Travis Simpkins: "The Rescue Artist: A True Story of Art, Thieves and the Hunt for a Missing Masterpiece" by Edward Dolnick

The Rescue Artist, by Edward Dolnick

Harper Collins. 2005.

Brief Review by Travis Simpkins

On February 12, 1994 two clumsy thieves used a ladder and broke into a second floor window at the National Gallery in Oslo, Norway. They easily made off with Edvard Munch's highly recognizable 1893 masterpiece, The Scream, then worth about $70 million. Less than three months later on May 7, 1994, Scotland Yard Detective Charles Hill, undercover and posing as a representative of the Getty Museum, recovered the stolen painting in good condition. Edward Dolnick's The Rescue Artist: A True Story of Art, Thieves, and the Hunt for a Missing Masterpiece (2005) tells the story of the events between the theft and the recovery and so much more. A masterwork of Art Crime reportage, the tome flows like a finely-crafted suspense novel. The main characters of the book are the artist Edvard Munch and the detective Charley Hill. Dolnick presents a bare-bones portrait of Charley Hill, a half American half British enigma, from his service in the Vietnam War to his burgeoning interest in art, from his days as a rough beat cop to his development and acting skill-set as an undercover detective. Hill's record of recovering stolen art was already established by the time The Scream was taken. Hill had successfully retrieved paintings (including a Vermeer) stolen by Irish gangster Martin Cahill from the frequently-targeted Russborough House. Hill's ability to deal with rough sorts proved integral in recovering The Scream, which consisted of a sting focused on two crooked Norwegian men named Ulving and Johnsen. The painting, it was later revealed, had actually been stolen by well known art thief Pal Enger and an accomplice. Fine attention to detail, including aspects of Munch's life and the creation of The Scream, are interspersed with sharp writing throughout the book… tying it all together with an expert and tuned result.