WPA Art Recovery

During January 2017, four New Deal art recovery investigative cases were closed:

  • Special agents recovered the New Deal era oil painting, “Abstraction #6” by Adolph Frederick Reinhardt, from Sotheby’s in New York after learning that that a former art chairman at a high school had taken the painting home approximately 50 years ago when the school building was being renovated.

  • Special agents recovered the New Deal era oil painting, , “Africa” by Archibald Motley, after receiving a hotline tip from a complainant about the painting in their uncle’s estate.

  • Special agents recovered a New Deal era lithograph, “Old Iron for Japan” by Glenn Wessels, after receiving a tip regarding a published article in a newspaper about its appraised value.

  • Special agents assisted the GSA Fine Arts Divisions with reclaiming 19 New Deal era paintings that were under the care of the Fresno California Housing Authority.