Stephen Kurkjian (Courtesy photo)
On March 18, 1990, 13 pieces of artwork vanished from Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in the largest art heist in history. Like so many who read the headlines, Stephen Kurkjian, three-time Pulitzer Prize winner and investigative journalist for The Boston Globe, wondered, “How could a museum with such extraordinary masterpieces be vulnerable to such a caper?”
Next Friday, Jan. 31, Stephen Kurkjian will present “The Gardner Museum Heist—Boston’s Last Best Secret and Other Tales” as part of the Warner Free Lecture series.
For the past 23 years, Kurkjian, along with the FBI, Boston police, and other investigative reporters, have hunted for the perpetrators and the missing 13 pieces of artwork. The stolen works include a Vermeer, three Rembrandts, five Degas drawings, and a Manet, for a total value of more 500 million dollars. “It is such a singular event,” Kurkjian says. “It stretched negligence to such an extent … there are so many imponderables.”
A self-proclaimed ‘Boston boy’
Kurkjian, a self-proclaimed “Boston boy,” grew up in the shadows of Boston’s art museums and has worked for the Boston Globe for 45 years. He considers the Gardner Museum heist “a loss, not just for the Gardner Museum, but for the city of Boston and the residents of Boston.” It is remediating this cultural loss that fuels Kurkjian to continue working on the case, despite the incredible, sometimes frustrating, mystery.
“I haven’t solved it yet,” he says. “But I’ve kept people aware.” He values keeping the public involved, pointing out that when pleas for public assistance are issued, such as during the hunt for Whitey Bulger or the second Tsarnaev brother, Massachusetts residents answer. “If we stay on it, and we keep the public’s attention, somehow we will get lucky.”
A story in need of a final chapter
He believes the 13 paintings are together and still hidden and wants people to look in their garages, attics, and forgotten storage units, as perhaps some kin who died a while ago may have stashed them. “It’s a story that needs a final chapter,” he says.
Kurkjian will discuss Boston’s last best secret and reveal details about the fateful night at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum on Jan. 31 at 7:30 p.m. in Volunteers Hall at the Harvard Public Library.
