Emily Carbone ‘28
Features Editor
The Worcester Art Museum, frequently used for Art History classes, events, and an informative space to pass the time, is a pillar of the Holy Cross community. With over 38 thousand works, it’s a museum packed with artworks to explore, and a popular spot in the broader Worcester community. While I’ve had the museum recommended to me, I was surprised to hear that it was going to become the subject of a popular movie. I was certain that the museum was a nice spot, but immediately wondered why.
The day was May 17, 1972, and a security guard was preparing for the museum’s 4:00p.m. closure. Just before the museum officially closed, two masked gunmen ran in, grabbing two Gauguins, a Picasso, and a Rembrant, shooting the security guard in his side when he attempted to intervene. The thieves made a quick exit, and the museum was devastated at the tremendous loss–estimated, monetarily, to be millions of dollars. It was the nation’s first armed robbery, and it seems strange that it isn’t as known as the Isabella Stewart Gardener Museum heist. This is likely because of a key difference in the cases: 4 weeks later, all of the artwork from the Worcester Art Museum heist was located at a pig farm in Rhode Island.
The museum’s security guard recovered, and the artwork was returned. Apparently, criminals awaiting prosecution figured that their judge would let them off easier if they found the artwork, and threatened the thieves until they gave up the location. Legend has it that the thieves, who had been employed by renowned art thief Florian “Al” Monday, actually bragged about the heist in a local bar. So, it was an open-and-shut case, and seems to be glossed over when people talk about the Worcester Art Museum. That is, until “The Mastermind,” which was released in October of this past year.
Starring Josh O’Conner, “The Mastermind” depicts a Framingham art robbery gone wrong, drawing heavy inspiration from the Worcester Art Museum heist. O’Conner plays a character inspired by Florian Monday, who spends time on the run after selling the pieces is brought into question. While some facts of the robbery are changed, director Kelly Reichardt told BBC that her primary inspiration was the failure of the Worcester Art heist, which she discovered through an article she found while researching her prior film. “The Mastermind” captures the “unglamour” of the art heist, according to The Guardian, and sought to portray the criminals as “jerks,” rather than classy, lovable rogues. The heist isn’t sensationalized, and the fictional JB Mooney isn’t suave, or even successful. He is a Florian Monday, not a Pierce Brosnan in “The Thomas Crown Affair.”
While the film’s anti-art thief message is fascinating to explore, I am more drawn to the fact that it’s based on a piece of the Worcester Art Museum’s history that I hadn’t even known existed. Make sure to watch “The Mastermind,” which is available to stream on Mubi, Amazon Prime, and Apple TV. Additionally, all of the artworks taken in the original heist are on view at the Worcester Art Museum, so be sure to take a look at those, too.
Featured image courtesy of the Worcester Art Museum
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