The FBI has recovered two paintings stolen 40 years ago from the University of New Mexico's Harwood Museum of Art in Taos. Victor Higgins's oil painting *Aspens* (c. 1932) and Joseph Henry Sharp's portrait *Oklahoma Cheyenne aka Indian Boy in Full Dress* (c. 1915) were taken in March 1985, when the building housed a public library with a museum on the second floor. The recovery was triggered by a late 2023 tip from investigative reporter Lou Schachter to museum executive director Juniper Leherissey, who then led an Art Recovery Task Force. The paintings had been sold in 2018 by the Scottsdale Auction House under altered titles, and were located, recovered, and returned to the museum on May 12, 2025, with a public unveiling on June 6.
The recovery matters because it closes a decades-old cold case and reunites two culturally significant works by founding members of the Taos Society of Artists with their rightful home. The case also highlights the role of persistent investigative journalism and institutional collaboration in art restitution. Notably, the theft occurred before the 1994 federal statute making museum art theft a federal crime, underscoring how legal frameworks have evolved. The museum is now exhibiting the recovered paintings in a special show titled "The Return of Taos Treasures."