My French Doppelgänger

Collecting, General, Recommended Reading

Hello Kobi, I’m a print enthusiast and collector from France. I own a small website which is a guide to print collecting: www.lithographie-collection.com . I have read your guide on collecting Picasso’s print with great amazement! I see we have a similar way of writing about our passion, and are compelled to help our reader enjoy their collecting journey (and avoiding scams on the way!). I was wondering if I could maybe translate some extracts of your guide in French, and publish it on my website. I would do the best translation possible, have it reviewed and, of course, link to you website and cite you has the author of the guide.  In exchange, I’d be glad to “give” you some of […]

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A DIY-er’s Guide to Authenticating Picassos: THE VOLLARD SUITE, A CASE STUDY

Art Fraud, Collecting / 1 Comment

(Please pardon the assault on your eyes by the above ugly fake.) Just about every day an email arrives inquiring about the authenticity of their artwork.  Often the writer is seeking confirmation that what they have is an actual Picasso.  Just as often they’re sure of authenticity but are just seeking valuation or a sale.  I’d say at least 90% of the time, the object in question is a fake or forgery.  Usually the sender is grateful for whatever information I’ve provided, but sometimes it doesn’t go so well.   Like this instance, regarding several photographs, one of which is illustrated above: Q: Can I please get your input on these Picasso drawings. I appreciate your time and reply. A: In my

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Unnatural Disasters: The Perils of Paper

General

2015 and -16 were the years of unnatural disasters.  For us, anyway.  I’m referring to conservation disasters.  Not Trump’s anti-EPA EPA appointment, not that kind of conservation.  No, today I’d like to tell you about our paper conservation disasters, because, as unfortunate as these events were, they are also teaching moments.  I’ll share these case studies with you in order to arm you against the kind of conservation quandaries you may well eventually encounter, provided only that you don’t break yourself of the bad habit of collecting. Our slide into conservation hell started with the ruination of one of the two impressions we had at the time of Pique, Rouge et Jaune (Bloch 908, above).  The other impression was in fine condition, but this one had

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THE ORATOR,
from Another Museum in our Backyard

General

In some ways, we in the Bay Area live in a cultural wasteland.  Well, this was Jerry’s home and still the hub of the Dead two decades after his death, but as for the visual arts, we’re not New York or Paris.  So any sighting of a Picasso about town deserves being called to your attention.  Here’s one that has shuttled between sister museums, having spent a number of years at the Legion of Honor before arriving and being put up in style at the De Young Museum.  It took a few years, but this amusing plaster has really grown on me over successive sightings.  Don’t miss it—L’Orateur (The Orator, 1933-34).  It upstairs on the second floor.  Take a break

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WORKS ON PAPER: A NEW CONVERT?

Collecting

I’ve elected to post the correspondence with a collector new to us below, despite having covered all of the issues it raises in various contexts, because I feel that it draws together a variety of collectors’ concerns in a small, convenient package.  So here goes: Q:  We are from India. We collect authentic good quality fine art. Contemporary, Masters and National Treasures (India).  We were thinking in terms of International art, namely Picasso pertaining to the subject at hand.  Would you be wiling to part with the drawing Femme se Coiffant (Woman Arranging Her Hair)?  And if yes, what be the price below which you will not sell?  We will need to cross check provenance as a matter of routine

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HOLIDAY GREETINGS!

Collecting, General

Happy holidays to all!  I’m talkin’ ta you, yeah you—all you wonderful folks who have made peddling Picassos personally possible and, more importantly, who have enriched our lives and made them so much more interesting because you’re in them.  So…we’ve survived another year, and I don’t mean in business—I mean the world.  And no doubt you’re as apprehensive about the next year as we are.  So to all of you, Casey and I and the kids wish you peace and health and all the best for the new year! It occurs to me that you just might be wondering who this collective “you” might be, or that at some point you might have wondered who the other collectors are “out

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WUT WUZ ON DA BLOCK

Collecting, General

The biggest steal this season, in my humble, came and went at Christie’s NY earlier this month in the form of a Picasso “Surrealist” oil on canvas, the 1929 Figure.  At 33 x 41 cm (13 x 16 1/8 in.), it is not a large painting but neither is it a particularly small one. These days Picasso Surrealism is not exactly the most sought after of his many periods, and quite a number of canvases from this period have sold at what I consider well below their relative worth, but none comes close to this bargain.  Its impressive provenance, including prior ownership by the storied Picasso dealer a generation or so ago, the Perls Galleries of New York, didn’t seem

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