Robbins Report

Gone But Not Forgotten--It's Still a Crime

The Mystery of the Missing Barnstable County Paintings Remains Unsolved

by Peter Robbins

Sixty-seven years ago today, a wonderful event took place.  It is memorialized in the November 29, 1941 edition of the then Standard Times. Local Lower Cape artists donated valuable works depicting various Cape scenes and activities to the Barnstable County Hospital.  Those works undoubtedly brought comfort to those who would ultimately pass in the hospital rooms where the very paintings hung. That day, Dr. Julius Kelley (pictured) must have felt as proud as those who took time to paint the pieces.

If the walls could talk, what say you John Whorf, Richard Miller, Charles Kaseleau, Charles Heinz, Julius Katzieff, Coulton Waugh, Bruce McKain, Tod Lindenmuth, Vollain Rann, John Gregory, Dorothy-Lake Gregory, E.B. Warren, Donald Witherstine, Philip Malicoat, Ross Moffet, Ada Raynor, Edwin Dickenson and Vernon Smith?

But the walls cannot talk.  And despite contacting former employees, organizations, foundations, governmental bodies, administrators, and professionals involved with the closing of the Barnstable County Hospital, there are still no answers regarding the missing paintings. Multiple letters, faxes, emails, telephone calls and requests for matching reward funds, all remain unanswered.  Like the walls themselves, the silence is deafening.

Since the start of the investigation, there have been rumors of possible locations where some of the paintings may currently be, but those locations either haven't checked out or haven't even been checked out, as that involves time and money.  Art sales have been monitored, but that too has not been productive.  

Incidentally, also on this day in 1930, famed Provincetown artist C. W. Hawthorne died in Baltimore. Read the Cape Cod History report here.

With the exception of three paintings, the artwork was never documented.  These priceless pieces of local Cape art could have been sold and resold without the county's knowledge.  Or they could be hanging on the walls in a private home being enjoyed as the effort goes on to find and return them to their rightful owners--Barnstable County taxpayers.  Some could be stored in a basement or attic.  Some could be in the collection of a  historical society or museum--we may never know.  The only documentation lies with the people who have them in their possession.

One thing I'm confident of, someone knows something about one or all of the missing pieces. The time will come when either guilt, fear, soul searching or good old-fashioned "gum-shoeing" will reveal current location.   I look forward to that day.

Like the artists themselves, the artwork is gone, but will not be forgotten!

Read the investigative series here:

• 10-County artwork, the ongoing saga, part 10
  

• 9-County's missing art may be on the road to (partial) recovery
• 8-County Art Caper - "It's a witch hunt" she mumbled
• 7-Your art is gone
• 6-County Art - A Private Viewing
• 5-The investigators weren't welcome
• 4-County list confirms paintings ARE missing!
• 3-What Do the Gardner Museum Heist & The Barnstable County Art Have In Common?
• 2-Rembrandts They Are Not, Part II
• 1-Rembrandts They Are Not