"Why do you call me a nut?"
Posted on 11/30/2010 8:57:56 AM PST by Red in Blue PA
PARIS — Pablo Picasso almost never stopped creating, leaving thousands of drawings, paintings and sculptures that lure crowds to museums and mansions worldwide. Now, a retired electrician says that 271 of the master's creations have been sitting for decades in his garage.
Picasso's heirs are claiming theft, the art world is savoring what appears to be an authentic find, and the workman, who installed burglar alarms for Picasso, is defending what he calls a gift from the most renowned artist of the 20th century.
Picasso's son and other heirs say they were approached by electrician Pierre Le Guennec in September to authenticate the undocumented art from Picasso's signature Cubist period.
(Excerpt) Read more at mcall.com ...
If they were not reported as stolen until today, that seems a little fishy.
Picasso was a nut. He gave his stuff away all of the time. I tend to believe him. If he was a thief, wouldn’t he have sold this stuff piecemeal over the years?
Pierre Le Guennec, wearing a plaid shirt in an interview with France-2 TV outside his modest home, said he was given the trunk by Picasso’s second wife and most-painted muse, Jacqueline Roque.
“Madame gave them to me. And if she gave them to me, he had to be aware of it,” said Le Guennec. Roque died in 1986.
“It was a small pack like this,” he said, gesturing with his hands as if he was holding a basketball. “It was little drawings, little odds and ends, little pieces of paper. It could have gone in the trash.”
He elaborated on TF1 TV: “The master must have been hopping mad. Something didn’t suit him, maybe he was angry at someone, and said: ‘Here, give that to the electrician.”’
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It was the 2nd wife who gave him the stuff. I’d be inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt. If no one can prove the stuff was stolen then I say it’s his.
The exciting part was that this was mostly from Picasso’s early periods, when he was still making actual art.
I'm REALLY angry that they have been confiscated.
I seem to remember a spoof on Picasso about him drawing a doodle on a napkin to pay a restaurant bill.
At least I think it was a spoof. It was a long time ago (80s, IIRC).
The number of artworks the heirs already own is huge. They are all millionaires many times over. This is just plain greed. None have any reason to believe they were stolen.
I've read about Picasso and the electrician's story sounds pretty realistic. Picasso really didn't care for his relatives much...I think he realized what leeches they were and looks like, still are.
“About 70,000 works have been inventoried among his heirs.”
At the celebration of Shakespear's 400th birthday, Picasso did a doodle using about 14 lines.
Critics called it "Just a sketch and not worth anything".
Other critics called it a MAJOR WORK OF ART AND PRICELESS!
You be the judge.
I believe the guy. Many famous artists often gave away or abandoned their works. Cezanne would sometimes leave a drawing or study of a landscape when he was finished with it at the spot where he had been working.
Van Gogh gave paintings to his landlady in lieu of rent, and she just threw them in the trash. It would be quite possible that this guy got the paintings in lieu of a pay check.
That was an old SNL ski t with Jon Lovitz as Picasso. Part of went something like:
“$250 for the bar tab?!?” *scribble scribble* *hands over a drawing to the waiter* “Here ya go! Keep the change! I’m PICASSO!”
That's pretty much how I remembered it. I couldn't remember who did it, but I was thinking SNL. Thanks!
Picasso was well known for giving away small works of his art, and even paying his bills with them, after he became famous.
I’ve read that he regularly wrote checks to pay his creditors, but that most of them were never cashed, due to the fact that Picasso would usually scribble a little doodle alongside his signature. Ouila! Instant “Picasso”!
I'd say my 3-year-old daughter has done better recently.
Painted while riding his Viking Super Roadster with the drop handlebars and the jewel-thread wheel rims...the first time a modern artist of such stature took the A-272!
Just guessing from that, the entire collection of 271 works could easily be worth a minimum of a quarter of a billion dollars and likely much more. If the electrician had stolen the art, it seems unlikely to me that he would have approached Picasso's heirs to ask them to authenticate it! Also, it seems unlikely that he would have just kept it in his garage, rather than selling any of it, while he and his family continued to live within the means of an electrician. I hope the authorities determine the works legitimately belong to the electrician because that's a cool story.
Didn’t Picasso use his artwork to pay people for work they did for him. I’ve heard he would just scribble a few squiqqles on paper and sign it instead of writing a check. Or was it some other artist?
Diego Rivera did the same, there is a bar in Palm Springs that have some of his bar napkin drawings.
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