Post Reports: "The Hunt for a Stolen Jackson Pollock Painting"

Published January 10, 2026
Narrated by Sebastian Smee | Reported by The Washington Post

EPISODE OVERVIEW

This episode, narrated by Pulitzer Prize-winning art critic Sebastian Smee, untangles the story of a notorious art theft: the 1973 burglary in which three Jackson Pollock paintings were stolen from the family home of Harvard professor Reginald Isaacs. More than a true crime narrative, it weaves together the emotional legacy left on Isaacs’ daughter, Mary White, the complex relationship between her family and Pollock, and the high-stakes world of modern art crime. The episode examines not only the mechanics behind the theft and partial recovery, but the personal scars left by the event—a story about art, memory, trauma, and uncertain closure.

CHAPTERS & KEY DISCUSSION POINTS

1. The Emotional Weight of Art and Memory

[02:30 - 07:10]

• Mary White’s Overwhelming Encounter:
  • Mary White, walking through the National Gallery in 1984, suddenly sees "No. 7, 1951," the Pollock painting stolen from her childhood home, causing her to crumple to the floor.
  • The painting had hung over her bed since childhood, bearing not just aesthetic meaning but complex memories tied to Pollock himself.
• Personal Trauma:
  • The presence of the painting was a “painful reminder” of uncomfortable childhood encounters with Pollock, described by White as “intense anger and volatility”—often drunken and sometimes violent.
  • “My dad was always interested in proximity to fame... he wore his proximity to Pollock like a medal.” – Mary White [04:10]
• The theft itself is presented as imbuing the painting, and the absence it created, with deep, unresolved emotion.

2. Friendship with a Troubled Genius

[07:15 - 14:20]

• Origins of the Isaacs–Pollock Connection:
  • Reginald Isaacs met Pollock by chance while clam digging; was surprised by Pollock’s humility and lack of recognition.
  • Isaacs’ open-mindedness led him to appreciate Pollock’s “newfangled” painting style, buying works directly and paying in small installments.
• Pollock’s Fame & Downfall:
  • The whirlwind after LIFE magazine called him “the greatest living painter in the United States” led to an inability to cope with fame.
  • “Every great artist has a run, and Pollock’s run was over.” — Clement Greenberg [13:20]
• Household Chaos:
  • Family anecdotes reveal Pollock’s mood swings, increasing alcoholism, violence, and strained marriage to fellow artist Lee Krasner.
  • Childhood visits became “profoundly uncomfortable,” filling White and her siblings with dread.

3. The 1973 Theft: Crime Scene and Consequence

[14:25 - 21:40]

• The Burglary:
  • On November 8, 1973: Two men entered the Isaacs’ apartment while security was momentarily absent in the foyer. They removed three Pollocks, including "No. 7, 1951."
  • The paintings were seen loaded into a foreign-made car. Witness descriptions matched to suspects seen in the neighborhood earlier.
• Family Fallout:
  • The theft shattered Reginald Isaacs. He became paranoid, sought anonymity, and was plagued by “a decade of turmoil and anxiety.”
  • “What keeps me going at all, George, is my responsibility to my wife, children and grandchildren.” – Reginald Isaacs in a letter to his lawyer [20:45]
• Insurance Woes & Emotional Toll:
  • Lack of insurance meant financial turmoil; Isaacs’ notes resembled “the traces of a man struggling to cling to sanity.”

4. Art Crime in Context: The 1970s Wave

[21:45 - 23:30]

• The Isaacs theft was among several art crimes involving Harvard-affiliated collectors, exposing networks linking local gangs and organized crime to a rising international art market.
• Escalating Value:
  • The world watches as costs of Pollock and other modern art skyrocket ("Blue Poles" sold for $1.3 million in 1973; Number 17A for $200 million in 2015), making artworks desirable targets for sophisticated criminals.

5. The Partial Recovery: Sting Operations and Hunted Paintings

[23:35 - 27:45]

• Breakthrough via Unrelated Heist:
  • In 1975, detectives tracking leads from another Harvard-related theft end up arresting two men, one of whom is identified as being seen near the Isaacs’ apartment.
• The Sting:
  • With a promise of leniency, information is traded and police recover "No. 7, 1951" from a Newton, MA hotel, “rolled up like a rug...buried in a dirt-covered plastic bag.” [25:55]
• The painting returns to the Isaacs family, but two others remain missing.
• Ongoing Turmoil:
  • Subsequent attempts to track the other works are stymied by witness deaths and complex criminal entanglements.

6. Legal Battles and Lingering Loss

[27:50 - 29:35]

• Lawsuits:
  • Isaacs sues his building for negligence; is reluctant, “afraid of publicity, stressed about money.”
  • Trial’s $1 million valuation and subsequent settlement (“$700,000 plus title to two missing paintings if recovered”) is bittersweet.
• Another Recovery:
  • In 1991, Christie's examines a dubious “Pollock.” A mistaken inscription is correctly read as “To Reg and Family,” confirming it as one of the stolen works via old studio photographs.
  • The painting is eventually sold, proceeds supporting Isaacs’ widow.

7. The Unrecovered Work and Unfinished Business

[29:40 - 31:45]

• The Third Painting:
  • Only “Painting 1028, 1948” remains missing.
  • 2014: Homeland Security investigates a tip offering to exchange stolen masterpieces for compensation—Picasso’s "La Coiffeuse" is recovered as proof of good faith. Plans to retrieve the Pollock collapse when the source goes silent.
  • “So painting 1028, 1948, the third painting stolen from the Isaacs home, is still missing.” [31:41]

8. Closure, Complication, and the Shadow of Pollock

[31:50 - 34:10]

• Mary White Revisited:
  • Decades later, White visits the Pollock-Krasner house for the first time in 70 years. Steeled against emotions, she finds herself calm but reflective, especially when looking at the paint-splattered studio floor.
  • In the gift shop, she finds postcards of “No. 7, 1951”—her childhood’s lost and recovered painting.
    • “This painting was hanging over my bed in my bedroom,” she tells her friends, stunning them. [33:50]
• Lingering Feelings:
  • For White, the drama of her family’s connection to Pollock, their trauma, and the lasting financial and emotional stakes remain unresolved, “a complicated set of feelings around him.”

NOTABLE QUOTES & MEMORABLE MOMENTS

• “He wore his proximity to Pollock like a medal.”
  — Mary White, on her father’s pride [04:10]
• “Every great artist has a run, and Pollock’s run was over.”
  — Clement Greenberg, summed up by Smee [13:20]
• “What keeps me going at all, George, is my responsibility to my wife, children and grandchildren.”
  — Reginald Isaacs (in a letter) [20:45]
• “The work...had been removed from its lattice frame, folded and rolled up like a rug, put in a plastic trash bag and apparently buried. The bag was covered with dirt.”
  — Sebastian Smee describing the recovery of No. 7, 1951 [25:55]
• “This painting was hanging over my bed in my bedroom,”
  — Mary White recalling the recovered painting at the Pollock-Krasner house gift shop [33:50]
• “So I have a complicated set of feelings around him.”
  — Mary White, about Pollock [32:30]

IMPORTANT SEGMENTS WITH TIMESTAMPS

• [02:30] Mary White’s emotional breakdown at the National Gallery
• [07:20] Origin story of Isaacs–Pollock friendship
• [14:25] Details of the 1973 theft and family impact
• [23:35] Police sting operation leads to recovery of one painting
• [29:35] ID and recovery of the second Pollock
• [31:41] Unfulfilled 2014 attempt and the Pollock still missing
• [33:50] Mary White’s return to the Pollock-Krasner home and gift shop revelation

SUMMARY

This Post Reports episode artfully reconstructs the arc of a stolen painting through its impact on a family, exploring not just criminal intrigue but fraught personal and cultural legacies. Listeners are left with a poignant sense of how art and trauma intertwine and how some mysteries—like the whereabouts of “Painting 1028, 1948”—continue to haunt those left behind.