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Rockport Ramblings: Author to tell story behind world's largest art caper

Rockport Ramblings
Jonathan L'Ecuyer
Published: July 11, 2009

The Rockport Public Library's summer "Meet the Author" series reaches its halfway point on Monday with a visit from Ulrich Boser who will be in town to discuss his book, "The Gardner Heist: The True Story of the World's Largest Art Theft".

The infamous Boston theft stands as the world's largest unsolved art crime, said Library Director Hope Coffman.

The event, scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. Monday, is already fully booked but those still hoping to attend are being invited to contact the library to be placed on a waiting list.

In his book, Boser tells the story behind the biggest burglary in American memory. Using eyewitness accounts, exclusive interviews, and newly discovered FBI files, he provides powerful evidence that mobster David Turner was behind the robbery.

According to Coffman, the book takes readers deep inside the art underworld. Boser examines why criminals swipe precious masterpieces and how museums fail to adequately protect their works. Boser details the growing practice of trading looted paintings for drugs and guns and discusses why only five percent of stolen art is ever recovered.

Boser has written for the New York Times, the Washington Post, Smithsonian, Slate, and many other publications. He has also served as a contributing editor at U.S. News and World Report and as a special projects editor at the Washington Post Express. He is the founding editor of the Open Case, a web magazine and online community devoted to unsolved crimes.

The event, along with the library's entire offering of summer programs, is jointly sponsored by the Rockport Public Library, Friends of the Library, and Toad Hall Book Store.

"The library has an active summer program for both children and adults," Coffman said.

The next author series event is scheduled for Wednesday, July 22, at 7 p.m. and features Robert Atwan — founder and series editor of the annual "Best American Essays".

For more information, call the library at 978-546-6934 or see the library's Web site at www.rockportlibrary.org.

An Evening of Jazz

Musical phenom Alek Razdan and his jazz quartet, A-Train, will perform at the Rockport Art Association on Saturday, July 18, at 8 p.m. Partial proceeds will benefit the organization, which is currently undergoing significant restoration and renovation work.

Admission to the "Evening of Jazz" is $10 and tickets are on sale at the Rockport Art Association and Toad Hall Bookstore.

"The group puts on an exciting show, moving from jazz to swing to blues with ease," said Lana Razdan, Alek's mother and also a Library Trustee.

But you don't have to just take his mother's word that he's good, he and the A-Train have been praised by fellow jazz musicians and critics alike.

"Alek sounds a lot better than I did at his age; (heck), he sounds better than I do now," said Sax Gordon, a leading R&B/blues artist in the USA and Europe.

"Alek shows impressive technique and surprising expressive power; he has a musical intelligence well beyond his 15 years," said critic Frank Hadley of Downbeat Magazine. "These qualities, along with crispness of spirit and firm determination, elevate Alek close to an artistic level frequented by long-established musicians."

Quick hits

The Rockport United Methodist Church will host its Sea Breeze Craft Fair next Saturday, July 18, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Those attending will have an opportunity to peruse through crafts and gifts of all sorts including, clothing, soap, jewelry, make-up, quilts, scrapbooking materials, and baked goods.

For more information or to reserve a space, contact Linda Burkell by phone at 978-546-9506 or e-mail at burkellla@aol.com (yes, with three "L's") or visit www.gbgm-umc.org/rockportumc.

The Unitarian Universalist Society of Rockport's Art Gallery will feature the works of Susanne E. White through July 30.

White received a bachelor of Fine Arts degree in painting from the Maryland Institute College of Art. She is a signature member of the International Society of Acrylic Painters and a member of the Rockport Art Association and North Shore Art Association.

Gallery hours are Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. For more information, contact Jennifer Ober at 978-546-2989.

People in the news

Rockport artist Madith Mantyla is exhibiting her watercolor and oil paintings at Wenham's Council on Aging in the Legion building on School Street through the end of the month.

Mantyla's show includes florals, still life, and seascapes from Cape Ann, Florida, New England, and England.

The 82-year-old artist has spent each January through March of the past two decades painting on Captiva Island and showing her historic memory paintings on both Captiva and Sanibel where she has had private shows as well as commissioned works. Her paintings have recently been added to the famous Bubble Room Emporium on Captiva.

Mantyla is known to many in Rockport as its former postmaster; following her retirement from the U.S. Postal Service in 1987, she began fulfilling a lifelong ambition of working in the field of fine arts.

She began exhibiting her paintings and working in the Small Small World Gallery in Rockport, taking ownership of the gallery in 1994. Her work could be seen there until 2001 when she made the difficult decision to close the gallery in order to devote more time to her painting and family.

Her commissioned works include paintings of Louisiana's Black Bayou, private homesteads and estates, various Cape Ann and New England scenes, pen and ink drawings for the Massachusetts Chapter of the National Association of Postmasters and a commemorative Christmas ornament for Sandy Bay Historical Society.

The Pigeon Hill Street resident's Wenham exhibit is free and open to the public Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. through July 31.

Janelle Favaloro recently assumed the presidency of the Rockport Rotary Club from contractor Alan Battistelli.

Rockport Ramblings is compiled each week by reporter Jonathan L'Ecuyer. If you have an item for Ramblings, call L'Ecuyer at 978-283-7000, ext. 3451, or e-mail jlecuyer@gloucestertimes.com.

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