Margaret Keane painting stolen in Hawaii returned to family after 49 years [View all]
Margaret Keane painting stolen in Hawaii returned to family after 49 years
A Margaret Keane painting stolen nearly 50 years ago from a Honolulu dentist's office has been returned to its original owners, including one of the big-eyed girls depicted in the artwork.
Known as "Eyes Upon You," the painting was consigned to Heritage Auctions by a family who purchased it from a New Jersey gallery in the 1980s, not knowing the work had been stolen. It's not known how the painting got from Hawaii to New Jersey.
The family, who wishes to remain unnamed, has spent decades searching for the work. They hired Robert Wittman, a former FBI special agent, to find it, and he contacted Heritage Auctions to let them know the artwork was stolen.
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A Tennessee native and former San Francisco resident, Keane was living in Honolulu in 1972 when she saw a little girl she wished to include in a painting of several children. The girl's father provided Keane with a photograph of the then-seven-year-old girl, pictured below, and she appears in the center of the painting, which Keane intended to "represent the racial diversity of Hawaii's population," Heritage said. 
https://www.sfgate.com/art/article/Stolen-Margaret-Keane-painting-returned-to-family-16330234.php?IPID=SFGate-HP-Editors-Picks
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