Franz Bacher, 20th Century German, Modern 1966 Oil on Canvas Landscape. Signed and dated.

Overall Size: 26 1/4 x 24 1/4 in. 

Sight Size: 21 1/4 x 19 in.

Franz Bacher, 28-year-old German prisoner of war, who had been hunted by State and Federal authorities since his escape from Camp Stark, Percy, N. H., on Aug. 3, was arrested yesterday by Federal Bureau of Investigation agents as he purchased artists' supplies in Union Square. E. E. Conroy, special agent in charge of the New York office of the FBI, said Bacher would be turned over to the Army to be returned to the camp. Still wearing the khaki prisoner-of-war shirt and a leather jacket and blue corduroy trousers that he bought before he left Camp Stark, Bacher visited the shop of Joseph Mayer at 5 Union Square to buy canvases on which to paint landscapes in Central Park. An artist of some ability, Bacher told the FBI of painting in the park and of selling his landscapes to passers-by who admired them. Although his photograph has been published, no one recognized him. Bacher told the FBI that he escaped while working on a wood-cutting project, walked to Springfield, N. H., and then came to New York by bus. He was reported to have said that he slept in Central Park for thirty nights until he obtained a room Sept. 16 at 63 St. Mark's Place. Mr. Conroy said Bacher's sole income was derived from paintings and show cards he sold in New York. The FBI had warned artists' supply shops to be on the lookout for the fugitive. An alert employer, to whom a picture of Bacher had been shown by Federal agents, spotted him yesterday in the store and telephoned the FBI. Agents arrested Bacher in the store. He had served in the Afrika Korps and was captured at Bizerte on May 7, 1943.

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