A one-of-a-kind painting that was stolen from a dentist’s office 50 years ago is now on its way home thanks to the work of a Texas auction house and a retired FBI agent. 

What You Need To Know

  • The painting, titled “Eyes Upon You” was made in the early 70s by famed artist Margaret Keane

  • In 1972 the painting was stolen from a dentist office lobby while everyone was on a lunch break

  • Eventually came to Heritage Auction house and sold for $30,000

  • The original owner's family hired an investigator to track it down and return it

 

The painting, titled “Eyes Upon You” was made in the early 70s by famed artist Margaret Keane. Keane is best known for her works that feature children with oversized eyes which resurged in popularity in recent years thanks to the 2014 Tim Burton film “Big Eyes.”

This week, art security and recovery specialist Bob Wittman stepped into the Heritage Auction house in Dallas where that painting hung on a wall.

“It’s an exact likeness,” said Wittman. “It’s astounding.”

The likeness Wittman noticed was to the little girl at the center of the painting and the woman in Hawaii that had hired him to make the trip to Dallas. Wittman is a retired FBI agent who specializes in recovering stolen artwork. He said he helped launch the bureau’s art crime efforts while there.

Currently Wittman runs his own art security business and was hired by that woman and her family in Honolulu who said the “Eyes Upon You” painting had been stolen from them nearly 50 years ago.

According to Wittman, Keane had painted “Eyes Upon You” while living in Hawaii in the 1970s and based the girl in the center of the painting off of a picture of a Honolulu dentist’s seven-year-old daughter, who is the woman that hired Wittman. Wittman said the dentist purchased the painting to hang in the lobby of his office.

“Because he wanted the kids who came in to be comfortable and see this painting,” said Wittman.

However in 1972, Wittman said the painting was stolen from the lobby while everyone was on a lunch break. The door remained unlocked for early patients to come in and wait for their appointments. The investigator said the family reported it to police and several articles were written in local papers about the search for the painting for years, but it was never found.

However, last year the Heritage Auctions’ director of American Art, Aviva Lehmann, was contacted by a family looking to auction off a Keane painting that had long been in their collection. That painting is the long lost “Eyes Upon You.”

“Saw the painting in New Jersey, very excited, a family was selling it, they inherited it. It was a standard consignment process,” said Lehmann.

Lehmann said that the family had purchased the painting from a gallery in the early 80s, and how it got there or where it was in between the time of the theft and the purchase is a mystery. Leaders at the auction house said the painting appeared to be like any other they got through the door and there was no record of it in the FBI’s Stolen Art Database, so they moved forward and auctioned it off in December.

Lehmann said it sold for more than $30,000.

After the sale though, Wittman said that the family in Honolulu had decided to do another, long-shot sweep online for signs of that long-lost work, and they found word of it being sold at that auction. Wittman said that’s when they contacted him for help.

“And so, my first response to that was I was a bit skeptical because I get calls from people all the time that say they want their painting back or this was their painting,” he said.

However, Wittman said this family had a lot of evidence to support their claim including eyewitness accounts of their ownership and, maybe most importantly, the photograph of the  seven-year-old child which made it very clear she is the inspiration for that painting.

“Even the hairdo is exactly the same,” said Wittman.

So Wittman contacted Heritage Auctions and Lehmann said she and her team immediately got to work trying to make the situation right, although there were significant obstacles to overcome.

“It had sold already, there were a lot of people involved, a lot of logistics. We had to work with the consigner’s family, and the buyer, and all the logistics in between,” said Lehmann.

Lehmann said everyone involved was very understanding of the situation and agreed that the painting needed to go home to the original owners. 

The painting was eventually returned to the care of Heritage, and this week Wittman walked into the Dallas location to get that painting and bring it back home to Hawaii where he said that the family was eagerly awaiting its return.

“Their only regret was that the dad, the father who had commissioned the painting, the orthodontist, he died around 2016 or so, so he will not see the painting, but the rest of the family’s very happy to see it,” said Wittman.

The family asked to remain anonymous and have Wittman speak on their behalf, saying after 50 years of searching for their painting, they didn’t want to risk it being targeted for theft again.

Lehmann said everyone at the auction house was happy to help get that painting back where it belongs. She said they were also glad to just get to be in the presence of the rare Keane work for a time. It depicts seven children of different nationalities all coming together in the Hawaiian culture.

“With Keane, often there’s one child,” said Lehmann. "To see all of these children like this really does feel like a tour-de-force for Keane. It really is the best Keane I’ve ever seen.”

Leaders at Heritage could only recall one other incident of stolen artwork coming through their doors. 

Wittman said it is a very difficult crime to pull off because the pieces are so unique, but he said that doesn’t mean that thieves don’t try. He said stolen and fraudulent art is about a $6 billion per year criminal industry.

However, one 50-year-old case can finally be closed.

“They’re returning the heritage of this painting to that family, and that’s a truly remarkable thing,” said Wittman.