William Kingsland's Stolen Art Stash
New York Collector Hoarded Art of Dubious Provenance
Jun 9, 2009
His name, or so everyone thought, was William M.V. Kingsland. He moved in Manhattan’s elite art circles, a charming man with encyclopedic knowledge of art, architecture and literature. He also dabbled in art collecting himself, though he was usually cagey about what pieces he owned; few if any of his friends or acquaintances had ever been to his home to see them. The reason for the secrecy became abundantly clear when William Kingsland died in 2006.
The Discovery of Kingsland’s Art Collection
Since he had no heirs and left no will, Kingsland’s estate dutifully fell under the possession of the state of New York. Under the auspices of the Public Administration Office, arrangements were made to auction off Kingsland’s art collection. And what a collection it was; the one-bedroom apartment that Kingsland had called home was crammed to the rafters with valuable paintings, sculptures and drawings by the likes of Pablo Picasso, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, John Singleton Copley, Alberto Giacometti, Jean Baptiste Camille Corot, and Robert Henri.
As Christie’s and Stair Galleries — the two auction houses hired to sell the collection — began researching the provenance of the artwork, however, they came in for a nasty shock. For a great many of the pieces residing in Kingsland’s “collection” had actually been reported stolen in the 1960s and 1970s.
Not only that, but William Kingsland himself was not who he claimed to be; his real name was Melvyn Kohn, and he was a Bronx-born man who had taken the name Kingsland because it sounded regal and classy. Ethel Griffin, New York Public Administrator, said of Kingsland/Kohn, “It appears that during a period of time in his life he went into galleries and took things that caught his eye.” Kingsland’s thefts were likely carried out for the same reason he’d changed his name: He wished to endear himself to denizens of the upper echelons of Manhattan’s art world.
Stolen Art Gets Re-Stolen
In an odd little fillip to the case, one of the movers hired by the Public Administrator’s Office to transfer the art from Kingsland’s apartment to a warehouse actually absconded with two Picasso drawings whose combined value is about $60,000. Ironically, the drawings had also been stolen from a New York art gallery in 1967, before Kingsland illegally obtained them. After this third theft, both works were recovered from the home of the mover’s mother-in-law.
The FBI Seeks Art’s Rightful Owners
Since Kingsland’s collection was so extensive — over 300 works — authorities have a staggering task researching the provenance of each piece to determine whether it was stolen, and if so to whom it rightfully belongs. To expedite the process, they have placed information and images of most of the collection online so that the public may aid them in placing the artworks back with their previous owners as soon as possible.
 |
