet along the way, that it's really, it's really incredible how this story has has become such a happy ending.