Picasso Draft Sells For $150K After Half A Century Of Living Unseen In A Home
Image via AJSTUDIO PHOTOGRAPHY / Shutterstock.com
In 1919, during his investigations into Synthetic Cubism, Pablo Picasso painted Le Tricorne, a stage curtain for the two-act ballet The Three-Cornered Hat (El sombrero de tres picos or Le tricorne). A production by Ballet Russes premiered in London in that same year, with the curtain installed.
The piece was once referred to by biographer John Richardson as the artist’s “supreme theatrical achievement.” The curtain is currently on display at the New-York Historical Society Museum and Library, after being moved from the famous Four Seasons restaurant in Manhattan.
But more than a century later, a 16-by-16 mixed-media maquette of the piece, signed and dated 1919, was discovered to have been residing in a closet in a Maine home for the last 50 years. The artwork is believed to be a first sketch or draft of the work.
The unnamed homeowner had written in a statement for LiveAuctioneers that their aunt, who collected rare books and art, and grandmother had both studied in Europe in the 1920s.
The Picasso original was discovered in the house, which was previously owned by their great aunt. The home and its belongings, including a closet that contained this painting among others, were then passed to the homeowner’s father before them.
John McInnis Auctioneers, based in Amesbury, Massachusetts, confirmed that the work was soldon Saturday to an unnamed buyer. LiveAuctioneers reports that the piece sold for US$150,000, plus a 24% buyer’s premium.
The purchaser has 120 days to authenticate the painting with the Picasso Administration, managed by the artist’s son Claude Picasso.
[via New York Post, cover image via AJSTUDIO PHOTOGRAPHY / Shutterstock.com]
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