Paintings by Picasso and Basquiat could soon be handed over to the FBI as part of an investigation into a US$4.5 billion (£3.5 billion) Malaysian embezzlement scheme.
Given to the actor Leonardo DiCaprio as gifts, the artworks were purchased by individuals caught up in the US Justice Department’s investigation into the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) fund. Continue reading
A ring crafted by Picasso to smooth over a lover’s spat is expected to fetch up to £500,000 at auction.
Containing a miniature cubist portrait of photographer, painter and poet, Dora Maar, the ring was presented to her by Picasso after they quarreled. His lover and muse, Maar had persuaded Picasso to exchange one of his artworks for a ruby ring. After Picasso grew irritated with her over the deal Maar tossed the cabochon gem into the Seine. Continue reading
Picasso’s former electrician and his wife are facing prison after losing their appeal against a conviction for possessing stolen goods.
Handing down the verdict on Friday (16 December), the judge at the Aix-en-Provence Court of Appeal described Pierre Le Guennec’s account of events as an “implausible and whimsical tale”. Continue reading
Pablo Picasso’s electrician has been accused of attempting to smear his former employer’s reputation in an appeal court in France.
Pierre Le Guennec and his wife Danielle allege that the artist’s widow handed them a rubbish bag filled with works by Picasso following his death in an attempt to hide them from her stepson. Jacqueline Picasso is said to have asked Le Guennec to store between 15 and 17 rubbish bags containing 180 single pieces and a notebook of 91 drawings by Picasso including rare cubist collages and a work from his “blue period”. When she retrieved the bags from him some time later she gave Le Guennec one of them to keep in recognition of his devotion to the family. Le Guennec told the appeal court in Aix-en-Provence that Mrs Picasso had been having problems with her stepson Claude, and was perhaps attempting to prevent the works from being inventoried and subsequently inherited by him. Continue reading
Three iconic portraits of women are expected to fetch a total of nearly £68 million at Sotheby’s London Impressionist & Modern Art Evening Sale tomorrow (21 June 2016).
After at least a decade off the market, the three artworks by Pablo Picasso, Amedeo Modigliani and Auguste Rodin will go under the hammer alongside twenty-two other pieces including paintings, sculptures and works on paper. Total sales on the night are estimated to reach £77 million, which means the three highlighted works will account for roughly 87.5% of the auction’s value. Continue reading
New twists are emerging in the case of the missing Picassos we wrote about a few weeks back.
It is now believed that more than 60 works owned by the Spanish artist’s step-daughter Catherine Hutin-Blay were sold without her consent by the Parisian art dealer Olivier Thomas. Continue reading
As news broke that a Picasso painting has broken the record for the world’s most expensive painting, the famous Spanish painter’s work was in the papers again, but for less celebratory reasons.
The Telegraph reports that French prosecutors are investigating a Parisian art dealer after Picasso’s stepdaughter filed charges against him for stealing works that he was paid to store and transport. Continue reading
Kim Roberts, 59, has been sentenced for three years for stealing antiques and paintings valued at over half a million pounds from her former employer’s home in Cirencester. Continue reading
2017 may provide an opportunity to see the Gurlitt hoard in its entirety. The artistic director of Documenta 14, one of the world’s most hotly anticipated contemporary art events, has told a German newspaper that he hopes to exhibit all of the works of art in the collection of the late Cornelius Gurlitt in the next edition of the fair. Continue reading
Pierre Le Guennec, who worked for Picasso as a handyman in the 1970s, has been given a suspended sentence of two years in prison for the possession of 271 works stolen from the artist. The work, valued at €70m, will be returned the Picasso family. Continue reading
